Issue - meetings

Consideration was given to a presentation of the Acting Consultant in Public Health on the role of Public Health in Primary Care and the plans for Oldham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) clusters, NHS Health Checks and Mental Wellbeing. The Interim Director of Public Health was in attendance to present the information and to address the enquiries of the Sub-Committee.

Members were informed that Healthcare in Public Health was a mandatory Public Health function. This entailed looking at primary prevention and seeking intervention before issues arose. Secondary prevention consisted of intervening to stop issues deteriorating. The third element was how to manage the condition. NHS Health Checks were an example of how Public Health worked with Primary Care.  Health Checks were a mandatory programme commissioned by Council to GPs who would deliver it. Once every five years, people between the age of 40 and 74 years old should have a Health Check. Those who already suffered from a health condition, were not eligible for Health Checks. This service had been in place in Oldham for five years.

With regard to Public Health provision for Mental Wellbeing, it was reported that, following the Preventive Concordat, local and national plans were in place to support Primary Care services through preventative work such as the Five Ways to Wellbeing and engaging with pharmacies through the Healthy Living Pharmacies Programmes to “Making Every Contact Count” as a tool to provide information and support on mental health. Furthermore, training resources such as “Connect 5” and “Mental Health Literacy” were available to members of staff in Primary Care to allow understanding of the issues around mental health and knowledge of the tools available to support people.

It was also reported that Integrated Clusters were made of 45 GP practices and 50,000 population per cluster. Public Health supported the clusters providing data, direct support on ongoing pilots, support for people in work who due to hill health might have to leave work. They would be identified through GP attendance.

Members sought and received clarification / commented on the following points:

-       Statistics and outcome – It was explained that over 80% of the eligible population had been invited to have a Health Check; 38% had attended. In Oldham, from the start of the service provision there had been a low take up which had slowly increased in the last two years. The national focus had been on attendance rather than outcomes. There was also an issue on how a condition that had been identified at the Health Check was then managed by the patient via his/her GP. The preferred approach in Oldham would be to use a machine that gave results straightaway as people responded better when they received information immediately. The next objective would be to increase the information captured at the Health Check and work with the relevant Portfolio Holder to relaunch Health Checks in Oldham. Payment to GPs would need to be reviewed, payments should be awarded only for completed Health Checks.  There was an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12