Patient Link Group meeting at Herstmonceux Integrated Health Centre (HIHC) Minutes of Patient Link Group meeting held on 13/03/2017 Present Lynn Bowman (Chair) Helen Walsh (Deputy Chair) Bea Simmons (Secretary) Dr J Simmons Hilary Robinson Devan Briggs Non-members: Fiona Kellett from the CCG and Paula Govett from ESBT Apologies were received from Sheila Charlton, Jo Angear and Janet McInnes Meeting commenced at 7pm. 1 Minutes for meeting held on 30th January 2017 were agreed.

2 Actions from last meeting: 2a Patient Transport Janet McInnes has arranged for a meeting for the 23/03 at St Martin. Bea and Janet to attend.

Action Lynn to 3 Patient Link survey. compile the Bea updated the group of the distribution of the survey. The survey has been Excel posted out to 100 patients, emailed to all patients that subscribe to the Spreadsheet and newsletter, is available in the health centre waiting room and at the Village Helen to add information centre. information. Once all It was felt that having a PLG presence in the waiting room asking people to information complete the survey would be beneficial entered, Lynn So far about 40-50 replies have been received. The aim is to get 10% of the will analyse and patient population, which is approximately 400 surveys. write the report. Devan offered to sit in the waiting room and speak to patients – will contact Bea with time and date 4. Quorum Lynn reported back trends from different meeting groups and after discussion, it was agreed that 4 members of the PLG would make up a quorum. Therefore any matters arising or decisions needed to be made can be verified by the quorum of 4. 5. Fiona Kellett Finance Director CCG Fiona Kellett was at the meeting on the invitation of Lynn to inform the group of what her role is and how the funding works within the NHS. Dept. of Health controls funding and passes the money on to NHS , which is effectively the CCG. The CCG acts as a commissioning service for the NHS service and Fiona manages the funding for Hastings & Rother and & Seaford jointly. Pharmacy, dental and opticians are run by NHS England. Each CCG has to report to NHS England, which has to ensure that GP Services are functioning and that national targets are being met i.e. cancer rates; these are monitored rigidly by the NHS. Each of the 2 local CCGs has a budget of approximately £300 million and this covers Eastbourne DGH, the Conquest, Community services, the Horder Centre and musculoskeletal services (MSK). Funding is based on several factors including population, rural and the elderly. The local CCG to the practice has just appointed a new CEO. The bulk of the money goes on patient care; the CCG is awarded 22p per head of population for running the service.

6. Paula Govett – Programme Developer from East Better Together Paula has been working with the CCG since 2013. quite a challenged area and the area has struggled to maintain a high quality of service. ESBT (East Sussex Better Together) is about collaborative working and having a shared vision. Working closely with partners means better coordination. ESBT is a 150 week programme and the first phase is nearly complete. So far they have built up relationships and improved partnerships with East Sussex Health Care Trust and Mental Health Services. They have invested £7 million in different community based services, £15 million additionally committed to primary care and £5 million to Healthy Hastings as a result of health inequalities. In terms of patient benefit, ESBT is looking at whether patients have a good experience as a result of the better coordination (improved outcomes). In addition, they will be able to identify any gaps between the services and create better linkages. So far 4% less people attended hospital for emergency admission as a result of being managed within the community. Paula spoke about having a longer budget allowance, which could work better for Primary Care. Lynn asked John if he had seen any difference on the ground with the ESBT work. He felt that the care pathways were practical and he had noticed changes and improvements. He also invited both Fiona and Paula along to HIHC to have a look at how the health centre is implementing their ideas of keeping patients well and out of the practice. Unfortunately the data cannot prove what HIHC is doing, is working, but the patient’s sense of empowerment and wellbeing shows this. Action – Lynn and Bea to Lynn and John thanked Fiona and Paula for their time and Fiona asked that Bea arrange visit and Lynn attend a meeting to talk about our work at HIHC.

7. Update on recruitment John spoke to the group about the problems the practice has with respect to long- term commitment from GPs. There has been high turnover of salaried GPs and long-term locums. There is a national shortage of GPs and even advertising in the BMJ at £2,000 an advert failed to identify any suitable GPs. To address this, the practice (like many others) has been looking at alternative solutions. HIHC is very lucky to have an experienced advanced nurse practitioner to recruit. This practitioner is able to consult and prescribe and locally other practices have also tried this route, which has been received really well. The aim is to triage calls received at reception to ensure that the correct clinician sees the patients. John asked the group what their thoughts were. There was no negative feedback from the group, but it was emphasised that the reception staff would need to be trained carefully to explain in a sensitive way to patients when asking about their reason for an appointment. It would not be fair if they became the target of abuse over misunderstandings when doing their job. 8. Date of next meeting This will be held on 24th April at 7pm