Meeting documents

To receive the report.

The Committee received a report from the Senior Responsible Officer, Somerset Sustainability & Transformation Plan (STP).  They also received an executive summary of the STP.

The Somerset STP has been developed jointly by Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group, Somerset County Council, Somerset Partnership NHS FT, Yeovil District Hospital NHS FT and Taunton and Somerset NHS FT and was launched in November 2016.  It sets out a shared vision for reforming health and social care to address the challenges of the rising needs of our population, changing demographics and increasingly stretched resources.

The report detailed the key aims that the STP will focus on in order to close the current health and wellbeing, quality and financial gaps.  These were identified through a prioritisation process undertaken by the STP programme executive group. 

The next phase of the STP is to take forward these priority schemes, working with health and social care professionals, patients, service users and the public to develop new models of care that are effective and sustainable. A programme of engagement work is now being planned and undertaken with representative groups, including experts by experience and voluntary sector groups, relevant to the priority areas identified to ensure that a wide range of views are taken into account in developing the new models.  If the outcome of these reviews leads to significant service change then the STP will undertake a formal consultation with people, families and communities across Somerset. 

During the debate, the Committee queried the overall vision of the STP and questioned the lack of detail as to how the aims will be achieved.   They supported the need to increase the focus on prevention. They raised concerns over the level of public engagement but agreed that the costs of a consultation would be high.

A Member questioned the link between the STP, the JSNA and the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB).  The STP has a critical link with both the JSNA and the HWB.  This is continually being developed although the STP is not a linear plan and needs to be agile.

The Committee also raised the need to address the significant workforce challenges.

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One Member questioned whether the timeline for delivery of the STP was realistic and cautioned against rushing to deliver such huge changes.

The Committee noted the report and asked for a further update at the 20 September 2017 meeting.