Agenda item

The Committee considered a joint report of the Chief Executive and ICS Performance Service which provided an update on public health and health system performance in Leicestershire based on the available data in April 2025. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 11’, is filed with these minutes.

The Committee welcomed to the meeting for this item Rachel Dewar, Assistant Director of Urgent and Emergency Care, and Yasmin Sidyot, Deputy Director Integration and Transformation, Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board.

Arising from the report the following discussions took place:

(i)           Members raised concerns with regards to East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) response times and it was questioned whether anything could be done locally to improve the situation. In response it was explained that a lot of work was taking place to improve handover times at the Emergency Department which would then free up ambulances to go back out into the community. A national programme was working on this and positive results were starting to be seen. Work was also taking place to reduce the number of lower acuity calls being referred onto EMAS. It was noted that EMAS were due to provide a report and presentation for the November 2025 Committee meeting.

(ii)         Talking Therapies reliable improvement for February 2025 was 66%, marginally under the target of 67% and Talking Therapies reliable recovery performance was 49% against a target of 48%. A member suggested that the issue was throughput rather than outputs. The member also raised concerns about services being delivered through a computer screen rather than face to face, and whilst acknowledging that delivering services online could be more cost effective, questioned whether this was the best approach for patients. In response, reassurance was given that work was taking place with the Talking Therapies provider around the range of services they provided to ensure there were both face to face and online services. The provider was also being liaised with to ensure patients were triaged into the appropriate service for their needs. It was suggested that there could be an agenda item at a future Committee meeting regarding early intervention for patients with mental health issues and access to Psychological Therapies, with officers from the field of mental health present to answer questions.

(iii)        The mental health Central Access Point was available by calling NHS 111 and selecting the mental health option. A caller would be connected to a trained professional who could provide support or signposting. In response to a question, it was confirmed that there was evidence that the service worked well. Further work was taking place regarding a single point of access for the whole of mental health services in LLR to streamline and further integrate mental health services. 

(iv)       The Committee welcomed that a significant amount of additional Primary Care appointments had been delivered over the winter period 2024/25. It was explained that this was a complex issue to address given that there were 150 GP Practices across LLR of varying sizes, and the patients were of differing demographics. One positive was that all GP Practices were now using the cloud-based telephony system which meant that the experience of patients when they called the practice was improved and less time was spent on hold. A member suggested that if patients were not satisfied with their GP Practice they should transfer to a different practice. GP Practices did advertise when they had room on their patient list so it was possible for patients to move.

(v)         The NHS app was being further developed so that patients could access a greater range of information through it, though it was acknowledged that not all patients were able to access technology easily.

(vi)       The metric for ‘HIV late diagnosis in people first diagnosed with HIV in the UK’ was rag rated red for the period 2021-23, Leicestershire was ranked 15th out of 16. Members queried the reasons behind the data and requested to consider this issue in more detail at a future meeting.

(vii)      Year 6 prevalence of overweight (including obesity) had shown a significant increasing (worsening) performance. It was suggested this could be connected to the Covid-19 pandemic.

(viii)    Some data had changed since the Committee report had been published:

·        Inequality and life expectancy for females had moved from the best quintile nationally to the second-best quintile nationally.

·        Overweight adult performance had changed from significantly worse than the national average to similar to the national average.

·        For active adults Leicestershire had moved from significantly better than the national average to similar to the national average.

·        Inactive adults had changed from significantly better than the national average to similar to the national average.

(ix)       Public Health carried out work in relation to the healthiness of the food people consumed in Leicestershire and also encouraged people to become more active.

RESOLVED:

(a)        That the update on public health and health system performance in Leicestershire be noted;

(b)        That officers be requested to provide reports for future meetings on HIV prevalence in Leicestershire, mental health early intervention and Integrated Access to Psychological Therapies.