Agenda and minutes

To be notified of the appointment of Substitute Members.

Pursuant to the Council’s constitution the appointment of the following substitute members were made:

Councillor J O’Shea for Councillor P Bunyan

Councillor L Bones for Councillor O Scargill

You are invited to declare any registerable and/or non registerable interests in matters appearing on the agenda, and the nature of that interest.

You are also invited to disclose any dispensation in relation to any registerable and/or non-registerable interests that have been granted to you in respect of any matters appearing on the agenda.

Please complete the Declarations of Interests card available at the meeting and return it to the Democratic Services Officer before leaving the meeting.

Item 6. Breast Screening.

Councillor Claire McGinty, Registerable Personal, works for Newcastle Hospital Trust.

Item 6. Breast Screening.

Councillor Joe Kirwin, Registerable Personal, works for a cancer charity.

To Confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 26 September 2024

Resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on 26 September 2024 were agreed as a correct record

James Martin, Strategic Head of Primary Care, North East North Cumbria ICB will provide an overview of GP access in North Tyneside

James Martin, Strategic Head of Primary Care (Northumberland and North Tyneside Delivery Team), NENC ICB attended the meeting to provide an overview of GP access in North Tyneside.  Dr Shaun Lackey, GP, also attended the meeting.

The overview covered:

·       information relating to the structure of a GP surgery

·       what ‘GP access’ looks like in North Tyneside

·       challenges that are impacting on access to GP services

·       The Primary Care Access Recovery Plan and the local response to implementation of that plan

·       Current levels of workforce in general practice

The Committee were informed that GP services are contracted by NHS commissioners to provide generalist medical services in a geographical population area.  Some practices may be operated by an individual GP, some by provider organisations but most are ran by a GP partnership.  Every individual or partnership of GPs must hold an NHS GP contract and GP partners are jointly responsible for meeting the requirements of the contract.  The commissioning of primary care services, which includes GPs is the responsibility of NHS England however ICBs have taken on full delegation of these commissioning responsibilities.

It was noted that there are three different types of GP contract arrangements, of which core parts include:

• Agreeing a geographical or population area the practice will cover

·       Maintaining a list of patients for the area and setting out specific circumstances a patient may be removed from it

·       Provision of medical services to registered patients

·       Standards for premises and workforce and requirements for inspection and oversight

·       Expectations for public and patient involvement

·       Key policy requirements, including indemnity, complaints, liability, insurance, clinical governance and contract termination conditions

GPs must provide services within core hours, being 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday, with the exception of Good Friday, Christmas Day or bank holidays and they are funded through a global sum payment which is calculated  based on an estimate of the practice patient workload.

It was highlighted that within North Tyneside there are 23 GP practices providing services from 32 surgery sites with a registered population of 227,761.  The Committee were informed that this figure is higher than the resident population due to practices along the borders of North Tyneside supporting patients in Northumberland and Newcastle.  The practices also range in size with the average practice list being 10,113 patients.

Information which has been gathered informs that the number of appointments per month is increasing year on year and that the North Tyneside appointment rate per 100,000 patients is broadly in line with the England average and below the ICB average.  It was however explained that the data collection at present is not able to include PCN delivered activity in North Tyneside.

It was highlighted that there is a significant variation between the 23 practices within North Tyneside in the rate of appointments being provided. Within North Tyneside, the percentage of appointments that are face to face has been on a downward trend since September 2023.  This reflects that it is in line with the encouraged shift towards modern GP delivery  ...  view the full minutes text for item C15/24

Fergus Neilson, Screening and Immunisation Lead North East and North Cumbria NHS England will present a report that will provide an overview of the national breast screening programme in North Tyneside. 

Fergus Neilson, Screening and Immunisation Lead, NHS England North East and North Cumbria attended the meeting to provide an overview of the national breast screening programme within North Tyneside.

The committee were informed that NHS breast screening uses mammograms to look for cancers that are too small to see or feel.  The programme offers screening once every three years to women in the age range of 50 to 71. After 71 it is possible to self-refer for an appointment every three years. 

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK with around 12,000 women who die from the disease each year.  It was highlighted that survival is however improving over time with around 3 out of 4 women diagnosed are alive 10 years later.  The risk of getting breast cancer increases with age and around 4 out of 5 breast cancers are found in women over 50 years old.

The Committee noted that the screening programme within North Tyneside is commissioned by NHS England and provided by the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.  The programme has a mixed model of delivery through static sites based in hospital locations and on mobile screening sites that are periodically moved to different community locations.

In terms of the Programme’s offer, the Committee were informed that the screening service uses a fixed date and time model.  Research has shown that this achieves higher uptake than an ‘open’ appointments model where women are asked to make contact to arrange an appointment.  Following the Covid-19 pandemic, Newcastle Breast Screening Programme was an early adopter to return to the fixed appointment model to ensure that uptake recovered more quickly.

It was highlighted that there is continuous development of learning and building of an evidence base for what works in terms of improving uptake at local, regional and national levels.

From a health equity audit for breast screening, the key findings were:

·       Uptake is lower in more deprived populations

·       Uptake is lower in younger women and, in particular, for their first screening invite between ages 50-53

·       There is variation by ethnicity

·       Uptake is lower for people with learning disability

The Screening Programme has a dedicated breast screening health promotion officer to maintain and improve uptake.  The service has also joined North Tyneside’s cancer prevention network which features a range of stakeholders who work together on the cancer agenda.

The Committee were informed of a range of activities to increase screening uptake which include:

·       Newcastle Breast Screening dedicated health promotion officer

·       Work with partners in local authority and local NHS

·       Targeted work younger women via social media

·       Early return to “fixed” appointments

·       Text reminders

·       Multiple community engagements

·       Learning disability “Quality Check” visit

and the report also highlighted details of 17 targeted community in-reach events, organised by North Tyneside Council which was also attended by the Breast Screening Service Health Promotion Officer.

(Councillors A Spowart and J Webster left the meeting at 7.20pm)

A query was raised regarding the age of the screening programme  ...  view the full minutes text for item C16/24

To receive an update on the work programme and to consider items for future meetings.

The Committee considered the work programme report and the outline work programme topics for 2024/25.

Discussion took place regarding the topics and the most appropriate meeting dates for which they should come forward.,

Resolved that the work programme be updated to reflect the dates in which the agreed topics will be presented to future meetings of the Sub-Committee