We are glad to acknowledge that Brent CCG has responded in detail to questions from the BPV Steering Group posed at its two (yes two) Annual General Meetings this autumn. The second was held on 14th October after BPV pointed out that the first was not constitutional. See our earlier story “The AGM that never was”.
The CCG responses have been put together in a 16-page document which is too long to reproduce here. You can find it on the CCG website at: http://brentccg.nhs.uk/en/publications/doc_download/2230-151029-responses-to-questions-for-brent-ccg-agm .
Here is a rough and ready summary of key points to emerge:
- The new structure for the CCG to bring in-house what was the separate Commissioning Support Unit will be put on the CCG website after staff consultations are concluded.
- The cost of the abandoned procurement (competitive tendering) exercise for MSK and gynaecology community clinics was £713,000.
- A list of instances where healthcare commissioned by the CCG did not meet NHS national standards includes continuing problems with waiting times for serious (type 1) A&E attendances at Northwick Park and generally with the performance of the London Ambulance Service (LAS).
- The CCG admits problems in finding GPs with leadership experience who are willing to fill its Clinical Director posts. It has no solution.
- Jan Norman has replaced Prof Ursula Gallagher as nursing representative on the CCG Governing Body and Director of Quality and Patient Safety.
- The CCG confirms that it is reviewing the 2012 business case for tendering out 13 hospital outpatient clinics to set up community clinics and is exploring other ways of securing improvements, service by service. There are no current proposals for tendering out these services.
- Performance statistics for the first year of the new BMI-provided Ophthalmology community clinics (Wave 1) show that 2,724 new patients and 585 existing patients used them. These were respectively 56% and 7% of the expected through-flow, showing a massively unrealistic planning scenario.
- Asked about the impact on Mental Health policy and planning of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) patients the CCG has provided a 6-page detailed account of its approach with its partners. This includes a welcome initiative to assess the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
We don’t want to be cheeky but if only the CCG had written its Commissioning Intentions 2016/2017 in a similar direct and factual style we should all be much more enlightened.
Robin Sharp, Interim Chair Brent Patient Voice