Nottinghamshire County Council will be presented with plans for a major overhaul of health and social care services at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) Trust, at a key meeting next week.
Members of the Health Scrutiny Committee are to scrutinise proposals from Nottinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) that will pave the way to “transform critical infrastructure” and allow for greater integration of health and social care services within the county, as part of the Tomorrow’s NUH programme.
Among the broad sweeping proposals laid out in a report to the committee are provisions to “address health inequalities” in the county and “spur economic regeneration”, with the unlocking of major funding from the Department of Health and Social Care.
Under the Reshaping Health Services in Nottinghamshire plan outlined by the CCG will be provisions to allow for population change in the county, handle more “complex and long term conditions” associated with older populations, shift focus on better prevention of illnesses, and ensure that “services are set up and located in a way that maximises their performance”.
The proposals to be presented to the committee at a meeting on Wednesday, July 13, will take in the findings of a major process of engagement with members of the public and healthcare providers in Nottinghamshire, launched in November last year.
As well as consulting with the public, the CCG has carried out engagement exercises with various individuals and bodies including clinicians, Health Scrutiny Committees, the NUH trust governing body, and the regional Clinical Senate.
Central to the proposed reforms is a push towards greater integration between all areas of health and social care across the three pillars of the services, primary, acute, and community care.
Among the changes proposed are moves to centralise key aspects of healthcare into single locations. Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CCG is proposing central hubs to enable all emergency care to take place on one site, and all maternity and care for children to be run from the same location.
Members of the County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee will be asked to consider and comment on the proposals put forward in the plans at a major meeting to be attended by leaders from the CCG and NUH Trust.
Funding for the proposals will come from a major Department of Health Social Care programme of investment into regional services, known as the Health Infrastructure Plan 2 (HIP2).
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