Agenda item

A report from the NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board (ICB), known collectively as NHS Gloucestershire. The report to include updates from Integrated Care System (ICS) partners responsible for overseeing the day-to-day commissioning and provision of NHS services in Gloucestershire.

John Martin, Chief Executive of the South-Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, will join the meeting to give an overview on the current performance of the service and to respond to questions.

9.1 The NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board, (ICB), report was taken as read at the meeting. The report included updates from Integrated Care System (ICS) Partners with responsibility for overseeing the day-to-day commissioning and provision of NHS services in Gloucestershire.

9.2 To view the contents of the report please refer to the link on the Gloucestershire County Council website at the link here.

Highlights referred to by the report included: -

9.3 The new Gloucestershire Diagnostic Centre opened in February 2024 and welcoming patients for diagnostic tests. The new £15m facility is located at the new Quayside building in Gloucester, offering more than 80,000 additional diagnostic appointments each year and allowing patients in Gloucestershire to access potentially lifesaving checks more quickly, without having to visit hospital. A wide range of diagnostic tests including X-Rays, MRI, CT, ultrasound, ECHO and DEXA scanning will be available when the centre becomes fully operational.

9.4 The Gloucestershire Dementia Strategy was considered by the NHS Gloucestershire Programme Development Group (PDG) in December

2023, and has received the support of system partners. The Strategy aims to promote dementia positive communities and enable the delivery of a personalised proactive approach to provide support and care at local community or neighbourhood level to help prevent, slow or reduce the impact of dementia. A comprehensive Dementia Needs Assessment has been completed and a series of workshops held involving participants from health, social care, public health, community, and VCSE (voluntary, community and social enterprise) organisations. The Strategy will be presented to the ICB for governance approval.

9.5 The Gloucestershire Local Area Partnership had its OFSTED and Care Quality Commission (CQC) Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) inspection from 27 November to 15 Dec 2023. OFSTED and CQC carry out joint inspections of local areas at the request of the Secretary of State for Education under Section 20(1)(a) of the Children Act 2004. The purpose of inspection is to provide an independent, external evaluation of the effectiveness of the local area partnership’s arrangements for children and young people with SEND. The inspection report was published on 6 February 2024. Committee members were invited to study the report and to submit any comments on the areas identified for approvement. Action by – HOSC

9.6 Cheltenham Primary Care Network (PCN) won a top award, (Primary Care Network of the Year), for its joined-up work to proactively care for a diverse range of patients across Cheltenham.

9.7 Members were asked to encourage people across the county aged 40 and over to take up the offer of a blood pressure check in an effort to reduce heart attacks and stroke. One Gloucestershire’s Information Bus and the Outreach Vaccination and Health Team offered blood pressure checks in a variety of locations in January 2024. The latest initiative to build on visits to other parts of the county in the Autumn of 2023. Members enquired about the role of Pharmacists in offering blood pressure checks and were advised to visit the NHS Pharmacy First Service and the ICB Pharmacy webpages for details of blood pressure checks and other services provided by local Pharmacists in Gloucestershire.

The report was noted.