Agenda item - Member Involvement

(a) Petitions;

(b) Written Questions: a written question has been submitted by David Liley (Healthwatch Brighton & Hove representative) (copy attached)

(c). Letters

(d) Notices of Motion -

5.1       David Liley, Healthwatch Brighton & Hove member, asked a member question:

Healthwatch notes that following the removal of NHS funding it has been forced to close HOPs, the hospital discharge phone support project, from the end of June 2022. Healthwatch volunteers helped approximately 2,700 local people over the COVID period. What plans does the NHS have in place to continue to support people, in the City, post hospital discharge, with proactive telephone support? Are these plans restricted to older people and do they include support for younger people with emotional and wellbeing issues, particularly those who are at risk of self-harm and suicide?

5.2       The Chair responded:

The HOPs service was commissioned with Healthwatch at the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, using national emergency procurement regulations. The aim was to support people, post discharge, by providing a check on them, and the opportunity to signpost those requiring local services to appropriate local support.

We want to thank Healthwatch for mobilising the service so quickly at the time of the pandemic and for working alongside other commissioned Voluntary Community Service (VCS) providers in supporting people being discharged from hospital.

As we are now working to restore and recover from the pandemic, all additional services commissioned by the NHS to support hospital discharge at the height of COVID-19 have been evaluated to determine whether they are still required and if so, how each can sustainably and effectively be best delivered.

Healthwatch’s Report of the HOPs service covered a 21-month period from the start in April 2020 to January 2022. The report showed that, Healthwatch contacted 63% of the 6,530 people referred. Of those contacted (equivalent to the 2,700 highlighted in the question raised by Healthwatch), 77% needed no assistance or were simply made aware of other commissioned support services in B&H.

542 people (8% of the referred cohort) required further input and were actively referred onto other organisations to provide active support (commissioned VCS providers, primary care, mental health services etc).

Healthwatch have spent time to go through their detailed evaluation report with the NHS and we thank them for this time and for highlighting areas for improvement.

We have taken forward the learning from this service, and the help that it provided. Firstly we have absorbed post-discharge calls into the contract of an existing commissioned VCS provider who were already providing direct home support in the city. This means that post-discharge checks and direct care, where applicable, are managed by a single organisation, which reduces the risk of delays in people receiving the direct support they need.

For those requiring emotional and wellbeing support including patients at risk of self-harm and suicide, the NHS and the Council commission a wide range of services across both the NHS and voluntary sector and these are all available to the post-discharge check providers to signpost or refer to.

Therefore, we thank again Healthwatch for their support with this service during the pandemic and are confident that we have taken the learning from this service as we continue to support people now post discharge.

5.3       Mr Liley asked a supplementary question, noting that the commissioning change would mean that a valuable service had been lost. Whilst other services were excellent, and would pick up some of the work that Healthwatch had undertaken, he feared that there would be gaps, with not everyone who needed support receiving the help and advise that they needed. The Chair responded by noting that the Sussex Health & Care Partnership (ICS) was prioritising work to improve hospital discharge, so hopefully this work would address some of the gaps that Mr Liley had identified.