South East London Health Committee To Meet For First Time

* Dr Jonty Heaversedge

by NHS Southwark CCG

A committee set up to make decisions about the commissioning of health services in south east London will meet for the first time this month (March).

 

The Committee in Common – which brings together members of NHS Bexley, NHS Bromley, NHS Greenwich, NHS Lambeth, NHS Lewisham and NHS Southwark Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) – will consider initiatives that could affect patients across all of the boroughs.

 

The meeting will hold as per the following details:

 

South East London NHS Committee in Common

Date:

Thursday 17 March 2016

 

Time:

09.00 - 12.00

Venue:

Chapter Room, Southwark Cathedral

Post Code:

SE1 9DA

This meeting is being held in public and will be independently chaired by Mr Paul Minton, a retired chief police officer.
 

Mr Minton said: “The Committee in Common will bring together health commissioners from each borough, so that they can consider initiatives to improve services for patients across south east London.

“There are many challenges in health and social care and some of these can only be addressed by working together and introducing change across the six boroughs.

“Chairing this committee is a great privilege. The purpose is to agree commissioning decisions that make a positive difference for patients in every borough and achieve benefits for the NHS in the long term.”

Members of the public are welcome to attend this meeting. Questions for the committee should be submitted via email in advance: SOUCCG.SELStrategy@nhs.net.

Papers are available to download online.

Consolidating Orthopaedic Services:
At its first meeting the committee will examine ideas from Our Healthier South East London to consolidate some planned orthopaedic services (treating conditions that affect the musculoskeletal system – bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, muscles and nerves).
 

This would mean providing planned inpatient surgery from shared facilities – called elective orthopaedic centres – which all surgeons would use to treat their patients.

[ Read more about the ideas for a consolidated orthopaedic service and how the ideas have formed ]
 

The Committee in Common will consider the viability of these ideas and the potential benefits for patients, before agreeing whether they should be moved towards ‘options appraisal’ – a process which will help identify the most realistic ways of delivering the potential new model by considering things like effects on NHS staff, the patient experience and how much the changes could cost the NHS to implement.
 

Any major service change required may then be subject to public consultation. For more information call 07794 776365 or email ourhealthiersel@nhs.net.