Hampshire’s largest CCG recruits clinical cabinet

News Release
06/02/2012

West Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has recruited further GPs to form an innovative ‘Clinical Cabinet’, to inform the design and purchasing of local health services.

Each GP will work with the CCG for either half a day, a day or two days a week to ensure local, clinical input into specific areas of work. Each GP has come forward with specialist expertise and knowledge, which will be used to drive forward projects and help improve services for the West Hampshire population.

The areas of work include:

· Dr Simon Hunter, Testvale Surgery, Totton - Planned Care – appointments and procedures that are booked or referred in to i.e. hip or knee operations

· Dr Adrian Higgens, Locum GP -  Unscheduled Care – emergency care such as A&E services, minor injuries and out of hours GPs

· Dr Nick Arney, Forest Gate Surgery, Totton - Long-term conditions – such as diabetes or heart disease

· Dr Lesley Ayling, Locum GP - Children and families – health care related to young children and teenagers

· Dr Katrina Webster, Locum GP - Mental Health – care for all types of conditions from mild anxiety to more severe forms of mental ill health

· Dr James Read, Gratton Surgery, Winchester - Medicines Management – the management of prescription medication

The CCG is also looking for leads on Primary Care, including care through GP practices, pharmacies and dentists, and Community based care, including care through community nursing teams, community hospitals and care at home, and asks for any local GPs who are interested to get in touch.

Chair of the West Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group, Dr Sarah Schofield commented:

“West Hampshire is a large area covering a population of 536,643 people through 54 GP practices. We want to make use of all of the expertise that are out there to ensure we draw on real knowledge and experience to drive forward improvements to our local health services.”

Heather Hauschild, Executive Director for West Hampshire, said; “The idea of a clinical cabinet is to provide the time and specialist input into the main areas of health needs, so that the people of West Hampshire have the highest quality healthcare.”

Dr. James Read, Clinical Director for Medicines Management said; “In my role as clinical director for medicines management I will be working with local clinicians and pharmacists to maintain good quality prescribing of medicines across West Hampshire. This needs to focus on what is the right medicine for the individual but, must be cost effective. In the South NHS region there is a £20 million cost attributable to wasted medicines. This is just one example where careful prescribing and education could save money that could be used elsewhere in the NHS.”

For more information on the Primary Care and Community roles please email Jackie.zabiela@hampshire.nhs.uk