Issue - meetings

The Board received a report from the Strategic Director, People and Economy, which provided the Board with some background to the development of the Alliance Local Delivery System (LDS) and progression to date.  To accompany the report Members received a presentation from Professor Steve Cox: Clinical Chief Executive, NHS St Helens CCG and Mel Pickup, Chief Executive Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, titled Cheshire and Merseyside Sustainability and Transformation Plans for the Alliance Local Delivery Systems.

It was reported that the NHS shared planning guidance 2016-17 to 2020-21 outlined a new approach to help ensure that health and care services were planned by place rather than around individual institutions.  As in previous years NHS organisations were required to produce individual operational plans for 2016-17.  In addition, every health and care system was expected to work together to produce a multi-year Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) showing how local services would evolve and become sustainable over the next five years, ultimately delivering the Five Year Forward View vision.

The report explained to Members how local health and care systems and organisations had come together to do this.  It was noted that the Cheshire and Merseyside (C&M) STP was formed in January 2016 and the report went on to explain how this would be delivered through three levels.

The presentation included details of the organisations included in the Alliance and provided some details of the underlying proposition which included three main areas that would be focussed upon:

·       Out of Hospital New Models of Care;

·       Secondary Care Transformation; and

·       Wellbeing, Prevention and Self Care.

Following the presentation, Members raised concerns regarding:

·       Financial implications and who would spend what;

·       Accountability;

·       Would experiences of service users being listened to;

·       Whether the prevention agenda would be included;

·       The future of the urgent care centres considering the rise in attendance figures;

·       That this would split up the NHS; and

·       The continuation of mental health services for children and adolescents.

On behalf of the Board the Chair advised the presenters of the disappointment with the way Halton Council had not been advised of the Alliance LDS much earlier in the process.  Further, to expect the plans to be signed off by the end of the week was unreasonable and unacceptable to the Board and to the Officers of the Council.  No consultation had been made prior to this request for sign off and it was the consensus that the Council and other partners had been put in a difficult position by this expectation.

Members wished to have their concerns noted and suggested the Board sought collaboration with the other Local Authorities to write to NHS England in response to this.

The Chair thanked Professor Cox and his colleagues for their attendance.

RESOLVED:  That the Board notes the update.