Agenda item

The Director of Operations, Sirona, introduced the report.

• There was a discussion about pharmacists, that the system worked well in the south but struggled in the east and north of the city, and Members were advised that all GPs had access to the Community Pharmacy Consultation Service, and that there were pilots in south Bristol for Sirona services which had gone well; and the next step was a roll out of pilots with pharmacists near Southmead and the BRI. 
• Members heard the ambition was 4000 appointments per month, with 2000 per month at the moment, and that the next steps addressed the highlighted difference in the north and south of the city.
• The Commission heard that there was central government resource available to support pharmacy services; that BNSSG was one of the fasted growing areas, and issues around east and north Bristol would be taken back and looked into further.

• Members recommended that closer work with patients’ groups attached to Practices would assist in easing pressures and improve systems.
• The Chair raised issues around changing mindsets and behaviours and noted that clear explanations and how the messages were provided was important; and noted that enabling change in people’s perceptions was important and Councillors had a role to play.
• The Commission was advised that students represented over 20% of visitors to the emergency department and it had been found Freshers Week  had been relied on to provide messages to register with a GP, and so information packs were now developed for students before arrival. 
• Members heard that parents with children was another group with high representation at emergency departments and there was a pilot with the Children’s Hospital which explored the role of the health visitor at the emergency department to assist and signpost.
• There was a discussion around the 111 service, and Members heard that the CCG monitored speed of response and the call abandonment rate, and there had been an improvement since extra resource was injected last summer; there was a lot of work to do which included recruitment to the role.
• The Area Manager, Healthwatch BNSSG, advised Members of work Healthwatch undertook around attendance of Accident & Emergency at Southmead, and 20% of respondents were students, and people managing long term conditions were a large cohort, and recommended those people had communication about where to access support and a named contact. 
• Members were advised that people with long term conditions would be brought into the Clinical Assessment Service which enabled a timely response, rather than a visit to and a long wait in A&E.
• Members noted that the waiting room survey found fewer than half who attended A&E had contacted a health provider beforehand, and asked if more surveys would be undertaken to monitor any changes. The Commission was advised that the insights work would be repeated after Easter, and the CCG planned to utilise new software to mine communications traffic across social media which provided insight into how people heard and perceived messaging and how this impacted decisions made which would assist in future planning and communications.

RESOLVED;

That;

• The report be noted.