Issue - meetings

5.1          The Board considered a report providing an update on progress with the East Sussex system integration and related areas of collaboration.  This included the arrangements for the new Sussex Integrated Care System (ICS) and statutory bodies that came into force on 1 July and subsequent amendments to the HWB terms of reference agreed by the Council on 12 July, and a refresh of the Board’s Strategy ‘Healthy Lives, Healthy People’, which provides the overarching strategic framework for the work of health, social care and the wider system for the population of East Sussex.

5.2          The Board asked why the cardiology service may not be provided from the Eastbourne District General Hospital (EDGH) in future, subject to the outcome of the review process, when a new hospital is planned for the site.

5.3          Mark Stainton, Director of Adult Social Care, advised the timeline for the Building for our Future hospital programme to deliver new hospital buildings is several years, whilst the HWB Strategy is for 3+2 years. This means the NHS will have needed to make clinical decisions around the provision of cardiology and ophthalmology services before any new hospital will have been built. He advised the cardiology and ophthalmology reconfigurations are being reviewed by the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC).

5.4          The Board asked whether the new Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) strategy will ensure children’s neuro-diversity is recognised with their Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs).

5.5          Alison Jeffrey, Director of Children’s Services, said East Sussex County Council (ESCC) and the NHS organisations in East Sussex are committed to improving their joint working around Children’s Services. There are proposals that NHS Sussex is assisting ESCC to resource that are designed to improve the response to children who are neuro diverse and try and ensure they receive more help sooner. It is important SEND needs are captured in EHCPs and schools are supported to assist children who are neuro diverse, even those without an EHCP.

5.6          The Board asked whether discharge to assess will continue to be provided.

5.7          Mark Stainton confirmed that discharge to assess will remain as a core element of the range of services offered to assist patients who are medically fit to leave hospital and require ongoing social care.

5.8          The Board asked what the reasons are for the performance in Emergency Departments (ED).

5.9          Mark Stainton said that there are several reasons including that demand for ED is higher than it was two years ago; there are staff recruitment and retention issues exacerbated by COVID-19 outbreaks that compromise staff availability; and the flow of patients who are medically ready for discharge is also not as swift as it could be at times given the exceptional challenges with the independent sector care market, particularly home care. Discharge to Assess has helped alleviate many of these issues around patients who are medically ready for discharge, as they can be moved to home care or block purchased care homes where the necessary assessments can be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5