THE next steps in the process to review urgent (non-emergency) care services in Sheffield are being outlined this week following the 18-week consultation which finished earlier this year.

NHS Sheffield CCG received extensive feedback, all of which was independently analysed to identify common themes and concerns. The feedback also included a number of alternative suggestions.

At the Primary Care Commissioning Committee this week (17 May), a report will outline the CCG’s plans for working through the issues raised in detail to see whether these can be satisfactorily addressed, as well as considering all the alternative proposals suggested.

This will be done with a wide variety of people, including staff and clinicians from partner and provider organisations across the city and members of the public.

Maddy Ruff, Accountable Officer of NHS Sheffield CCG, said: “We want to make sure local people continue to be involved in this process and play an active part in shaping how we can best deliver urgent primary care services.

“But I want to emphasise too, change is needed. As we said at the start of the consultation, the current system is facing challenges that we cannot ignore and we are going to have to do things differently to make sure people in Sheffield can continue to get the care they need. If we don’t face up to this challenge, the system will fail.

“Our GP services are under huge pressure with increasing demand, more complex conditions and shortages of GPs and nurses. Our A&E services our also under huge pressure, and we know that there are people going to A&E who could be treated more appropriately in primary care. And while we’ve seen clearly in the feedback that people value the current services, people are also telling us that the system does not work well and that they are not always able to get a GP appointment when they need one.

“We are still absolutely committed to improving GP access across the city and supporting our practices to manage the increasing pressure they are under. We need to ensure people get to the service they need first time and have appointments in 24 hours when they need them.

“The proposals we developed were based on removing duplication and freeing up resources to improve access to primary care so we need to think about the best way of doing this taking account of the issues raised.”

The CCG is currently working to identify whether:

• We can overcome the issues raised in the consultation feedback regarding the options proposed
• Any of the alternative suggestions made during the consultation are potentially viable.

The CCG is working with clinicians, partners and a public reference group to do this and hopes to present a shortlist to the Primary Care Commissioning Committee in June.  Subject to its agreement, these will be worked up and tested so that a final recommendation can be presented by the late autumn.

Maddy said: “This is a long process but it’s vitally important we make sure we find the right system for our city and one which works for all our communities.”