Agenda item

TRANSFORMING COMMUNITY SERVICES

The panel will consider the business plan for the Transforming Community Services Programme.

Minutes:

Paul O’Sullivan representing NHS Plymouth Commissioners and Steve Waite representing NHS Plymouth’s provider arm updated the panel on the “Transforming Community Services” programme. Paul O’Sullivan reported that –

 

  1. the “Transforming Community Services” programme was part of a national policy which predates the publication of the health white paper; there was a requirement to separate commissioning from provision from April 2011. This was required following revisions to the NHS Operating Framework which took place in June 2010;

 
  1. the aims of the programme were to achieve not only a transfer of services to a new body but also for that body to achieve a transformation of current provision and provide enhanced community services;

 
  1. models of care outlined in the commissioners case for change are consistent with the memorandum of understanding signed by NHS Plymouth and Plymouth City Council;

 
  1. the preferred option was for a transfer to a social enterprise company. Provider and market development work would need to take place over the next three years;

 
  1. any potential provider would need to submit a business plan, the business plan would be appraised by commissioners and subject to further appraisal by the Strategic Health Authority. The business plan would need to be approved before the new provider body can come into existence.

 

Steve Waite introduced a presentation to the panel outlining the view of the provider arm –

 

  1. the provider services of NHS Plymouth had existed almost as an arms length organisation for the past few years, it had its own board and in addition to carrying out work in Plymouth also had contracts with Devon and Cornwall Primary Care Trust and Torbay Care Trust. There were three year contracts in place which included a six month notice period;

 
  1. the principles of service delivery included a clear focus on the Plymouth population and specialist services. The transfer would provide opportunities for development across services, for example there could be more work carried out around dementia to avoid hospital admissions;

 
  1. any new organisation would need to consider how it would engage with proposed GP consortia and further issues of NHS pay restraint and changes to pensions;

 
  1. proposals would focus on delivering more services at a patient’s home whilst preventing hospital admissions and reducing the length of stay in hospital;

 
  1. there was a good success rate of community services reducing hospital admission for patients in Plymouth. A good example of this was a patient who had suffered heart failure had his hospital admissions reduced from 20 in 2009 to one in 2010;

 
  1. the proposed provider service would provide quality information to patients on its function, the service would be fully funded by the NHS and care would continue to be free at the point of delivery;

 
  1. the Governance structure was yet to be decided on, more detailed information on finance and governance would be available in the Integrated Business Plan (IBP) which would be considered by the NHS Plymouth Board in December;

 

In response to questions from members of the panel, it was reported that –

 

  1. it was proposed that all community services currently provided by NHS Plymouth would transfer to the new organisation. There would be a full IBP and a summary for public consumption. Some services would be subject to a market review;

 
  1. there was a clear focus on high quality of care delivered by competent staff;

 
  1. the worst case scenario for a new provider would be if the public and patients did not notice the transfer, the best case scenario would be that patients and the public experience improved services. There would be a significant redesign of services;

 
  1. presentations had been made across the city to various stakeholders including the LINk and there would be a public engagement event held on the 15 November 2010;

 
  1. the public would be involved at the service redesign stage, part of the IBP would include how the new provider would engage with patients and the public;

 
  1. there would be an improvement in care pathways facilitated by the new structure based on working with primary care services through Sentinel and a model of cross organisational working would be built into the business plan;

 
  1. housing would be a key issue and a whole range of services with impacts on health would need to be considered in the IBP;

 
  1. although there could not be any guarantees over redundancies, NHS Plymouth has a good record of dealing with a reduction of workforce through natural wastage and staff have transferable skills and can often be redeployed;

 
  1. a new name for the provider had not been decided upon but that decision would form part of wider staff engagement;

 
  1. clinicians have become more involved in commissioning in preparation for GP consortia although there would be some confusion until government proposals around GP consortia are confirmed;

 

 

Agreed that the panel would receive the full “Transforming Community Services” Integrated Business Plan in January 2011 following its presentation to the NHS Plymouth Board and before its submission to the South West Strategic Health Authority.

Supporting documents: