Agenda item

6.1

The Committee received a report of Will Cleary-Gray, NHS Programme Director, South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP), providing an update on the developing STP, and informing of the next steps for engagement.

6.2

The report was accompanied by a presentation from Mr Cleary-Gray, and Tim Moorhead, Chair, Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group, was also in attendance.

6.3

As part of the presentation, Mr Cleary-Gray referred to the Five Year Forward View for the NHS in England, referring specifically to a radical upgrade in prevention and public health, the provision of support for people to take more control of their own health and care, the removal of barriers between organisations, with the aim of joining up health and care, and new models of care. Reference was also made to the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health.  He reported on the local view of the three gaps, referring to the key contributors to the gaps, namely care and quality, health and wellbeing, and finance and sustainability.  Mr Cleary-Gray reported on the STP partners and Plan’s approach, including details of the governance arrangements, and referred to the emerging themes from the Strategic Plan, and some early examples of improvements, which included hyper-acute stroke services and children’s surgery and anaesthesia.  He concluded by reporting on the next steps in the process, which included an expectation that local conversations with patients, voluntary groups and partners would have progressed by mid-October 2016, the understanding of the three gaps, including resources, would be further developed by early October 2016, the STP ambitions would be further developed by mid-October 2016 and it was expected that firm proposals would be developed, and shared more widely, in early 2017.

6.4

Members of the Committee raised questions and the following responses were provided:-

·                Whilst it was known that healthy life expectancy rates in Sheffield were lower than the national average, there was no detail, at the present time, in terms of what steps and initiatives people were taking to help increase their healthy life expectancy.

·                Social Care were key partners in the work being undertaken as part of the Plan, and discussions had been held in terms of whether Social Care and Adult Social Care were to be brought together.  The Better Care Fund in Sheffield was at its highest level at the present time, and there were plans to bring the finances of Health and Social Care together, therefore Sheffield was ahead of many other local authorities in terms of the integration of resources.

·                The offer of assistance from Sheffield Healthwatch was appreciated, particularly regarding reaching, and disseminating information to, members of the public, as part of the consultation process, and there were plans to work with the Organisation on the next level of involvement.

·                It was accepted that changes need to be made in terms of children’s surgery as a number of targets in this area were still not being met.

·                The issue regarding a shortage of GPs was recognised.

·                Details in terms of the monitoring of progress had not been given any consideration at this stage.  It would be a case of working out whether the plans had any measurable benefit.

·                It was the ambition to reach the position where everything outlined in the Plan was something that all organisations would be able to support as an ambition.  It was anticipated that there would be the necessary support.

·                The manner in which patients are treated was very important.  It was accepted that not everything was done as well as it should be, but it was important to ensure that people were dealt with correctly. 

·                It was envisaged that the Plan would provide an opportunity for hospital providers in particular to have a more collaborative approach, and it was considered that this could well be the case.  It had also been noted by NHS England that guidance regarding governance arrangements should be issued. 

·                The primary purpose of the Plan was to implement the Five Year Forward View and ways of improving services.  Whilst there was likely to be an increase in Government funding, this would not be at a rate to keep pace with current demand.  It was acknowledged that there were still inefficiencies and waste in the system, as well as issues regarding sustainability, particularly with regard to the shortage of GPs and key clinical workforce.  Even if the Government’s resource settlement was favourable, the work in connection with the Plan would still be required.

·                Whilst it was not confirmed, there had been mention of an indicative figure of £105 million, in terms of sustainability and transformation funding, to be made available to the South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw region.  There was no confirmation as to when the funding would be made available, but indications suggested it could be in 2021.

·                It was hoped that, by 21^st October 2016, there will be a firm, coherent set of plans and conditions, which would contain sufficient detail in order to provide an idea in terms of a sense of the changes required to help bridge some of the gaps identified, and that this would form the basis of the final submission of the Plan.

·                There was no ring-fence allocation of funding to allow for the provision of short-term support for older people who were not IT literate.  There was a large number of older people who were able to perform a number of things online, such as booking GP and hospital appointments. 

·                Whilst there had not been any cuts to the Health Service budget, there had been cuts in Social Care, which would impact on both.

·                After 21^st October 2016, a series of interim governance arrangements would be established, which would include the development of a Partnership Board, and working through a communications strategy.

6.5

RESOLVED: That the Committee:-

(a)       notes the contents of the report now submitted, together with the information reported as part of the presentation and the responses to the questions raised;

(b)       requests Will Cleary-Gray to attend a future meeting to report on the progress made in respect of the South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Sustainability and Transformation Plan; and

(c)        expresses its thanks to Will Cleary-Gray and Tim Moorhead for attending the meeting.