To consider the paper.

*Please note: this item will now be a verbal report/presentation and there will not be a report to follow.*

Caroline Farrar, Executive Place Managing Director, said that there had been greater than normal pressures on the healthcare system. The flu campaign had been extended and the community response would be stepped up. The intermediate care response would include:

·         Patients being able to be discharged for care assessments in the community coming out of hospital

·         Nursing and social care services reaching into residents in hospital to secure a supported discharge

·         End of Life advice line with support available to care homes and families

·         Access to social prescribing support for signposting to available community based voluntary sector and commissioned service

Key considerations for primary care included:

·         Primary care provision during Winter 2020/21 – enhanced capacity

·         Flexible arrangements for Hot and Cold Sites at Place for all pressures resulting from Winter and future wave CV19

·         Operating days and hours – including any Winter arrangements and extended hours appointments

·         Triage and booking arrangements embedded

·         Capacity planning – including staff absence, CV19 testing and surge in demand for children

·         Arrangements for blood tests and clinical investigations

·         Patient “visiting” arrangements – in core hours

·         Workforce capacity – annual leave backlog and readiness for the workforce pressures

The Primary Care Winter Plan consisted of three tiers of demand along with hot and cold services. In the low demand, home visiting services could take place along with additional mobile capacity for general practises. During high demand, this could be increased with an additional second site created for face to face appointments.

The primary care response was to:

·         Maintain safe service offers securing additional capacity; separating hot from cold to protect staff and patients

·         Enhanced models to deliver the additional capacity for the flu campaign

·         Ensure flexible models for services to respond to demand including impact of COVID-19 in unprecedented times

·         Access to general practice services continued to be available evenings and weekends

·         Deliver enhanced clinical support to Care Homes through Primary Care Networks

·         Support staff and patients to positively engage with the changes require to deliver safe care; Total Triage

The RBWM Community Deal that had been created being based on access, information, digital first and protecting key workers. The resident side of the deal was to look after yourselves, know your neighbours, stay connected and know where to go to get support.

The Chairman asked how mental health support services were preparing for any increase in demand over the winter period. Caroline Farrar said that this was something that could be covered in the mental health agenda item later in the meeting.

Councillor Stimson asked where RBWM was in terms of its backlog for screening cancer patients. Caroline Farrar said that the borough had done well as there was not a massive backlog. Councillor Stimson commented that she had friends who were GPs and they felt very well supported.

The Chairman invited Huw Thomas to make any comments on the situation of the primary care network from his perspective. Huw Thomas said that the focus was originally on the initial response and was now moving towards the recovery phase. They were trying to prepare for the next phase along with the dealing with the backlog and chronic disease management. There was an excellent primary care network in place to cope with this.