Agenda item

This report provides an update on the outstanding actions from the Medway Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HASC) held on 14 March 2024.

Discussion:

The Director of Primary and Community (Out of Hospital) Care, Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Director for Primary Care Commissioning, all of NHS Kent and Medway, introduced the report which provided an update on the actions requested when the issue was last presented to the Committee on 14 March 2024. An error in the report was highlighted in relation to the patient premium which would run 1 March 2024 to 31 March 2025.

Members then raised a number of questions and comments, which included:

·        Data of numbers who have seen dentists – in response to a question about how many patients had been seen by dental practices, it was explained that following a dip in 2020, there had been a gradual increase with 92% of the population currently accessing dentistry, compared to 82% last year.

·        Data set used – in response to a question as to why the data related to adult patients who have not received NHS dental care in the previous 24 months and whether this should cover a longer period of time, it was explained that this was currently the only data available to commissioners.  There was a drive nationally to get access to more granular data around the new patient scheme but it had not yet been disaggregated down to an Integrated Care Board (ICB) level.

·        Impact of the Patient Premium scheme  - in response to a question about the impact this scheme was having, this was still unknown but a personal perspective was given that some dental practices were picking easier patients to add to the list and using unofficial waiting lists they held.

·        Pharmacy First – the data in relation to numbers of patients using the service was requested and it was undertaken to provide this to Committee members. It was added that Medway had some of the highest uptake across Kent of patients using the service.

·        Gaps in Pharmacy First provision – reference was made to some pharmacists not signing up to provide this service and the gaps in provision this caused.  In response, it was explained that there needed to be an alignment to the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment to understand fully where there were gaps in provision and also develop skills to support pharmacists with gaining confidence and capabilities to provide the service. This issue would be considered at the next meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board.

·        Diversity in pharmaceutical providers – in response to a question about how equipped pharmaceutical providers were to support patients from ethnic minority groups it was explained that across the system, there needed to be a targeted approach to ensure there was appropriate outreach to different communities embedded.

Decision:

The Committee noted the report and agreed to:

a)    Request a briefing note to update the committee with data around Pharmacy First and its use by patients.

b)    The Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, write to the Secretary of State and the National Pharmacy, Optometry and Dental Director, to request that more granular data available at a national level in relation to dentistry and new patient data is provided to an ICB level.