Agenda item

Professor Ian Goodman noted that the Primary Care Networks were geographically located with a discreet coverage in the north of the Borough and a more intermingled coverage in the south of the Borough.  The activity of the Care Connection Team (CCT) had successfully reduced the number of A&E attendances by 440 and non-elective admissions by 282 which equated to an estimated gross saving of £1.28m.

Integrated paediatric clinics had been running since 2018 and had been rotated through different practices across the Borough in order to provide access to residents and clinicians in general practice rather than having to attend hospital.  This was now being expanded to include multi disciplinary team (MDT) discussions in relation to children with complex needs (including mental health). 

Population health and preventative care was thought to be at the heart of the development of neighbourhood working.  Services had been impacted by the pandemic over the last two years but the primary care teams and community team had worked hard to develop the diabetes enhanced service.  There had been impressive improvements in those diabetes patients that had stuck to the REWIND low calorie programme. 

With regard to Covid vaccination rates, Hillingdon had performed best in North West London (NWL) for first jabs and second highest overall.  Hillingdon had also performed better than all other NWL boroughs in relation to flu vaccination uptake. 

On average, there had been 106,124 more GP appointments offered in 2021/22 than in 2019/20 during the Winter Access Fund period.  In Hillingdon, this had included the mobilisation of the primary care surge hub to support additional demand during the winter months.  Work was also underway to double the number of appointments available out of hours. 

The use of virtual consultations had enabled an increase in the number of patients being seen by GPs.  However, it was recognised that, whilst younger working patients seemed to like eConsult, there were older and more frail patients that did not want / were unable to use digital facilities.  Consideration needed to be given to how to identify those patients that would not be using eConsult.  Hillingdon had recently procured a more modern version of eConsult which would be rolled out in the coming weeks and further communication about the system needed to be sent out to patients and practices. 

Work had continued to develop new pathways to improve access to care and alleviate demand into specialist services such as gynaecology, ophthalmology and gastroenterology. 

Ms Kelly O’Neill, the Council’s Director of Public Health, advised that there had been variations across the Borough and it was important to identify difference, and areas with the highest needs and unmet needs.

Councillor O’Brien expressed concern that some patients seemed to be bombarded with a significant amount of text communication (e.g., surveys, information about getting a health check, etc).  It was noted that this tended to reflect the NHS requirements for GPs to collect an increasing amount of information.  Although the data that was collected might not be particularly useful, GPs were required to continue to send out these messages to ensure that they met their key performance indicators.  Given that there would be a cohort of patients that did not use mobile phones, consideration would need to be given by HHCP to how the data / responses of these patients was being captured. 

It was noted that the integrated neighbourhood working was an example of good partnership working, with health and local authority partners working better together than they had previously. 

RESOLVED:  That the progress and future priorities be noted.