Andy Thomas (Head of Assurance and Delivery) attended the meeting on behalf of NHS England and provided the Health and Wellbeing Board with an update regarding the activities and responsibilities of NHS England. The report outlined the national and regional position together with specific updates on priorities that the Local NHS England Teams were responsible for progressing.

In the area of Strategy and Planning for Mental Health - Test sites for new models of care - it was reported that NHS England had announced a new tranche of sites to test new approaches to delivering mental health services with the intention of reducing the number of people who need to travel long distances for care. Eleven new sites would be tasked with reducing the number of people who received in-patient hospital treatment and for those who did need more intensive care, that this was available closer to home. The pilot sites, made up of NHS mental health trusts, independent sector and charitable organisations would work together, sharing a local budget, to effectively reorganise services in their area to provide the best care for patients.

The report also referred to the area of Mental Health – Digital Innovation - NHS England had announced new funding for seven mental health trusts to enable these organisations to pioneer world-class, digital services to improve care for patients experiencing mental health issues. This would include, for the first time, all key professionals involved in a patient’s care having access to real-time records, from triage and initial assessment, through to admissions or referrals, as well as transfer between services and follow up care.

The trusts would also develop remote, mobile and assistive technologies to empower patients to manage their conditions and enable family and carers to provide the best possible support. This was all part of the NHS’ plan to harness technology to improve services and become more efficient.

With reference to Primary care: General Practice Infrastructure it was reported that NHS England was currently reviewing bids for investment through the multi-million pound Estates and Technology Transformation Fund (ETTF) to accelerate the development of infrastructure to enable the improvement and expansion of joined-up out of hospital care for patients. Wirral had submitted a substantial proposal and it was anticipated that a decision would be communicated by the end of July.

The Board were informed that NHS England was currently consulting on proposals for Congenital Heart Disease Services. The consultation had opened on 9th February 2017 & closed on 17th July 2017.

Within the area of Delivery and Assurance - CCG Improvement and Assessment Framework it was reported that for the year-end 2016/17 ratings for CCGs (measured against the CCG Improvement and Assessment Framework) were expected to be published before the end of July. Publication of results would be on MyNHS and NHS England website

The report included the area of Operational Delivery & Resilience and it was noted that moving into Quarter 2 of 2017/18 NHS England was emphasising focussed attention on delivery of 4 clinical priorities within 2017.

This included the area of Urgent Care – recovery of the maximum wait in A&E for 95% of patients. Having recognised that this standard was a challenge for the Wirral health economy, NHS England was supporting improvement through close working with the A&E delivery Board, specifically directing resources to assist identifying and resolving in-hospital delays. It was noted that the policy framework for the Better Care Fund had been published and this was an item on the agenda for this meeting.

Mental health – meeting the mental health investment standard, delivery of existing standards relating to Psychological Therapies (IAPT), Early Intervention Psychosis and delivery of new standards relating to eating disorders. Locally NHS England and the Intensive Support Team (NHS Improvement) were working with Wirral CCG to agree a plan for reducing the high number of patients waiting for IAPT and increasing access to a wider patient group.

Cancer – meeting all cancer access standards and specifically delivering the 62-day referral to treatment standard where this had been a challenge. It was recognised that whilst Cheshire and Merseyside were delivering the cancer standards at a macro level, there were unacceptable variances across organisations, these variances were exacerbated by the fragmentation of the patient’s care pathway across multiple organisations.

With reference to Primary care – progressing delivery of the GP Five Year Forward View in relation to Pharmacy – Clinical Pharmacists in general practice – it was reported that NHS England had recently announced that over 700 more practices in England would benefit from having a pharmacist located in their GP surgery covering up to six million patients and helping to free up GP time.  In relation to NHS GP Health Service it was reported that part of a broader package of support, the General Practice Forward View was committed to improve access to mental health support for general practitioners and trainee GPs who may be suffering from mental ill-health and addiction. A new NHS GP Health service had been developed and had been launched on 30th January 2017.

The report also outlined the issues relating to EPRR and noted that NHS England had significant responsibilities as a category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. Recent Major Incidents at a national level; had required a response from NHS England (Cheshire and Merseyside). A short summary of those activities included updates on actions following Grenfell Fire: including Community Trusts being asked to check that patients in high rise accommodation had smoke alarms.  Brian Simpson, Chair, Strategic Housing Partnership also contributed to the meeting to update members of the Board on the current position in high rise and sheltered accommodation in Wirral, reported that work was being undertaken with Mersey Fire and Rescue and guidance was being awaited from DCLG.  In relation to the Manchester Arena Terrorist Attack it was reported that as numerous people from Cheshire and Merseyside had been affected some had yet to be repatriated from hospitals back to the area.  In relation to the Cyber attack: -it was reported that all functions had returned to normal and a formal debrief was planned re Lessons learnt / Action Required.

In response to questions raised about Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STP) Andy Thomas noted that this was still moving forward and an annual comparison dashboard would be published shortly which would show what was happening throughout the country and what issues would require working on.  Councillor Ian Lewis commented that it would be useful to have updates/standing item on the agenda for the delivery and implementation of the Five Year Forward Plan in relation to STP.  Andy Thomas informed members that updates would be brought to future meetings of the Board. Councillor Chris Jones urged that consultation be widespread with the Council and members of the public.

Resolved – That;

1.  Andy Thomas be thanked for the report

2.  the report be noted.