Current Conversations

Local NHS Listening to Patient Voices in 2021

Please let us know your views on the best ways to connect and listen to patients’ views in the future.

To participate and share your opinions, take the future engagement survey here.

Make sure you submit your survey before 12 February 2021.

Phase 2 Public Engagement Report 2021

This report has been produced as a result of the further public engagement and dialogue which took place in February and March 2021.

This dialogue provided an opportunity to feedback on our updated proposals as a result of the first phase on engagement in Spring 2019.

The NHS in County Durham also reviewed the original model for the community hospital in North West Durham in light of the challenges that COVID-19 presented, and these reflections were discussed as part of the engagement exercise.

You can view the full report here.

Project Update March 2021

Thank you to everyone that took part in our latest round of engagement! Our recent survey is now closed and we are analysing all of your responses and feedback from our virtual engagement sessions. We will continue to provide updates on this page, watch out for further news!

Project Update February 2021

NHS County Durham CCG has launched further public conversations in relation to the clinical model for services at Shotley Bridge Community Hospital. This engagement and the opportunities for people to join the conversation will run until the end of March 2021.

During this period of engagement the CCG want to talk to people and find out their views on how future services will be delivered by a new clinical model that has been developed by working with partners in the hospital trust. There will also be opportunities to discuss potential estate solutions.

You can see a range of materials and information about this engagement and our clinical service model included here and via the video below:

• Narrative document
• Presentation
• One page summary
• Online survey questions

Find out more about the Shotley Bridge Community Hospital services public engagement by watching the video below:

Sharing your views

You can share your views through the online survey, as part of the 8 public events or by contacting the CCG directly (my.view@nhs.net or by answerphone 0191 389 8609) where you can share comments directly and request paper copies of the documentation as required.  

Public events

As a result of social distancing restrictions the planned events will need to be held on line at this time. If you are interested in joining any of the sessions below, please get in touch with the CCG by phone or email (above) to register your place and they will provide the full details for joining the sessions.

Date	Time	Topic
Weds 3 March	3.30- 5pm	Urgent Care / Diagnostics
Thurs 4 March	5 – 6.30pm	Chemotherapy and Medical Investigations
Tues 9 March	2.30 – 4pm	Inpatient beds
Weds 10 March	5 – 6.30pm	Outpatients (including therapies, women’s services, Minor surgery)
Weds 17 March	10 – 11.30am	Outpatients (including therapies, women’s services, Minor surgery)
Weds 17 March	5 – 6.30pm	Urgent Care / Diagnostics
Thurs 18 March	10 – 11.30am	Chemotherapy and Medical Investigations
Tues 23 March	5 – 6.30pm	Inpatient beds

Providing comments/ questions

You can also share any comments or questions you wish to put forward in relation to each of the service areas that are included in the clinical model through the links below. The CCG will aim to then pick up comments made as part of future Frequently Asked Questions and any updates that are provided.

• Urgent Care / Diagnostics
• Chemotherapy and Medical Investigations
• Inpatient beds
• Outpatients (including therapies, minor surgery and women’s services)

Project Update January 2021

Shotley Bridge Community Hospital – Online Engagement Event

Have your say on the future delivery of services at Shotley Bridge Community Hospital.

Find out more about the online engagement event and how to take part online.

Project Update July 2020

Capital Funding update and Engagement report – September 2019

Following a number of national announcements on NHS capital funding the CCG has been seeking clarity on the availability of funding which was earmarked for North Durham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in relation to a building solution for services currently delivered from Shotley Bridge Community Hospital.  The CCG must ensure that it has funding in place before consulting with the public on the development of future health services in North West Durham.

We can now confirm that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have told us that following a further discussion with DHSC finance and NHS England/Improvement colleagues that the Shotley Bridge scheme can now be progressed with an identified funding source. The CCG will now continue to work with NHS Property Services in developing a Pre-Consultation Business Case by the end of the calendar year.  This will then be subject to the usual assurance processes by NHS England and we anticipate following this to formally consult with the public.

We also can now share the summary Shotley Bridge Community Hospital Services Engagement report following the extensive conversations that took place between March – May 2019

Update following Patient and Public Engagement – June 2019

The video below provides a brief recap on the rationale behind the patient and public engagement and what was undertaken as part of this between 27 March – 22 May 2019.

The full engagement report will be published on the this website once all of the feedback received through the public events, online questionnaire responses and wider ‘outreach sessions’ has been analysed. NHS North Durham CCG is currently bringing all of this feedback together with financial and service requirements to help inform preparations for the full formal consultation to further involve patients and the public in this work.

What was discussed as part of engagement – phase 1

There are a range of services that we are looking at as part of this piece of engagement. A summary of these areas can be seen in the ‘one page summary’‘ included. You can find more detailed information about each service, current levels of activity and the scenarios being discussed in the ‘Engagement Document’. We will provide regular updates on this work as it develops which will be added to this page, you can also review the information available in the following documents;

• Engagement Document
• Engagement scenarios ‘one page summary’
• Frequently Asked Questions document

The NHS in County Durham, Sunderland and South Tyneside are working together to understand your thoughts of the different ways people can consult with a healthcare professional at their GP practice.

Covid-19 also known as coronavirus, has meant that NHS healthcare staff have needed to use different ways of providing a clinical consultation to ensure that patients still get the healthcare they need. As well as the traditional methods such as face-to-face appointments, GPs, nurses and hospital staff have been using other, safer ways to consult such as telephone, online or video consultations.

Please find the time to let us know your thoughts about these different ways you can consult with your GP practice.

Survey

The use of digital consultations in GP practices report

Primary care – your local GP practice –  is often described as the ‘front door of the NHS’ and provides people with community-based access to medical services for advice, prescriptions, treatment or referral, usually through a General Practitioner (GP) or nurse.

It is estimated that around 90% of NHS contacts take place in primary care; with prescribed medication being the one of the most common interventions.

In County Durham, the Clinical Commissioning Group wants to share the draft of the future strategy regarding these services. The CCG is also interested to understand what your thoughts are on the vision and ambition it sets out. You can share your thoughts on the content of the draft strategy through a short online set of questions. Please provide your comments by Tuesday 24 November 2020, so that your feedback can be considered as part of the final development of the strategy before it is published in the new year.  

After having watched the video, if you have any suggestions or particular comments about what is contained within the strategy you can share them with us to help improve it further by using the link below.

Survey

NHS County Durham Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS England are keen to hear the views of patients who are registered with the GP service at Intrahealth Wingate.

The current contract with Intrahealth at Wingate is due to expire at the end of March 2022 and we are currently looking at a number of possibilities to ensure that you are still able to access GP services. 

There will be an initial period of engagement that will start on Monday 21 June 2021 and run until Monday 19 July July 2021.

To help us make an informed decision, it is really important that we hear from registered patients about their priorities around accessing GP services in their area and their experiences at Intrahealth Wingate Practice. The feedback from patients at the practice will be used to inform any future decisions that are made.

All of the registered patients at this practice have been written to directly providing them with information and their own copy of the questions we need to hear from them about.

Patients can feedback in a number of ways:

1. completing the online survey;
2. completing a paper copy of the survey that has been posted out to each registered patient (and returning it in the pre-paid envelope or at the practice itself when attending for face to face appointments);
3. Contacting the CCG or the practice directly by telephone

To contact staff at the Clinical Commissioning Group about providing your feedback or any queries you may have, please telephone 0191 371 3222 or email Lindsay.fox2@nhs.net.

Feedback will be taken into consideration when for planning future GP services in the local area.

Associated documents

Visual summary of engagement
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The Home Oxygen Assessment Service is currently commissioned by NHS Tees Valley CCG (all areas except Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees), NHS Sunderland CCG, NHS County Durham CCG, NHS South Tyneside CCG and the Gateshead locality of Newcastle and Gateshead CCG from Air Liquide.

The current service model focuses on oxygen prescription and ongoing assessment of oxygen need. A typical pathway incorporates an initial assessment, reviews at four weeks, three months and six months and annual reviews thereafter.

It is expected that the majority of patients on long term oxygen are also supported by community respiratory teams, leading to two independent teams supporting this group of patients and potential duplication therefore of clinical activity, or not making best use of clinical time whilst supporting individual patients.

Current Service

The current service consists of a team of 13 specialist nurses responsible for assessing and reviewing patient’s oxygen needs. The clinical team is supported by an admin team based in South Shields.

Referrals to the service are usually made by GPs but can be made by other healthcare professionals. When patients with respiratory problems and any other conditions are thought to need oxygen they are referred to the service for an oxygen assessment. The team of specialist nurses will assess if oxygen is appropriate and if so order the supply, provide support and follow up.

The team reviews all patients receiving home oxygen to make sure their oxygen supply is appropriate for their condition and provide ongoing care and support. The majority of oxygen assessments take place in the home. This is supported by ambulatory assessment clinics at Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Durham. The team works closely with GPs, hospital consultants, community healthcare teams and home oxygen equipment providers. There are currently approximately 3,302 patients accessing the service.

The CCGs are keen to understand the views and experience of patients who have used the Oxygen at Home Service, how they access it, any barriers to service, what ‘good’ looks like etc. This is in order that they can build a more detailed picture of the service and feed this into work ongoing across the region via Integrated Care Partnerships (ICPs) that are looking closely at the way services are configured.

A survey has been posted out to a sample of current service users and here is an online link to the survey. Survey closing date is 16^th July 2021.