Agenda item

Healthwatch Update, three papers to be presented by Adam Webb

Will Blandamer, Deputy Placed Based Lead and Executive Director of Health and Adult Care, provided an overview of Healthwatch and its role in supporting Bury Health Scrutiny. He emphasized that Healthwatch is a partnership organization that provides recommendations rather than acting on these matters directly. Will highlighted the importance of Healthwatch in supporting the local community.

Healthwatch Annual Report

Adam Webb, Chief Operating Officer for Healthwatch Bury, presented three reports during the meeting. The first report was the annual report, which addressed issues identified and resolved over the past year in both the Bury locality and the network of 10 Greater Manchester Healthwatch organizations. Key subjects included using patient experiences to inform regulatory and council bodies about serious problems in care homes, supporting people with sexual health services, improving digital health literacy in Bury, and enhancing patient communication methods as part of the intermediate care redesign process. The report also outlined the priorities and plans for Healthwatch Bury in the coming year.

Members of the committee were invited to ask questions. Councillor Jo Lancaster inquired about the number of people who had reached out to Healthwatch and requested a breakdown of their concerns. Adam Webb agreed to provide this information in a future report, either as an agenda item or circulated to members.

Councillor Boles asked about the council’s actions on Healthwatch’s recommendations, specifically regarding setting up helplines for prescription-related queries. Councillor Tariq responded that Healthwatch Bury has a strong relationship with the local authority. The response to recommendations depends on the relevant service and part of the system involved. There is a consultation process, and input from the relevant service is considered before Healthwatch conducts studies and findings. Recommendations are agreed upon on a case-by-case basis.

Will Blandamer added that Healthwatch is integrated into the locality, being part of various boards such as the locality board, delivery board, and mental health programme board. These boards reflect on Healthwatch reports and consider the recommendations. Will confirmed that there is no formal reporting system where reports are sent back to Healthwatch to advise on actions taken by the council. Instead, updates from Healthwatch are relied upon to determine whether recommendations have been implemented. Will noted that not all recommendations from Healthwatch can be implemented due to various reasons.

Discussions were had around the NHS app being not easy to use, there was a response for this explaining that the NHS doesn’t work the same for everybody as each GP practice uses the app differently and ensured that given the recommendation its looking into ensuring that all GPs offer the same app access.

Report on Prescription Services

The report on prescription services by Healthwatch Bury aimed to explore patient experiences with the prescription process. The objectives were to identify key issues and local good practice examples, assess the usability of digital platforms like the NHS app, and provide recommendations to improve the prescription process and patient satisfaction. Data collection involved community group visits, engagement activities, and one-on-one interviews, with 122 questionnaire responses collected.

Several respondents highlighted poor communication between GP surgeries and pharmacies, leading to confusion and delays in getting prescriptions approved. The responses indicated that recommendations such as exercise, social prescribing, and other holistic health approaches are still not widely used. Additionally, 38% of respondents did not use the NHS app, citing technical difficulties and poor integration across NHS trusts. Despite these issues, the majority of respondents (65%) reported being either very satisfied or satisfied with their initial contact, suggesting general contentment with interactions with healthcare professionals.

The report included six recommendations to address the issues raised, aimed at improving the process of issuing, supplying, and monitoring prescriptions. This review comes at a time when the ‘Pharmacy First’ policy will impact the capacity and delivery capabilities of pharmacies. As patient-led ordering is being phased in, it is important to consider the findings of the report in implementing these changes.

Councillor Michael Rubinstein asked a question around capacity for pharmacists given the over subscription of pharmacies already, recommendations around looking into the process as to how the waiting systems are holding people up was discussed. Looking at other schemes where members of the public may not need to attend the pharmacies. Will Blandamer addressed that community pharmacists are under pressure but are looking to ensure that services are offered that are required.

Discussions were had around the issues of prescriptions coming from the GP practice to the pharmacies electronically as there are many reasons that this process can end up not being as smooth as you would hope. Some of these issues come from things such as getting access to certain medications, with alternatives having to be prescribed.

Adrian Crook, director of adult social care added advice to anybody needing help or advice regarding prescriptions speak to their GP practice who will put them through to their community pharmacist who can assist with prescribing medication.

Discussions were held around Pharmacy first this being a national model rolled out in Bury. Pharmacy first can prescribe for seven conditions. Discussions carried on around prescription medication being different from what is prescribed to what is given.

It was agreed:

·       The reports be noted

·       To bring a statistics report from Healthwatch in the future

·       Medical optimisation team to come back to a future meeting

·       Healthwatch to bring breakdown of why members of the public contact 793 people reached out and what they contacted for