Burton and Uttoxeter’s Member of Parliament, Kate Griffiths, has met with representatives from East Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group—the local NHS organisation responsible for planning health services and supporting the eighteen GP practices in the area.
The local MP met with the CCG’s Managing Director, Nicola Harkness; Accountable Officer, Marcus Warnes; and Director of Primary Care, Lynn Millar.
The CCG team highlighted to Ms Griffiths the ongoing work the group is doing to support local GP surgeries reach pre-pandemic levels of face-to-face appointments, and ensure patients received the care they need.
Despite unprecedented demand, Staffordshire and Stoke have previously shown themselves to be above average in reintroducing access to face-to-face primary care, but this is not consistent across the County, with more work still to be done.
The CCG also updated Ms Griffiths with the detail of its future development, with two planning managers to review local health facilities being recently appointed, and completion of a utilisation review to see what more could be achieved.
Kate Griffiths MP welcomed this development, having in September posed a series of questions to the Health & Social Care Secretary, the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, about devolving more health services away from larger hospitals and into more local community settings, where they are more accessible to residents.
Commenting, Kate Griffiths MP, said:
“I am grateful to the team from the CCG for meeting with me. This is an incredibly pressurised time for our NHS not only from seasonal winter service demand but also with coronavirus.
“It is hugely important that we have a healthcare system that is accessible and efficient if it is to meet the needs of Burton and Uttoxeter residents.
“I know from consultation with residents that people want to see local health centres being expanded to deliver greater health provision—including specialist care—closer to their homes, rather than having to travel to a larger health centre or Royal Stoke or Derby Hospitals.
“I will continue to engage with the local NHS to see if further health services can be delivered in community settings, closer to residents, for better care outcomes for all.”
