Your NHS partner for improving health and integrating care Consultation on a Strategic Commissioning Organisation for Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Appendix: Correspondence Monday, 2 September 2019 midlandsandlancashirecsu.nhs.uk Table of Contents 1 Tamworth Council .................................................................................................................... 3 2 Healthwatch Stoke-on-Trent .................................................................................................... 4 3 North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare Trust ................................................................... 7 4 Reach (part of Assist) ............................................................................................................... 9 5 Stoke-on-Trent City Council .................................................................................................. 11 6 Adults and Neighbourhoods OS Committee, Stoke-on-Trent City Council ....................... 13 7 Paul Farrelly MP ...................................................................................................................... 15 8 Staffordshire Moorlands District Council ............................................................................. 16 9 Jeremy Lefroy MP ................................................................................................................... 17 10 University Hospitals North Midlands .................................................................................... 18 11 Staffordshire County Council ................................................................................................ 19 12 Cannock Chase Council ......................................................................................................... 21 13 Healthy Staffordshire Select Committee .............................................................................. 25 14 Hednesford Town Council ..................................................................................................... 27 15 Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council ............................................................................ 28 16 Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust ...................................................................... 29 17 Healthwatch Staffordshire ..................................................................................................... 30 18 Ruth Smeeth MP ..................................................................................................................... 31 19 Gareth Snell MP ...................................................................................................................... 32 20 Public correspondence .......................................................................................................... 33 2 | NHS Midlands & Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit 1 Tamworth Council Hi both- thanks for taking the time to meet with us yesterday and for offering to engage with elected members further with a training session and discussion. Clearly, it was very helpful to further understand the nature and purpose of the consultations and engagements underway. I also met with Jennie Collier of MPFT this morning to discuss the plans for engagement in respect of the future of mental health service provision, particularly relating to the George Bryan Centre. I just wanted to quickly feedback regarding the proposals for a single CCG as I have understood them- Firstly, I welcome the commitment you articulated towards local devolution of decision making and the establishment of a local teams based on cross district geography which I think is very positive. As I explained in the meeting, for some time and for a number of reasons we have not achieved the same level of engagement with the CCG in our local partnerships as with some other partners. I would anticipate an increased level of involvement with the new locality manager and locality teams and I will be keen to develop the necessary links to further support our shared objectives. I think that the staffing, commissioning and accountability structure you describe helps to mitigate risks represented by further organisational centralisation. I hope this will promote a locally sensitive commissioning approach where appropriate. Divisional Committees, meeting in public, will add a further opportunity for residents to engage with the CCG decision making process along with your arrangements for patient engagement. We discussed the decision not to hold an event in Tamworth and you explained the rationale for this and referred to the wider consultation- Together We’re Better- which clearly will be of greatest interest for most residents. As far as other matters relating to the proposed changes- clearly I am not in a position to comment and I would assume that scrutiny of maters such a costs savings, impact on the Health economy, effectiveness of governance and compliance are matters which will be subject to scrutiny/consideration from NHS England, the HWBB and Overview and Scrutiny at a county level rather than for comment by Districts. We did discuss the need for proposals to be discussed at the regular Staffordshire CE meetings if this has not already been undertaken. I will look to make contact with Nicki Harkness to discuss further engagement in partnership structures. If you need anything further please let me know. Kind Regards Rob Barnes Executive Director Communities 3 | NHS Midlands & Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit 2 Healthwatch Stoke-on-Trent 4 | NHS Midlands & Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit 5 | NHS Midlands & Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit 6 | NHS Midlands & Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit 3 North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare Trust 7 | NHS Midlands & Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit 8 | NHS Midlands & Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit 4 Reach (part of Assist) Reach Feedback – Single CCG Consultation (June 2019) Who We Are Reach is a group advocacy project supporting people in Stoke-on-Trent to speak up about their lives and the issues that affect them. Reach is part of Asist, Advocacy Services in Staffordshire. What We Did We agreed to work with adults with learning disabilities to look at, and comment on the public consultation on whether all six Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) should join together as one organisation. We looked at the information sent out by the CCGs, produced accessible ‘Easy Read’ posters based on the information and attended a meeting at the Medical Institute in Hartshill on Wednesday 22nd May to find out more about the proposals. We invited people to a meeting at our offices in Winton House, Stoke-on-Trent where we facilitated the meeting, and made notes based on people’s ideas, comments and questions. 10 adults with learning disabilities came to the meeting. There were 5 men and 5 women, aged between 35 and 75. Everyone who came to the meeting lives in, and uses NHS services in Stoke- on-Trent. What People Said All the main ideas, comments and questions from the meeting are detailed below. People wanted to know how this would affect them personally. • “Will this make staffing and waiting times better at the hospital? There’s not enough doctors as it is now.” • “Will any of this actually make it better when I go to the GP?” People were concerned that one Staffordshire CCG would be too big to respond to local health needs. • “How will just one CCG support the whole of Staffordshire? That’s a lot of people. A big area.” • “If there’s only one CCG, how will they make sure they’ve got the right information and money for everywhere in Staffordshire?” During the discussion, we asked people if they felt that Stoke-on-Trent needs its own CCG. All 10 people said they thought the city’s health problems were different from the rest of the county. • “We’re better off having one for the city.” • “If we still have one just for Stoke-on-Trent, it’ll work better.” • “Because of all the poor areas we’ve got in Stoke-on-Trent. We’ve got lots of homeless, alcoholics, drug addicts that all need a lot of services and care.” • “That’s why you need more local help, from a local CCG.” People were concerned about money and funding. • “Making big changes always costs more money than they think. It’ll end up costing more in the long run.” • “What happens when they switch over to one big CCG but then in a few years they don’t get the same money from the government?” • “How’s this all going to help with all the GP surgeries that are shutting down?” 9 | NHS Midlands & Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit Some people wondered how widely known this consultation is. • “How will people be helped to understand all this, know what’s going on?” • “They [the CCGs] need to make sure patients have their say about everything.” Some people said they didn’t care how the CCGs are organised, as long as NHS services are good. • “As long as they get the work done, and they run the NHS, that’s all I’m bothered about.” • “The main issue is making sure people get the care they need and that it’s good care.” Contact Us Telephone: 01782 845584 Email: [email protected] 10 | NHS Midlands & Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit 5 Stoke-on-Trent City Council Dear Marcus Thank you for inviting the City Council to comment on your application to NHS England to explore the opportunity to form a single statutory CCG for the whole geographic area of Staffordshire and Stoke-on- Trent, responsible for decision making and commissioning of services for a 1.1 million