Your local watchdog for health and social care

November 2018

Crowborough and High Weald Listening Tour date announced

As part of our 3 year programme of engagement, Healthwatch East Sussex will be bring its' third listening tour to Crowborough and the High Weald from Monday 4th to Friday 15th March 2019.

This is an opportunity for local residents and organisations work with us on an exciting programme of activity, to capture local views and experiences on the health and care services you and your family use. We are also interested in the wider determinants of health and wellbeing in the area such as the impact of housing developments, social isolation and the natural environment.

Keep an eye out in your inbox for our next listening tour update...we may even have something exciting to share with you!

System wide review of hospital Emergency Departments

Healthwatch East Sussex Authorised Representatives have been involved in a range of enter and view activity looking at patient experiences in hospitals used by East Sussex residents.

We have spent time at NHS hospitals in Tunbridge Wells and Haywards Heath in October 2018 plus 24 hour enter and view activity in Eastbourne District and General Hospital and the Conquest Hospital in November 2018.

Our Authorised Representatives have spoken to patients, carers, relatives and staff to gather their views and experiences. They have gathered views on the care and treatments patients are receiving, whether their care has met their expectations and how well they were communicated with.

We are also supporting the work of Healthwatch Brighton & Hove who are talking to patients from Brighton & Sussex University Hospital (BSUH), including some residents from East Sussex.

Reports on our Emergency Department Reviews will be published on our website later this year.

Healthwatch annual event 2018

On the 18th September 2018, Healthwatch East Sussex opened its doors and welcomed over 60 members of the public, and our partners, to share with the impact we have had in health and social care, as published in our annual report and about our plans for the future.

We asked for stakeholder views on the health and social care services that local people use and how we can work best with partners and local people in the future.

Delegates told us:

• Healthwatch should prioritise young people's mental health
  
  
• We should make more use of community strengths as "eyes and ears" to spot health and social care needs as they emerge
  
  
• We should do more to capture the voice of people who are cared for at home

We found the day to be positive, energetic and informative, and we look forward to sharing more with our stakeholders and the public over the coming year.

NHS Financial Positions in East Sussex

Central Sussex and East Surrey Commissioning Alliance

The Central Sussex and East Surrey Commissioning Alliance is made up of five of the eight Sussex and East Surrey Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs): High Weald Lewes Havens, Brighton and Hove, Crawley, East Surrey and Horsham & Mid Sussex. They have signed off the Alliance Financial Recovery Plan which sets out how the Alliance intends to save over £50m this year.

The other Sussex CCGs (Hasting & Rother, Eastbourne & Hailsham and West Sussex Coastal) are also aligning more closely with the Alliance, including the sharing of a Chief Officer for all eight CCGs in the STP area.

Why do we need an Alliance of Clinical Commissioning Groups?

The Alliance provides more formal processes and governance to ensure that the use of resources across the CCGs meets the needs of the local population more effectively. By working at a larger scale, the Alliance aims to streamline internal processes, avoid duplication and have consistency of quality in services across a larger area for patients.

Sussex & East Surrey Sustainability & Transformation Partnership (STP)

Sussex and East Surrey STP is one of the largest of the 44 STPs in the country, with 24 core organisation including all eight Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), the upper tier local authorities (counties and city) and the major NHS providers.

In 2017/18 the combined deficit of all STP organisation was £228.1m, which is £78.5m worse than the previous year. All providers and commissioners are reporting they are on target with plans to make savings this year but there are still significant levels of risk that not all targets will be met by the ned of the financial year.

For the future, the STP will be publishing a ‘Case for Change’ early in 2019 which will outline how the health and social care ‘system’ in Sussex and East Surrey can be transformed to become more financially viable and effective for patients.

Hastings walk-in centre latest

In March 2018, the East Sussex Better Together (ESBT) CCGs Hastings & Rother (HR) and Eastbourne, Hailsham and Seaford (EHS) presented their initial proposals to improve urgent care services for local people to the East Sussex Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC).  

These outline proposals included the development of new Urgent Treatment Centres (UTCs) at the Conquest Hospital in Hastings and the District General Hospital in Eastbourne. The proposals included the possible re-location of walk-in services from their current town centre locations to the hospitals. The intention was to provide the best service to local people by bringing together a number of services to provide an integrated and consistently high-quality service.

More recently, the CCGs have received a range of feedback from local people and key stakeholders which has helped them develop a more in-depth understanding of the people who currently access urgent primary care services.

The CCGs are now reconsidering their initial proposals before finalising the outcome of the urgent care centre review. The provision of a primary care community hub in Hastings town centre is one of the options being considered.

Join the East Sussex Community Voice (ESCV) Board of Directors

East Sussex Community Voice is the Community Interest Company which delivers your local Healthwatch. We will soon be recruiting for Non-Executive Directors to join our Board. We are particularly interested in recruiting people with strong marketing and research skills and to diversify the make-up of our Board.

If you would like to find out more, please contact the ESCV Executive Director, John Routledge, for an informal conversation or send your expression of interest to info@escv.org.uk

A recruitment pack will be available in January 2019.

Volunteer With Us!

Our volunteers play a crucial role in ensuring that we raise the profile of issues that matter when it comes to improving your health and social care services.

We are always looking new people of any age to join our volunteer network.

We have a diverse and interesting range of volunteering opportunities available at all times!

How to get in touch

You can share your experiences of health and social care services on our feedback centre. This is accessible online, by phone and through the post.

Phone:       0333 101 4007

Website:     www.healthwatcheastsussex.co.uk

Email:        enquiries@healthwatcheastsussex.co.uk

Facebook:  Healthwatcheastsussex

Twitter:       @HealthwatchES

Freepost RTTT-­‐BYBX-­‐KCEY, Healthwatch East Sussex, 32 St Leonards Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN21 3UT