Agenda item

Dr Gillian Greenhough Chair of Islington Clinical Commissioning Group and Alison Blair, Chief Executive of Islington Clinical Commissioning Group gave a presentation to the Committee.

In the discussion the following points were made:

·           The CCG Board meetings were held in public and members of the public were encouraged to attend. A Healthwatch representative sat on the Board to ensure that there was an opportunity for the concerns of the wider community to impact on the operation of the Board.

·           The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) considered levels of disease in the borough and there had been Londonwide work on stroke services.

·           The over 75 age group were at high risk of social isolation, stroke and chronic disease. The CCG had a lead on this area and a Board member with responsibility for elderly care.

·           There were high levels of deprivation in the borough and this had a clear link to higher levels of certain diseases. The population in Islington had a very different profile to neighbouring boroughs such as Camden and only one Islington ward was not in the top 20% of the most deprived areas in the country.

·           The CCG had found the Health and Wellbeing Board to be a useful exercise. This was particularly due to the influence the Board members could exercise in their individual fields. By bringing together individuals who covered different areas effective strategies could be devised to target specific areas such as smoking cessation or an audit of alcohol use in the borough.

·           The CCG had amended their constitution since it had been adopted and this had been done in consultation with groups such as 38 degrees to take some of their concerns into account.

·           The CCG worked very closely with pharmacies.

·           A number of strategies for reforming care were being looked at such as longer nurse appointments for patients with chronic diseases to reduce the overall amount of appointments they needed.

·           The CCG had a reasonable relationship with NHS England but they had a very small local team in place which meant they had to be reactive rather than proactive.

·           The report commissioned on GP Appointments was discussed and the Committee requested that the draft report be circulated to the Chair.

Julie Billett, Joint Director of Public Health, Camden and Islington gave a presentation to the Committee.

In the discussion the following points were made:

·           The amount spent on Alcohol, Substance Misuse and Sexual Health services was highlighted. The Committee noted that those kinds of services were clinically and resource intensive but that all services would be looked at as part of the savings exercise. There was to be a stronger emphasis on recovery interventions but services had been slow to adapt. However, there had been a solid improvement in performance and outcomes with figures closer to the national average.

·           GPs and primary care were just one setting for patient care and many services were looking more closely at what could be provided by the voluntary and community sector.

RESOLVED:

That the presentations be noted and that Dr Gillian Greenhough, Alison Blair and Julie Billet be thanked for attending.