GP data share delay 'a small step in the right direction' but Brent Patient Voice says opting out is still advisable

Reacting to the announcement of a delay in implementaion of the NHS Digital GP Data sharing scheme, Robin Sharp, Chair of Brent Patient Voice said:

This is a small step in the right direction but the plans need a radical overhaul if they are to maintain confidence in the GP/patient relationship. Opting out is still advisable.

Professor Martin Marshall, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, responding to the news  of the pause that the college had campaigned for said:

We’re pleased that the Government has announced a delay to the GPDPR programme following the concerns that the College, the BMA and others have raised over the past few weeks.

It is essential that this time is used to properly communicate with the public and with clinicians so that patients and GPs have trust in the programme. In principle, improved and more secure sharing of data for healthcare planning and research purposes is a good thing. We have seen during the COVID-19 pandemic just how important the appropriate use of GP patient data is in responding to a health crisis, but it is also important in normal times to plan for better overall service provision and public health strategies, and enhanced understanding of diseases and treatments for serious illness.

We want to see a comprehensive campaign, led by NHS Digital and accessible to all members of the public, which should include every patient being communicated individually with, clearly articulating the benefits and risks of data sharing so that patients can make a genuinely informed decision about whether they are happy for their data to be shared - and if they are not, how they can opt out.

The safety and confidentiality of data in general practice is paramount to GPs and our teams. Surveys show that most patients are happy for their data to be used for legitimate planning and research purposes, but this must be built around trust. What data will be shared, with which organisations, how and why this will be done - and in particular, what safeguards that are in place to ensure data is not used inappropriately - must be communicated effectively with patients and healthcare professionals, so that they have trust in the programme.

Brent could lose Community Cardiology Service after February 2018 - the public have not been consulted

From Brent Patient Voice
 

We have learned that the Brent Clinical Commissioning Group  Community Cardiology Clinics at Wembley and Willesden are closing at the end of February. While we know that the CCG has been discussing the future of this service with local hospital trusts there is no information in the public domain. We have written as below to the CCG Chief Operating Officer, Sheik Auladin, to press for public consultation on this issue as required by the NHS Act
2006. A full response has been promised.

Dear Sheik,

BRENT COMMUNITY CARDIOLOGY SERVICE RE-COMMISSIONING: PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT AND CONSULTATION.

Peter Latham has not yet received any acknowledgement or reply to his letters to you dated 29 November and 5 December 2017 about the future of the Community Cardiology.

We have seen the email letter from Brent CCG dated 30 November 2017 notifying Brent GPs that the current NHS Brent Community Cardiology Service provided by Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust (RFL) from both Willesden Centre for Health and Care and Wembley Centre for Health and Care will come to an end on 28^th February 2018 with no further extension. RFL are not accepting new patients for this service after 4 December 2017.

Brent Patient Voice are very concerned at the short time now left before the end of the current RFL provider contract for the Brent Community Cardiology Service on 28 February 2018. Brent CCG do not appear to have published anything about their proposals for commissioning such NHS Brent cardiology healthcare services after the end of this contract.

Clearly a number of questions arise. They include the location or locations of replacement clinics, whether equivalent resources will be transferred to new providers, what will happen to patient records and to cases in progress. This list is not exhaustive.

We feel that we must now formally remind Brent CCG that under section 14Z2 of the NHS Act 2006 as amended it would be unlawful for Brent CCG to develop or consider changes in the commissioning arrangements where the implementatiom of the proposals would have an impact on the manner in which the services are delivered to patients or the range of services
available to them without full public involvement and consultation by the CCG.

Please now arrange for someone to respond to acknowledge receipt of this letter and to say how and when Brent CCG propose to inform us as to their proposals for NHS Brent cardiology services after the end of the current RFL contract and for involving the public under the terms of s.14Z2 before final decisions are taken.

Yours sincerely

Robin Sharp
Chair Brent Patient Voice

Mansfield slams NW London hospital plans: Brent Patient Voice responds with proposals and asks 'Why is the NHS silent?'

 From Brent Patient Voice

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Brent Patient Voice welcomes the findings of the Mansfield Report. BPV Chair, Robin Sharp, said: “We are pleased that Mansfield endorses the extensive evidence that we and many other independent people submitted. Why has the NHS greeted it with silence?”  

The Report of the Independent Healthcare Commission for North West London under Michael Mansfield QC was published on 2^nd December. It brings no comfort for the NHS chiefs in our area – and none for patients either.

The Report says that the Shaping a Healthier Future programme is “deeply flawed”. Launching the Report Michael Mansfield said that the planned reforms provide “no realistic prospect of achieving good quality accessible healthcare for all and any further implementation is likely to exacerbate a deteriorating situation.”

The Commission calls for the programme to be halted, for the decisions to close the A&E Department at Central Middlesex Hospital and the Maternity Unit at Ealing Hospital to be reversed, for the increasing size of the population in NW London to be properly established and factored into future planning, for the so-called “Implementation Business Case” to be published and for there to be a new public consultation on the plans which they believe to have changed significantly. They suggest that the local authorities should consider seeking judicial review if the NHS press ahead with the programme in current circumstances.

However we are deeply disappointed that neither the eminence of Michael Mansfield nor the extent of public concern revealed by the evidence have moved the NHS authorities responsible for Shaping a Healthier Future to be sensibly open about the current state of the programme or its likely costs.

Commenting further, Robin Sharp said “Our fundamental criticism of the whole initiative is that the NHS in NW London has broken its promise in the consultation document that out of hospital services will be in place before changes are made to hospital-based services. Two A&Es and one Maternity unit have closed. Where are the openings to take their place?”

In order to be constructive we propose:

·      That the NHS should publish an intelligible version of the Implementation Business Plan for Shaping as it now stands, with outline costs, as is normal for any major public project;

·      That full consideration of the future of Central Middlesex Hospital be resumed, including the option of restoring its acute status with a fully-functioning A&E, bearing in mind the inadequacy of a stand-alone Urgent Care Centre there and the continuing intolerable situation at Northwick Park;

·      That Council officers be instructed to work with GLA statisticians to provide reliable estimates of the size of the current Brent population and growth rates, taking account of births, deaths, net migration and planned major developments;

·      That in collaboration with all partners Brent CGG produce a clear account of their Out of Hospital Strategy, including the role of the new GP networks, to restore confidence in this vital missing element of the Shaping programme;

·      That full and meaningful patient consultation and involvement should be integral to all future consideration of these proposals.

Brent Patient Voice  5^th December 2015

Visit the Brent Patient Voice website HERE