Public’s turn to talk about the new NHS shake-up

Dr Hugh Freeman

On a glorious summer night we held the second of our summer Road Shows and we worried that the soaring temperatures would keep people away.  Thankfully we were wrong and the turnout at our Chawton Park Surgery in Alton was very good.

The theme of the evening was to share more details about what a Clinical Commissioning Group is and what it does.  We shared details about our commissioning priorities and our vision for the future.  We also showed a short film about us, available to watch on our website and as part of it had been filmed in Alton it went down very well with those who came along.

Taking questions after the presentations was fascinating because the questions were so different to those raised at the first road show at Shakespeare House Health Centre in Popley.  It demonstrated to us that there are a lot of questions out there and we need to provide the answers.

Some of the questions centred on the relationship between North Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group and our local hospitals.  My colleague, Dr Sam Hullah, explained that we are working with the hospitals so that they see themselves as part of the pathway to better health care and not just as a place for surgical procedures.  This is a big change of attitude.  Sam also explained that, at the moment, we are working with Hampshire Hospitals Foundation Trust to change how the Emergency Department works and how it looks.   At the moment patients have a confusing choice of the Out of Hours Service, the walk-in Hampshire Health Centre and the Emergency Department.  We want to take all of these elements into one less confusing unit.

Another interesting question was about the voluntary sector and how we will work with them.  Communications Manager, Anne Phillips, explained that she has already been involved in a series of voluntary sector meetings and has more planned.  It’s an area where we really feel we can work together in a very positive way.

Anne also had a question for the audience.  She asked those gathered if they really wanted to be involved in health care.  The answer was a resounding yes, they do want to know what the Clinical Commissioning Group is up to and they want to use their voice and their experiences.

Two pharmacists from Boots the Chemist came along to the Road Show.  They asked what they could do to support us – North Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group – and expressed their concern about medicine waste.  Sam supplied some shocking figures for North Hampshire – between £500k and £1m is wasted in this area alone on medicines that don’t get used.  Such a waste…and possibly the subject of another blog!