Minutes:
The Board considered a report of
the Strategic Director, Adults and Community which informed the Members of the
proposed reorganisation of the Widnes GP Health Centre located at the Health
Care Resource Centre (HCRC) in
The Board was advised that Halton Health Limited (HH) provided a number
of services locally including the Widnes GP Health Centre based at the Health
Care Resource Centre and the GP Out of Hours Service
(OOH) for Halton Borough. HH also had the contract for the Windmill Hill GP
surgery, the intermediate care beds at
The Board was further advised that the
contract with Halton Health in April 2011 would become funded on a capitation
basis. The contractor had expressed concern to the PCT that it would not be
financially viable to continue to delivery the service under this arrangement
and may need to terminate the contract.
It was reported that the Primary Care team had
been discussing with the provider how a service could be maintained and as part
of the cost improvement programme deliver efficiencies. As a result two
proposals have been put to the NHS Halton & St Helens Board:
·
reorganise
the GP Led; and
·
extend the OOH
contract for 2 years but at a reduced contract price.
The Health Centre provided GP appointments to non registered patients
who require a planned appointment plus a ‘traditional’ GP surgery for people
who wished to register.
Over the last 11 months the practice has seen 4207 non registered
patients, an average of 382 per month. It has a registered list of 417 patients.(Jan 1st 2011). Many of the non registered
patients were presenting themselves as they could not get an immediate
appointment with their own GP. This was not the intention of the scheme.
It was reported that the Out of Hours service providers were expected to
meet nationally agreed quality standards and HH was an experienced provider of OOH
services and met the contract quality standards.
A combined proposal had
been developed as follows:-
·
No
longer see non registered patients;
·
The
existing registered patients to be given the choice of transferring to another
practice which could include Runcorn and therefore Windmill Hill. If the later,
HH would continue to operate a daily surgery for booked appointments, 7 days a
week at the HCRC (this would be at no extra cost and was additional to the
current 5 day service and subject to demand). Home visits would continue as
present i.e. according to clinical need;
·
Walk-in
/ unregistered would still be able to be seen by the nurse led walk in centre
at the HCRC;
·
Reorganise
the OOH and extend the contract to 2013;
·
Face to
face patients at
·
The treatment
centre GP’s at Runcorn and the nurse triage would remain unchanged.
In conclusion, it was reported that the proposals provided an
opportunity to improve the efficiency, organisationally and economically, of
the service. The impact for patients was
minimal as the nurse led walk in centre was still available and the provider
would still provide a service to registered patients at the HCRC.
The following points arose from the discussion:-
·
Page 19
– Paragraph 4.1 – clarity was sought on the profile of the 417 registered
patients. In response it was reported
that it was predominantly people between the age of 17
– 54 years. However, there were six people
over 65 years.
·
Page 21
– Paragraph 13.1 – Clarity was sought on ‘protected characteristics’ and how were they not going to be disadvantaged. In response it was reported that this quote
was taken from the Equality Act 2010 which covered a multitude of groups such
as, age, carers and disabilities etc. In
addition, it was reported that the Out of Hours Service would be clinically assessed
i.e. 1) telephone advice, 2) a visit to a centre either in Widnes or Runcorn and
3) a Home Visit would be undertaken;
·
It was noted
that all registered patients had received notification of the changes and two
further meetings were taking place with residents this week;
·
It was
noted that the Nurse Led Walk In System would continue
and that a significant number of patients used this facility. It was also noted that patients could still register
with a GP at the centre;
·
It was reported
that the service was not intended to be used as a substitute for patients who had
been unable to get an appointment with their own GP. In addition, it was noted that GP practices were
monitored with a particular focus on patient access as they were awarded for good
access;
·
It was reported
that disabled people in wheelchairs had difficulties using the lift as it was not
big enough and it resulted in them having to go in forwards and exit the lift backwards. In response, it was reported that this matter
would be looked into;
·
It was
reported that it was extremely cold when the two doors were open and it was suggested
that some form of heater be installed. In
response, it was reported that this matter would be looked into;
·
It was noted
that not many homeless people had registered or had used the centre and in particular
young people. It was also noted that the
centre had been well publicised in homeless centres such as the YMCA, the Women’s
Refuge etc, but the majority of homeless
people were treated in casualty. However, it was reported that there would continue
to be a focus on encouraging homeless people of all ages to register with a GP;
·
The difficulty
with parking at the centre was noted; and
·
It was
noted that the facility would be open 7 days a week until 6.30 pm and patients who
were not happy with their GP had the choice of registering with an alternative GP.
RESOLVED: That
(1)
Mr
Simon Griffiths be thanked for his informative verbal presentation;
(2)
the
proposed reconfiguration to the practice be supported;
(3) the report and comments made be noted; and
(4) a report on oral health in young people be presented to a future meeting of the Board.
Supporting documents: