Apologies for  absence were received from Councillor Suzanne Grocott and Co-opted members;  Myrtle Agutter and Hayley James.

none

Minutes were agreed

none

Dr Wilkinson gave an overview of Breast Screening for women aged 50-70 years. She reported that there are ten screening sites in South West London as women should not be more than thirty minutes away from a screening centre. Uptake of breast screening tends to be lower in inner London and higher in the suburban areas. The South West London uptake rate is 65% which is higher than the average for an outer London area.  There is a link between low uptake and people who live in deprived areas. In South West London a higher level of cancer is detected than in London generally and around 5% of people are called back for further tests.

Dr Ruwende  said Bowel and Cervical Cancer is screened  in General Practice. The national target is 80% In South West London screening rates have increased from 67% -73% which is above the London average of 70%. There are significant variations between practices. There has been a 5% increase in bowel cancer screening, again with significant Practice variation.

There is lower uptake amongst younger people and those in deprived wards.

In terms of improving uptake it was reported that NHS England support providers such as St George’s hospital, who  text people offering scheduled appointments and send reminder letters. They also work with Age UK and other voluntary organisations to try and improve take up.

Action by individual practices can also have a significant impact. Therefore they are developing a good practice guide for all practices called an ‘Uptake and Coverage Strategy’.

A panel member said she tried unsuccessfully to book a test on line and then was not able to re-schedule the appointment. Dr Louise apologised to the councillor for their experience and said the service has now been improved and should be more robust. 

A panel member asked if screening  within the wider age range  results in higher cancer detection rates. Dr Wilkinson said there is an on-going debate in the media about whether screening is effective. A pilot is being run on the effects of screening the wider age range and results will be available from 2020.

 A panel member asked the length of time a patient would have to wait between the detection of an abnormality and being seen by a consultant. Dr Ruwende said it would depend on the severity but is likely to be three weeks for breast screening and six weeks for bowel and cervical.

A panel member asked why cervical cancer is on the increase and if this is due to higher levels of screening. Dr Ruwende said this is a trend across the country particularly within the younger ages groups, we are not sure why this is but is likely to decline because the HPV vaccine.

A panel member asked what we are doing to address the link between low uptake of immunisations and deprivation. Dr Wilkinson said  Pan London commissioning was having an impact , as well as letters from GP’s, texting women,  second  appointment. In South  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Service Director for Merton gave an overview of the report which outlined the proposed quality indicators for 2015/16

A panel member asked if their handbook would be available in different languages. The Service Director said they will try and meet requirements within  the resources they have available.

A Panel member said he is sitting on a South West London Joint Scrutiny Committee looking at in-patient mental health services and Merton was cited as an example of good practice for community mental health services what is happening to achieve this. The Service Director said we have invested in the home treatment service meaning that we work with people intensively in their own homes.

A panel member asked what support is provided to carers. The Service Director said they use a triangle of care between parents, carers and the service user.  They are piloting a project working with young carers to provide respite.

A panel member asked about they are managing a rise in demand as well as budget cuts. The service Director said they could do more if they had more money. The Trust are investing more money in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies  services which means that 3,500 more Merton residents are coming into treatment than five years ago. This approach supports early intervention.

A panel member asked what Budget cuts has the service faced. It was reported that much of the funding has moved to the acute sector, the average Clinical Commissioning Group spends 13% of their funding on Mental Health in Merton it is 9.8%. Merton has consistently low funding but positive outcomes.

RESOLVED

The Panel thanked officers for their work and supported  the general direction of the Trust but  are concerned about how much can be achieved with limited resources.

The Scrutiny Officer introduced the report asking Panel Members to put forward suggestions for the work programme 2015. The following topics were put forward:

Dementia
Facilities  in place to keep people fit as they get older
services for people with sickle cell disease

RESOLVED

The scrutiny Officer was asked to include the suggestions in the long list of topics  to be discussed at the next meeting in July.