Issue - meetings

To receive evidence in relation to the Primary Care Strategy from the following officer from Haringey Teaching Primary Care Trust:

·        James Slater, Director of Performance and Primary Care, Haringey TPCT

The strategy plus appendices is attached.

After a brief presentation of the main points of the Primary Care Strategy the following responses were provided to the Panel.

Super health centre/ polyclinic:

·        The term polyclinic has been replaced by super health centre within the Primary Care Strategy for legal purposes on the advice of Department of Health.

Location of super health centre sites:

·        The PCT is close to agreeing financial terms for the development of the Hornsey Hospital site, which will form one of the planned super health centres in Haringey.  It is anticipated that construction will start in September 2007 and services open to the public in 2009.  The Hornsey Hospital site may eventually come closest to representing the polyclinic model as presented in the Primary Care Strategy (in terms of the range of services that will be available).

·        Further developments are planned at The Laurels (clinic) to further integrate primary and community services provided there and to hopefully step the service up to becoming a possible super health centre site (maybe in conjunction with St Ann’s).  Lordship Lane has opened and the PCT are negotiating with services to operate from this site.

·        The physical location of super health centres is one of the key questions within the patient and public consultation process and as such, nothing has yet been finalised.  This being said, the TPCT did have some limitations in the availability of physical sites at its disposal to develop super health centres.  The PCT would look at feedback from the consultation exercise and develop more specific proposals from those.

·        There were some concerns among the Panel that the proposed location of super health centres on current A & E sites would not develop access to primary care services.  Whilst this was acknowledged, this approach was felt to be practicable given that many people would still probably go to these sites in the first instance, irrespective of what services are provide there.

Access to primary care services (GPs)

·        It is not anticipated that further GPs will be recruited as a direct result of the Primary Care Strategy.  It is intended that deployment of further support staff (Nurse Practitioners & Practice Nurses) will develop access to GPs and help to increase capacity of primary care services.

·        The number of compulsory allocations of patients to GPs by the PCT is falling (i.e. where patients cannot register as lists are full).  A fivefold decrease has been reported in recent years. Technically, there are no closed GP lists in Haringey, though some practices operate a British Medical Association formulated policy of “open but full”. 

·        As GPs are independent contractors, the PCT has limited tools available to direct the work of GPs locally.  The PCT did however have a range of commissioning tools/ incentives to that can influence where GPs locate (provision of various practice allowances) and improve the quality of services offered (financial incentives offered to practices within the Quality and Outcomes Framework).

·        Currently no GP practices are open to patients on a Saturday.  It is anticipated that ‘super health centres’  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5