Agenda item - Chair's Communications

16.1    The Chair gave the following communications:

We’ve got a busy agenda today, and I’m sure that members will appreciate that we will need to be quite focused to ensure the meeting doesn’t overrun. I will aim to give around 30 minutes for each item and I may have to stop questioning if we overrun too much on any issue.

I asked for a report on cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination to come to the HOSC as I was concerned about are historically low screening rates. It’s vital that we get screening and early diagnosis of cancer right as it’s key to improving our cancer outcomes and prolonging or saving lives. Cancer is a subject that I’d like to come back to in future meetings as it’s such an important issue.

We’ve also got a presentation on maternity from University Hospitals Sussex. Maternity is another issue of considerable local concern, and I’m sure members will be interested in how we are performing.

We’ve also got the hospital trust talking to HOSC about plans to change colorectal cancer services, creating a new trust-wide centre of excellence at Worthing/Chichester. I’m sure members will want to know what this means for local residents and whether there will be service improvements alongside longer journeys for patients and their families and carers.

We also have the Sussex winter plan presented at this meeting. This is the strategic plan for the whole of the Sussex health and care system to cope with additional demand over the next few months. As this is a whole system approach, a number of NHS and council colleagues will be joining for this item.

In addition we have an item on access to diabetes blood monitoring technology. This item was requested by Diabetes UK who had some concerns about the adoption of innovative technology across Sussex. We’ll hear from Diabetes UK and also from NHS partners who commission diabetes care.

Members will also see that there is a letter from University Hospitals Sussex included in the papers. This is for information rather than debate – it details some of the actions that the hospital trust has taken following Jo Harvey-Barringer’s presentation on liver disease at the July HOSC meeting. I am glad to see that the trust has been working with Jo to make improvements.

 Finally, a note about an item not on today’s agenda. I know that a number of committee members are keen to have an update on trans healthcare, particularly on specialist services including the Sussex gender identity pilot. I had asked for this to come to this meeting, but NHS colleagues asked for it to be postponed until our next meeting. I reluctantly agreed to this – we have been waiting a long time for an update. However, I do recognise that this is a complex issue and it is important that we get it right.