By Michael, Vice Chair, Modality Mid Sussex PPG

Norman and I took part in this online meeting recently. It was very well supported with PPG representatives from all over West Sussex.

It was the most interesting meeting that I have participated in and highlighted the differences there are in various PPGs.

ICB Restructuring Update

The meeting opened with Dawn Bamforth (Working with People and Communities Manager (Primary Care)) giving an update on the restructuring of the Sussex ICB. Three ICBs in Sussex and Surrey have been amalgamated resulting in potentially 500 redundancies. She expressed some concern about the ongoing communication and support for PPGs. The Integrated Community Teams will become more important. To quote Sussex Healthcare: “We see ICTs as the building block for how we embed our plans and continue to transform our local health and care system, shaping and delivering services differently both with, and in, our communities in the future.”

Healthwatch Update

The meeting continued with Jo Tuck, who heads up Healthwatch Sussex, informing the committee that Healthwatch England is being disbanded. Many have raised concerns that this change will remove independent scrutiny of NHS services and risks silencing patient voices. She explained that they have been guaranteed funding for one more year. It has not been announced what sort of replacement service there will be. If any! She is urging us to write to the Department of Health and Social Care to express our objection to the plan.

Funding for PPG Projects

There was then some positive news. As promised in the autumn of 2025, the ICB have provided a total £15,000 to aid Sussex PPGs in specific projects. We can apply for up to £1,000. Grants will be awarded on individual merit, based on the guidelines provided. Applications can be made from 02 February for six weeks.

Poster Design Sessions

We then briefly discussed the two online discussion meetings organised recently to design posters with the aim of making individual PPGs better known in their local communities. Norman and I had both participated in these meetings and agreed that they took an hour to do something that could have been achieved in a lot less time. However, the result could prove useful to us. The poster is provided in Powerpoint format which we can adapt to our own individual use. It is being circulated on 24th February.

Any Other Business

Any Other Business included various PPG reps describing the various achievements they had made in the past three months and the challenges they are facing. I told them of our fledgling Digital Inclusion tutor sessions and of the improved communication there now was between our PPG and MMS. We discovered how poor some PPGs operate due to lack of committee members. One PPG is chaired/run by a Practice Manager. Others sometimes have more practice partners than volunteer patients at their meetings!!

There was a discussion about patient DNAs (did not attend) and the negative effect it can have on the number of appointments available to patients. Some practices carry out some in depth analysis to try and determine why no attendance happens and how they can decrease the numbers. At one practice it was 5%.

Closing Note

The meeting finished with the sad news that there will not be a face to face meeting this year, similar to the one Glynn, Phillip and I attended in Ardingly last year which was so enlightening. This is due to lack of funding and the uncertainty about who will still be employed by Sussex ICB.

Summary

In summary I would add that, based on the discussion I have witnessed over the past couple of years in these meetings, I believe that Modality Mid Sussex PPG is better structured, better organised and stronger than many other Sussex PPGs. It appears that we also have better communication with our health practices than many other PPGs, perhaps because of the initial failure of MMS and the subsequent need to ensure our patients complaints were listened to and acted upon.