Agenda item - Healthwatch Brighton & Hove Let's Get You Home - a report on the experiences of older people being discharged from the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton from July-September 2018

Appendix 2 of the report (copy attached)

RESOLVED:

(1)            That the Board agreed for the report to be noted;

(2)            That the report be referred to the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee to monitor how the recommendations were implemented and the outcomes/impact on to residents.

56.1      Michelle Kay, Healthwatch Brighton & Hove Project Coordinator, introduced the Brighton & Hove ‘Let’s Get You Home’ Report which asked local older people about their experiences of getting advice and support when being discharged from hospital to home. Concerns raised in the report included the quality and consistency in care planning and the lack of coordination and personalization of care.

56.2      David Liley commented that the report highlighted the impracticalities of the discharge service and that patient expectations were not being met, which should be a KPI for commissioning. He added that there were also problems with third sector staff employment security and that they needed certainty to provide them with the opportunity to plan for future services.

56.3      The Statutory Director for Health and Adult Social Care responded that the Council and the CCG would have a single contract register line that would be completed in two weeks’ time. He added that in the past it had been challenging for organisations to set up, however beyond 2020 there would be shared intelligence and that by Autumn 2019 there would be guidance for  the NHS Long Term Plan and budgetary indicators which will then allow better notice given to smaller organisations if there funding continued.

56.4      Councillor Page stated that the report had high quality qualitative data, although the sample was small. He added that monitoring the issues raised in the report was essential and he agreed with the recommendation of referring the report to the Health Overview and Scrutiny (HOSC) to formally track the outcomes for patients. 

56.5      Councillor Moonan thanked Healthwatch for highlighting the crucial areas for patient care and the system as a whole in the report and she stated that HOSC was the vehicle to continue scrutiny on the progress. She commended the huge effort that NHS colleagues had performed this Winter on these issues and asked how residents could be assured that this situation would not re-occur and how the issues be de-embedded from the system

56.6      The Statutory Director for Health and Adult Social Care responded that it was important remove blame from the solution to the issues and remember that this was not a seasonal occurrence, particularly as demand in Brighton and Hove was year-through. In the January Board’s Chairs Communications it had been mentioned that they would be undertaking a hospital to home review, which was run by the Local Government Association and NHS England, which brought together the Hospital, the Council, the CCG and the Sussex Partnership Trusts. This review would be on the June Board’s agenda and subject to feedback and actions on the findings.

56.7      In response to Councillor Moonan asking for assurance on the commitment from health colleagues to follow the recommendations of the report, Ashley Scarff thanked Healthwatch for its work and reiterated the backing from health colleagues to support the work to improve patient flow as this was key blockage system-wide

56.8      Councillor Taylor thanked Healthwatch for the report and supported the core principle of acting as a patient champion and collating real world experiences and invaluable knowledge of service users. He stated that the report indicated that rates of flow had improved but he added that providers must be careful not to sacrifice the quality of the service for speedy turnovers and he supported the recommendations to ensure actions were followed.

56.9      RESOLVED:

(1)          That the Board agreed for the report to be noted;

(2)          That the report be referred to the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee to monitor how the recommendations were implemented and the outcomes/impact on to residents.