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Local patient caremust improve, says review
PRESSURE to improve patient care in Maidstone area and the rest of West Kent is being ap- plied by the NHS. This follows a leadership re-
view of the budget-holding GP- led West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group by the NHS, which resulted in an over- all “Green” assessment for finan- cial performance. But it says with this solid base
it would have expected the CCG to have progressed further in im- plementing local care, but it has been relatively conservative. It expects it now tomove faster. Key areas ofNHS comment are:
Waiting lists: It says there is not enough capacity inMaidstone and Tunbridge Wells Hospital Trust to reducewaiting lists to ac- ceptable levels, It fears financial restrictionswill increase the prob- lem. Cancer targets: The long-stand- ing seriously missed targets for
Strong and stable
THE NHS sees West Kent CCG’s Governing Body as strong and stable. The leadership of both an ex-
cancer investigations and treat- ments are seen as a serious issue and the CCG and hospital trust were “slow to improve perform- ance”, needing intervention from the NHS. It was said lessons had been learned fromthe slow start. Mental health: The CCG “failed to deliver many mental health standards and is now falling behind other areas”. Special needs: For children’s and young people’s servicesKent andMedway “had a trulyworry- ing inspection” – but was devel- oping a joined-up approach of required action.
perienced clinical chairman and accountable officer resulted in another good year financially. They took the lead in encourag- ing other area CCGs on the jour- ney to a single commissioner for Kent andMedway.
Care strategy: Out-of-hospital work needs to continue at pace, with the development of a local care strategy for community beds and rehabilitation. 2019/20 plannning: The plan is “robust” and clear about risks. GP networks: There is good progress on the Primary Care Network development and the GP Federation will work closely across themajority of practices.
Health |News Help for GPs
PLANS are in place to encourage recently-retired GPs in theMaid- stone area and rest of West Kent to return to work on a part-time basis. About 30% of GPs in the area
are approaching retirement. The majority of new pro-
grammes are aimed at reducing the workload for GPs to help off- set the problemof lowstaffing. The CCG says, due to antici-
pated population growth in the centre of Maidstone, an addi- tional GP practice may be re- quired.
Cancer plan
A SYSTEM-WIDE cancer plan forWest Kent is being developed to ‘demonstrate the commitment of all agencies’. This is in response to missed
cancer targets over a period of manymonths. West Kent CCG says it remains
challenging to deliver cancer treatments in the 62-dayNHS tar- get, but the trust has lowered the cancerwaiting list backlog and re- duced the number waiting more than 104 days for treatment.
Maidstone August 2019
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