Agenda item

COMMUNITY CARE - STRATEGY AND GOVERNANCE

Minutes:

The Committee considered an update on Community Care – Strategy and Governance.

 

Within the South East London Region, Community Care was delivered via Local Care Networks which had been designed collaboratively by the six Clinical Leadership Groups.  All local areas within the region had adopted the target model which would embed an integrated pathway of care to be supported by delivery milestones encompassing the London Primary Care Standards.  The new model of Local Care Networks would realise a number of benefits including longer opening hours for primary care, increased use of digital technology to improve patient experience and social prescribing in which patients would be supported to manage their own health.  The new way of working also aimed to improve access to diagnostics, including for the management of long term conditions, and increased joint working with specialist providers to improve reablement and end-of-life care. An updated governance structure had now been agreed and would be used to support the leadership and oversight of the Community Care strategy.

 

The Clinical Chairman, Bromley Clinical Commissioning Group outlined a new model of care that had been introduced to the London Borough of Bromley in the form of three Integrated Care Networks launched in October 2016 which took a Multi-Disciplinary Team approach to making appropriate care and support available to Bromley residents with complex care needs.  Over 550 referrals had been made to the Integrated Care Networks during the first nine months of operation up to the end of June 2017 with an average service user age of 82 years.  All key partners had now signed an Integrated Care Network Alliance Agreement which set out the objectives, expected deliverables and operational framework for partner working, and consideration was being given to how this model could be used to support other vulnerable groups such as people with heart failure.

 

In discussion, a Member suggested that new models of care would benefit from linking in with the Mayor of London’s strategies.  Another Member emphasised the value of involving the voluntary sector and carers in delivering new models of care, which might require a change in culture and language.  In response to a query from a Member on how parity of esteem could be built into new models of care for patients with mental health needs, the Programme Director, "Our Healthier South East London" Programme confirmed that this issue was being reviewed and would be supported by a planned realignment of Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust management teams to Borough-level.  The Member suggested that this work be aligned with Thrive LDN which was a London-wide movement to improve mental health and wellbeing and was supported by the Mayor of London.

 

A Member noted the need to promote new initiatives effectively, such as longer opening hours for primary care.  The Member also underlined the benefits of non-medical interventions such as social prescribing and highlighted the importance of encouraging diversity of provision within new models of care, such as inclusivity of community groups.  The Programme Director, "Our Healthier South East London" Programme confirmed that the "Our Healthier South East London" Programme was working with community and voluntary groups to access a national fund supporting community groups with social prescribing, and that this would include identifying best practice in mapping to enable a robust database of community activities to be developed

 

RESOLVED that the update be noted.

Supporting documents: