Agenda and minutes

(1)      Mr Chard declared a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest as a Director of Engaging Kent.

(2)      Mr Thomas declared an interest, in relation to any discussion regarding a new hospital in Canterbury, as a member of the Canterbury City Council’s Planning Committee.

·         Draft JCCCG Minutes – 14 February 2019         (pages 13 – 22)

·         JCCCG Meeting Pack – 14 February 2019         (pages 23 – 77)

·         Kent and Medway Stroke Review

Decision-Making Business Case                          (pages 79 – 289)

Rachel Jones (Acute Strategy Programme Director, Kent and Medway STP), Dr David Hargroves (Stroke Consultant and Chair of the Kent and Medway Stroke Clinical Reference Group), Ray Savage (Strategy and Partnerships Manager, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb)) and Steph Hood (Communications and Engagement Advisor, Kent and Medway STP) were in attendance for the item.

(1)      The Chair noted that a petition had been received late yesterday from a group called ‘Save Our NHS in Kent’ (SONiK) which had been forwarded to Democratic Services to be processed in line with County Council procedures.  The Chair further acknowledged a new opinion that had been produced by SONiK, as well as the large number of individual representations, sent to Committee Members. 

(2)      The Chair invited Mr Godfrey to provide an overview of the process for the Committee.

(3)      The Chair welcomed the guests to the Committee and requested that a brief overview was provided due to the item not being formally considered by the Committee since Summer 2015, after which time it had been considered by a Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JHOSC) established for the purpose.

(4)      Ms Jones informed the Committee about the process that had been undertaken beginning with the production of a case for change.  She said that at the first stage there had been 127 options and filter criteria had been applied to reduce the options – moving from 127 to 13 to 5 options.  Ms Jones said the remaining 5 options then proceeded to an 11-week public consultation with the output from that leading to the recommended preferred option.

(5)      Ms Jones continued that the Decision-Making Business Case (DMBC) was then made and considered by the Joint Committee of Clinical Commissioning Groups (JCCCG), whereby nine resolutions of the JCCCG were agreed.

(6)      Ms Jones highlighted that the Case for Change had become more urgent over the 4-5 years this process had taken.  She said that despite the hard work and efforts of staff, resources had been spread thinly, the county had the only ‘E’ rated stroke unit in the country and that it had the only ‘D’ & ‘E’ rated units in the South East Coast region.  Ms Jones continued that there were performance variations across Kent and Medway.

(7)      Ms Jones confirmed that throughout the process feedback had been received from a wide range of organisations and stakeholders, as well as the JHOSC.  She stated that all contributions received had led to the refinement of the criteria and that all data used to develop the DMBC was evidence based.

(8)      Ms Jones acknowledged that the key themes arising from all engagement activities were a need to change, recognising support for local area hospitals, travel time concerns, deprivation, staffing, rehabilitation, services for Thanet, a general support for Hyper Acute Stroke Units (HASUs) but acknowledging concerns about the number of HASUs in Kent and Medway.

(9)      Dr Hargroves gave an overview of his involvement in the Stroke Review and of reviews across the country.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 123.