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!

Do you want to understand the new NHS reforms?

The first of our four Road Shows kicked off this week at our Shakespeare House Health Centre in Popley. As it was the first we were feeling a little nervous about how it would go. It was a great success I am relieved to say.

 We started the evening with my colleague Dr Sam Hullah recalling the many battles to bring about Clinical Commissioning Groups like North Hampshire. It’s been a long struggle to get to the stage where we are now a shadow Clinical Commissioning Group.  Sam reminded everyone that the Health and Social Care Bill which is now an Act holds the record for more changes to a parliamentary bill than any other in the history of legislation. And we showed a short film introducing US  and explaining our vision and health care priorities.

North Hampshire CCG Road Show

 The film was a success with one person very kindly saying it was so interesting it should be shown on BBC South Today!  It is now available to view on YouTube and you can link directly from our website. 

 My presentation about the nitty gritty of commissioning health care provoked almost an hour of questions. The questions were robust, intelligent and challenging from ‘how do you prioritise’ what health care to commission to ‘how do you take responsibility for patient experience and delivery of service beyond primary care’.

We prioritise what health care to buy for North Hampshire by knowing what the needs of the local population are. We are helped with this task by fantastic public health research. We use a tool called the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and this helps us identify what our local population needs. So what I’m saying is that we prioritise based on local knowledge and needs.

And yes we do take responsibility for patient experience and delivery of service. The question was based around hospital care. So I explained at the Road Show that we as a CCG buy hospital services and so it’s important to know that the patient outcomes were good and we got value for money. We have systems in place to make sure we know what happens to patients and that a good service is delivered, but we will be looking to improve the way we gather first hand experience from patients.

 I think one of the most fascinating comments last night was about ‘feedback’ and how some see feedback as just a way of complaining when really it should be the good as well as the bad. Feedback from patients is crucial. We need to know what works and what doesn’t so that together we can bring about change.

 All in all it was a good and positive start to the Road Shows. Looking forward to the next one tonight at  Chawton Park Surgery in Alton.  Do come along. And there are two more next week so plenty of opportunities to learn about local health care and what it means to you.

Shouldn’t GPs look after their patients before they start running the NHS?

Dr Hugh Freeman, Chair, North Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group

I’ve been a GP for more than 30 years and I never get tired of answering questions.  Maybe that’s why I became a GP because I like problem solving and I like sharing information.

 

  But the question of  ‘GPs looking after patients before they start running the NHS’ is a good one…

It’s triggered by the new NHS reforms with patients and public hearing that GPs now have more power and budgets and are going to planning meetings –  instead of doing their ‘real’ job.  Well, this is not quite what’s happening. 

GPs in North Hampshire have banded together to form what is called a Clinical Commissioning Group.  These groups – and I will avoid calling them CCGs as jargon is banned from this blog – have been set up as part of the reforms outlined in the Health and Social Care Act to offer a more ‘bespoke’ service.

It means GPs will work closely together in a geographical area – using their knowledge of that local community – to provide better health care.

At the moment we – North Hampshire’s Clinical Commissioning Group – are at the shadow stage and will be until next April.  We have powers and responsibilities and a budget to spend but we are being shadowed by the Primary Care Trust until we find our feet.

Our role as a band of GPs working together is to commission – in other words buy – what’s needed for patients in North Hampshire.

This doesn’t mean every GP is spending time making these decisions and it doesn’t mean patients are being neglected.  In fact it’s quite the opposite.  Patients will have more chance than ever before of getting involved in their own healthcare and in the bigger local healthcare decisions.

So just as patients are saying they are worried about GPs being distracted by all this ‘power and responsibility’ – we as GPs are a little concerned that some patients won’t bother to use their voice to make themselves heard in this brave new world.

Are we right to be worried?