Agenda item

The Committee will receive a verbal report followed by the opportunity to ask questions.

The Chair welcomed and thanked Simon Clavell-Bate, Head of Estates from West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group (NHS) for attending today’s meeting. She then expressed her dissatisfaction that Dr Mtharu was unable to attend today’s meeting given the advance notice that had been given for this meeting. The Vice-Chair was then invited to address the Committee before Mr Clavell-Bate provided members with a presentation where he highlighted the current situation, the difference between a commissioner (CCG) and a provider (GP), Estate Overview, ICS Primary Care Strategy and West Sussex summary and Strategic Planning. The chair requested that questions that had been submitted by members in advance of the meeting were answered prior to any further questions being taken.

The Chair then took further questions from the committee were the following points were raised;

• Concern was raised regarding the issues that members had, had reported to them by their constituents, in the difficulty they were having attempting to obtain an appointment with their GP surgery. This was a topic that the Committee had strong opinions on, stating that face to face access with a GP was important to many residents and that currently the service that residents were faced with, was poor, from long wait times when calling to make an appointment to being given a telephone triage call back where instances had been reported that the call was either disconnected before being able to be answered by the patient or the call was not made.
• Issues raised with the lack of parking availability at Langley House and Cathedral car parks 
• Discussions were had regarding the Southern Gateway Project, confirmation was sought as to where in the process the CCG were with the project and how far away, they were from completion of the project. It was confirmed that the project was still in the preparations stages which was expected to move on in approximately 6 months’ time. The project is planned for completion in 2025, it was stressed that this was wholly dependent on what happens with the pandemic over the next few months.
• It was queried what was planned in terms of communication regarding residents being encouraged to contact their GP should they need to. It was commented that many residents did not what to burden the NHS/GP’s during the height of the pandemic, however, this had been detrimental to some and should a resident need to see a GP, it is important they feel they can. It was confirmed that Government were taking a top down approach, local GP’s would be completing local campaigns to reinvigorate making contact with your doctor. It was stated that there was no one single approach to resolving this concern. It would require multiple approaches at all levels. 
• A question on how GP’s in the Witterings and Selsey areas prepare for seasonal resident number increases, particularly over the summer months when a large number of tourists are staying for holidays. An answer to this was unable to be given as this would be something that the GP’s in the area would be aware of and would manage locally.
• A question regarding the future of virtual GP appointments was raised, where it was explained that ‘tele medicine’ would be something that would require medical sign off and in order for that this would need to be trialled and tested. It was also commented that this would provide an alternative way to move forward and help with the offering of services.
• A query regarding a possible extension to Selsey’s practice was made where it was confirmed that the practice would need funding and once that was confirmed they could approach the CCG who would look to move forward with any applications, it was also confirmed that there may be applications in production and that these would be seen to come to fruition over the next few months.
• Discussion was had regarding a surgery’s budget being linked to the number of patients that it had registered to it.
• The topic of Community Hubs was also addressed, specifically the hub planned for Chichester City centre, it was confirmed that greater capacity could be achieved in this area, which would allow for additional services to be completed, as well as this opportunity providing many more benefits that that of Whitehouse Farm. Mr Clavell-Bate also confirmed that this location was only ever one option, he explained to members that the City centre location was fundamental an better option that was preferred by the local GP’s The future of community hubs would be to aim to have them located within a 10-minute cycle route for all.
• A question regarding community transport and was the CCG looking to improve this, it was confirmed that this would be managed by a primary care manager and would be built to support the specific area, with each area requiring different solutions dependant on the individual needs of residents in that area.

The Chair invited comments from officers, who confirmed that they had no additional points to make at this time. She gave thanks to Mr Clavell-Bate asking him if he could ensure that he could obtain answers for the questions submitted in advance of the meeting by members from Dr Mtharu and have these returned to officers for members to receive outside of the meeting.