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DRBob Bowes, chair ofNHSWestKentClinicalCommissioningGroup (CCG), is spearheading a major drive to change thewayNHS services are organised and improved in Kent andMedway.


He and GPs leading the other


CCGs are proposing a single CCG covering all Kent andMed- way. Key aims are to:


• plan population health needs at county level • commission at scale, (example, for ambulance services) • let contracts to the new inte- grated care partnerships and set consistent clinical and care out- comes for themto achieve • oversee quality of services pro- vided • support/share best practice • commission GP practices. Integrated care partnerships


will align the provision of physi- cal and mental health and social care based on local needs in a way that is accessible and re- sponsive. One of these will be for west


Kent. Itwill bring togetherMaid- stone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust, mental


and can employ staff directly. As networks become estab-


lished, patients will have access to a much wider team of experts locally, including clinical phar- macists, physician associates, physiotherapists,


community


health trusts looking after adults (Kent andMedway NHS and So- cial Care Partnership Trust) and children (NELFT), CCG staff, new primary care networks and other organisations providing local NHS services. While each organisation will


hold a budget, theywill agree to- gether how funding is spent lo- cally. They will work closely with


KCC and the local borough and district councils in west Kent. Primary care networks will be


amajor part of these partnerships and will delivermuch of the care including all GP services.


Cancer concerns


MUCH still has to be done to bring cancerperformance levels in Maidstone and the rest of WestKentupto the requiredna- tional standards. The GP-led NHS West Kent


ClinicalCommissioningGroup (CCG) does recognise however that “a lot of very encouraging work is underway”. CCG chair Dr Bob Bowes


said: “Cancer services are under strain because, as national guidelines suggest, GPs now refer many more people for check-ups to make sure they don’t have cancer. “The capacity to test all these


patients is not in place yet, but all evidence suggests that if tests do prove positive, as they do for fewer than one in 10 of patients referred, the treatment atMaid- stone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust is very good. “Regular reviews of those on


the waiting list take place and there has been a significant re- duction in the number of pa- tients being tracked.” Key challenges are:


 Demand: The two-week wait following GP referrals have in-


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creased by 22% in West Kent compared with 13% nationally. These include an increase in out-of-West-Kent area referrals, especially in breast and colorec- tal sub-specialities; Diagnostic capacity: There are now high-volume referrals fol- lowing initial assessments and endoscopy and radiology capac- ity is challenging;  Patients with known cancer: Overall oncology capacity has been strained due to increased demand from other regional centres, especially Medway; Workforce challenges: These are mainly due to current vacan- cies which have led to reduced clinical capacity. Recovery actions being un-


dertaken by the CCG and Maid- stone and Tunbridge Wells hospital trust cancer team in- clude an increase in clinical and diagnostic capacity and a fast- track radiology and endoscopy system. Management teams are being


restructured and medical work- force expanded together with follow-up clinics for high-de- mand specialities.


Maidstone Weald September 2019


VILLAGERS who opposed 2,000 new homes in Marden handed over £230.73 to an anaesthesia charity. March for Marden campaigners


handed over the money they had collected at the protest to Safe Anaesthesia Worldwide. The money collected at the


march was to help produce a report for the 55 Maidstone Borough Councillors and key Kent County


Council members and officials. Chair of Marden Planning Oppo-


sition Claudine Russell said: “This has now been printed and deliv- ered. We committed to donating half of the money raised to our cho- sen charity and we are delighted to be supporting the work of Safe Anaesthesia Worldwide.” The campaign against the 2000- home development continues.


GPs ‘work 12-hour days’


GP PRACTICES in Maidstone and the rest of West Kent continue to be stretched by increasing de- mands in the primary care system. The budget-holding NHS West


Kent CCG reports GP partners are typically working 12-hour days. It says there are now some signs


that younger GPs are taking on partnerships.


In addition the appointment of


lead practice nurses in seven GP clusters has given new impetus to these staff groups. Four student nurses qualifying this year have gone straight into GP practices. If staffing in Kent and Medway


were in line with the national aver- age there would be 245 more GPs and 37 more practice nurses.


There will be seven primary


care networks inwestKent,made up of groups of GP practices. Each primary care network cov- ers about 30,000 to 50,000 patients


paramedics and social prescrib- ing link workers. Primary care networks will as-


sess the needs of local people and workwithin integrated care part- nerships to improve the health and life expectancy of communi- tieswhich historically haveworse health than others. Dr Bowes, left, said: “This is a


very exciting point in develop- ment of theNHS.We have a gen- uine opportunity to restructure health and care in the way that we believe will work best for the people of Kent andMedway. “It will allow us to join up care


and make the most of all the ex- pertise in the system, from very local level to county-wide.”


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