Agenda item

(1)       The Chairman welcomed Glenn Douglas (Chief Executive of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust and former Chairman of the STP Steering Group) and Ian Sutherland from Medway HWB to the meeting.

(2)       Mr Douglas said that the publication of the Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) earlier in the day had been a significant step forward.  He said that progress had been made in establishing the governance arrangements and acknowledged that further work was required in relation to communications and public engagement.  Mr Douglas also said:

·         The publication of the STP created the ability for the NHS and Social Care to discuss plans and ideas with the public and their own staff;

·         The STP for Kent and Medway was very similar to plans produced elsewhere in the country; and reflected the fact that all organisations were facing similar issues;

·         It was an advantage that the Kent and Medway STP was a work in progress as it could be influenced following public engagement which was planned for early 2017.

·         Ruth Carnall was now Chairman of the STP Programme Board.

(3)       Mr Douglas concluded his introduction by asking the HWB to consider its role in supporting the next stages in the process.

(4)       The Members of the Board generally welcomed the publication of the STP and considered that the HWB had number of roles in relation to the STP including:

·         System leadership in relation to the prevention agenda;

·         Ensuring that social care featured in local care plans;

·         Establishing linkages between the work being done at Board level, at the health economy level and by CCGs through commissioning plans and working towards using a common language across all plans to facility effective community engagement;

·         Strategic oversight of plans to deliver the STP;

·         Clinical leadership;

·         Promoting further health and social care integration through the BCF including the ESTHER program which was an important element in the workforce development of the STP under the Integration Pioneer programme, managed by the Design and Learning Centre and the work of the Kent Integration Pioneer Implementation Group.

(5)       It was also said that:

·         The public understood that services needed to change and were keen to be part of that process;

·         Current organisation structures had evolved over 20 years and were largely predicated on an internal market in the NHS,  however, there was an urgent need to re-align ways of working to meet the demands of the STP;

·         Members of the public had expressed concerns about difficulties in making GP appointments;

·         Any financial deficit in the system would have to be managed by the STP.

(6)       In response to questions, Mr Douglas said:

·         Engagement with the public about the STP was planned for early 2017 with any formal consultations  starting no sooner than June;

·         The drive for greater integration between health and social care made intellectual sense but the challenge was to identify specific issues and projects and assess their effectiveness in enabling greater integration;

·         A significant  key to success of the STP was effective out of hospital care;

·         The commissioning process may need to change to drive further integration;

·         The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement and a meeting earlier in the day with NHSI made it clear that the financial position would remain challenging with a budget deficit predicted nationally and that it was important to have credible plans.

(7)       Mr Sutherland said the discussion about the STP at the Medway Health and Wellbeing Board had been similar to the discussion this evening and that in Medway the importance of health and social care integration had been underwritten by appointing senior representatives from across health and social care to the Clinical Board in addition to nursing and medical representatives. 

(8)       The Chairman drew the discussion to a close by saying there was broad agreement that the HWB had a continuing role to play in the prevention agenda and the further integration of health and social care and acknowledged changes being made to the BCF which would further support integration.  He also said that key elements of the STP would flow into the HWB’s future work programme.