Agenda item

Ms C Selkirk, Executive Director for Health Improvement; Mr J Lowell, Covid-19 Kent and Medway Restart and Recover Programme Director; Mr S Jeffery, K&M NHS Tactical Commander from the Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group were in attendance for this item at the invitation of the committee.

1.         The Kent and Medway CCG had provided a paper with an update on the local response to Covid-19 as well as the restart of local elective services that had been put on hold as a result of the pandemic.

2.         Mr S Jeffery began by addressing Member concerns related to the capacity in Emergency Departments. He highlighted the winter preparation undertaken with the adoption of a central control centre and noted cooperation with the Kent Resilience Forum. He confirmed that Kent and Medway were well prepared for the adoption of the 111 First initiative and stated that the impact had been projected to reduce Emergency Department use by 10%. Regarding critical care capacity he confirmed that 33 additional beds would be utilised during the winter, a capacity increase of a quarter.

3.         Mr Lowell updated the committee regarding screening services, he emphasised that screening was a multi-agency operation, commissioned by Public Health England and integrated with the CCG. In relation to bowel screening he confirmed that additional mobile endoscopy units had been used to increase capacity, subsequently the bowel screening backlog was expected to be cleared by September 2020. Mr Lowell confirmed that mobile breast screening units underwent refurbishment to adhere to infection prevention and control measures, though this had not been fully completed. He stated that no time indicator existed concerning the breast screening backlog and agreed to provide an indicator at a future meeting.

4.         Ms Selkirk, Mr Lowell, Mr Jeffery and Dr Allingham responded to comments and questions from the committee, including the following:-

a)         Dr J Allingham was asked to outline when practices across Kent would have flu vaccinations. He confirmed that initial vaccination deliveries had been received by practices from August, with the last initial deliveries expected by 27 September. Dr Allingham confirmed that delays were due in part to the multitude of vaccine suppliers;

b)         asked to confirm whether there had been significant changes in the mammogram backlog, Ms Selkirk agreed to circulate written figures with the committee following the meeting;

c)         the impact a future national or local lockdown would have on service use and delivery was raised. Ms Selkirk confirmed that multimedia engagement had been utilised to encourage service use, whilst each individual service had their own delivery plan factoring in social restrictions;

d)         Ms Selkirk was asked how mental health assistance would be provided in the event of a future national or local lockdown. She assured the committee that the Mental Health Improvement Board had led the multi-partner response across Kent and created a 24/7 open access crisis line, which had not existed prior to the original national lockdown. Ms Selkirk added that a 15% increase in the home treatment of mental health patients was planned;

e)         asked how Covid-19 response efforts involving independent care providers had been funded, Mr Lowell confirmed that all Covid-19 related contracts with independent care providers had been managed and funded on a national level by NHS England; and

f)          Ms Selkirk was asked how service data had been used to inform patient engagement, she confirmed that population data had proved useful in identifying individuals who were members of vulnerable age and ethnic groups. She stressed that more could be done to engage young people and cited work with other agencies, including KCC, as a future necessity when broadening the use of qualitative data.

5.         It was RESOLVED that the report be noted and the following action be taken:

i.          Ms Selkirk to circulate written mammogram backlog figures with the committee.

ii.         Mr Lowell to provide the committee with a time indication of when the mammogram backlog will be cleared.