A friend from our Parish Council casually asked if I'd be interested in a meeting involving 'future health care' at South Norfolk (District) Council. I was and foiund out that:
Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust is currently the new provider of community services (nursing, occupational therapy etc) in our 'not so local' area. Here in Thurlton we're relatively fortunate to be served by one of three satellites of the South East Community Team based in which is based in Wymondham. However, our satellite team is based in Chedgrave - a marked improvement on previous services, usually based in Norwich or Wymondham.
But when the new Commissioning Manager for South Norfolk, Chris Coath spoke, he revealed something of a snag:
Being in the extreme south east of Norfolk, right against the Suffolk border, half the patients (I'll say 'patients' rather than 'service users' for the sake of populist clarity) are registered with the Beccles GP practice in Suffolk and the other half with the Chet Valley GP practice in Norfolk.
The snag is that the new Norfolk community provision will only apply to Chet Valley patients. The Beccles practice patients will have their services delivered by a provider commissioned by the GP commissioning group which includes the Beccles practice - most probably (although not impossible) not the Norfolk Community Care and Health NHS Trust (NCCH).
So, for instance, half the people in our village, Thurlton will be served by NCCH and half by whichever organisation is contracted by the Beccles group in Suffolk (not known at the time of writing). Discussing this with Chris Coath after the meeting, we agreed a conflict of standards and methods would probably occur, leading to inequalities for people living next door to one another.
Yesterday, I also spoke to Gerard Whitfield, practice manager at the Chet Valley surgery. Gerard told me they are making no special arrangements as far as they are concerned and, pretty well shrugging his shoulders, said the practice divisions had existed for many years. He seemed not to be concerned that inequalities might occur.
Perhaps I and Chris Coath, his background being in heath scrutiny, are being ultra-sensitive. Time will tell.
Mike.
Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust is currently the new provider of community services (nursing, occupational therapy etc) in our 'not so local' area. Here in Thurlton we're relatively fortunate to be served by one of three satellites of the South East Community Team based in which is based in Wymondham. However, our satellite team is based in Chedgrave - a marked improvement on previous services, usually based in Norwich or Wymondham.
But when the new Commissioning Manager for South Norfolk, Chris Coath spoke, he revealed something of a snag:
Being in the extreme south east of Norfolk, right against the Suffolk border, half the patients (I'll say 'patients' rather than 'service users' for the sake of populist clarity) are registered with the Beccles GP practice in Suffolk and the other half with the Chet Valley GP practice in Norfolk.
The snag is that the new Norfolk community provision will only apply to Chet Valley patients. The Beccles practice patients will have their services delivered by a provider commissioned by the GP commissioning group which includes the Beccles practice - most probably (although not impossible) not the Norfolk Community Care and Health NHS Trust (NCCH).
So, for instance, half the people in our village, Thurlton will be served by NCCH and half by whichever organisation is contracted by the Beccles group in Suffolk (not known at the time of writing). Discussing this with Chris Coath after the meeting, we agreed a conflict of standards and methods would probably occur, leading to inequalities for people living next door to one another.
Yesterday, I also spoke to Gerard Whitfield, practice manager at the Chet Valley surgery. Gerard told me they are making no special arrangements as far as they are concerned and, pretty well shrugging his shoulders, said the practice divisions had existed for many years. He seemed not to be concerned that inequalities might occur.
Perhaps I and Chris Coath, his background being in heath scrutiny, are being ultra-sensitive. Time will tell.
Mike.
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