SOMERSET'S response to the winter pressures experienced by the NHS has been evaluated by the group which commissions the county’s health services.

The Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is responsible for determining how the county’s annual health budget is allocated, and for planning for periods of high demand, such as the winter.

A report into the recent winter period identified several areas where the county’s health trusts performed well to cope with a big rise in demand for services between November and March.

It also identified areas where improvement can be sought, which is being built into a full plan to deal with next year’s winter demand.

The report was discussed at a meeting of the CCG’s governing body, held at Taunton Vale Sports Club on Thursday afternoon (May 24).

Alison Henly, the CCG’s chief finance officer and director of finance and performance, said that it had been “a really tough year”.

According to the report, the number of people attending accident and emergency departments at both Yeovil Hospital and Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton were up more than 10 per cent compared to the previous winter.

Musgrove saw a 9.44 per cent rise in A&E attendances and a 15 per cent rise in admissions, while Yeovil saw an 11.6 per cent in attendances and a 5.8 per cent rise in people being admitted for emergencies.

There had also been an 11 per cent rise in the number of people being admitted for emergencies, and a two per cent rise in the number of visits to minor injuries units in Shepton Mallet and South Petherton.

The NHS 111 services and out-of-hours numbers also had to cope with a two per cent rise in demand compared to 2016/17.

But while more calls were answered by the 111 service operators, there was a drop of nearly 15 per cent in the number of calls being asked after 60 seconds or less.

There was more good news regarding community hospital beds, with the number of beds being occupied remaining below the total supply throughout the winter period.

Staff at Yeovil Hospital said that they had benefited from a reduction in admissions from care homes and from the Home First programme – which seeks to treat people in their own home, a nursing home or a community hospital in order to free up acute hospital beds.

However, the hospital added that an “additional workforce” would be needed, including more porters, and that more transport should be made available around the new year period.

Musgrove Park Hospital indicated in the report that delaying elective procedures (i.e. less urgent operations) had helped to keep acute bed occupancy down in January and February, and that it had opened a further 36 beds from November 22.

However, the hospital also called for improvements to the passenger transport service, including longer hours of operation, and for a “seven day in-hospital infrastructure”, including a seven-day discharge lounge.

The Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust – which runs the county’s community hospitals – said that 99.8 per cent of “unplanned attendances” were seen within four hours.

It added that the percentage of bed days lost – when patients can’t leave hospital beds because care is not in place – was 5.5 per cent in February, compared to 10.9 per cent in the previous year.

The trust has said that “access to care packages” must be improved and more planning is needed when the need for more beds escalates.

These organisations’ feedback, coupled with their statistical performance, will serve as the basis for the CCG’s plan for dealing with next winter.

The plan will “promote self-management” and direct people to minor injuries units instead of A&E where possible, and will encourage people to use more voluntary services where appropriate.

Ms Henly said that the plan was “a work in progress” and that further updates would be brought before the governing body later in the year.

She added in her report: “Winter planning has commenced, and a winter planning virtual group is being set up with the identified leads from all organisations.

“A timeline has been requested from NHS England to meet their planning requirements, and a Somerset timeline will be produced when this information is shared.

“The priorities identified from winter 2017/18 and the learning from the episodes of snow will be embedded into the winter plan for 2018/19.

“These priority areas will be monitored by the virtual group, with actions and plans identified to progress and resolves issues and then monitored as we move towards the winter period.”