10:28 6/07 - Hunts Patient Congress

Next Meeting. Tuesday 19th July 6.30 pm Oaktree Centre, Huntingdon.

HUNTS PATIENT CONGRESS
A Discussion Document on its future role
At the last meeting of the Congress the Chairman and Vice-Chairman proposed that there should be a workshop at the July meeting, to discuss how we can improve the Congress’s ability to represent the best possible interests of Huntingdonshire patients and help our GP practices to provide high quality care within financial constraints.
Since that date the Government has issued a directive revising some of recommendations in their previously proposed White Paper. GPs will still be encouraged to form commissioning groups and Primary Care Trusts will still cease to exist in 2012. However GP practices that do not want to become involved in commissioning services need not do so immediately but their control will transfer to NHS Commissioning Agencies covering much larger areas than the present Primary Care Trusts. Cambridgeshire was in the vanguard of promoting GP commissioning, believing that GPs know best what their local patients need, rather than this being determined by large central organisations who are less in touch with local issues and may have a “one size fits all” approach. Three pilot GP commissioning consortia have or are now being established in Huntingdonshire. Hunts Health and Borderline (which is based in the north of the county and therefore looks towards Peterborough Hospital rather than Hinchingbrooke as the hospital from which they will commission the majority of their secondary care) have been running for a year and Hunts Care Partners for a few months.
What is still embedded in the proposed NHS changes is the key role of patients in the decision-making process, which is particularly important in times of financial pressure. Not all the GP practices in Huntingdonshire have Patient Participation Groups, and most of the ones that do exist are populated in the main by those who have health issues, either themselves or with members of their families – the “Worried Sick” and the “Worried Well”. We need to engage not only with these people but also with the “Well Well” and to raise awareness for them to “stay well” in the future.
The Government directive also continues to envisage that the existing LINk (Local Involvement Network) will change into HealthWatch and will have a stronger political role with local councillors and the like involved.
So what will be the role of the Patients Congress and all the Patient Participation Groups?
Can we offer a way, without being too “political”, of getting people, particularly those from different backgrounds and age groups, involved - with reasons why they should be involved, and a belief that their involvement will count?
How can we best tap in to and work with local community, voluntary and sports groups, schools and the like, some of whom are not specifically health-related but can influence or support future health patterns?
What services, support groups, sports facilities, other local groups and/or stakeholders exist in your catchment area?
How can we best act as the central part of an egg-timer, being a route where patients can adopt a policy of “we asked: you did” into the management and political centre? The other way round, how should we act to be a good sounding board for health care deliverers to discuss future plans and get feedback to be more patient sensitive?
Please discuss this, if you can, with your local Patients Group and come along to the Patients Congress Workshop (6.30 to 8.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 19th July)
with ideas about the role of the Congress and the best way forward

IT’S OUR HEALTH SERVICE. WE HAVE A CHANCE TO INFLUENCE IT. DON’T LET’S WASTE IT