On Friday 13th October 2023 Jeremy Quin MP and I met with residents and representatives of the Integrated Care Board at The Haven, Crawley Down. Amy Galea (Chief Primary Care Officer, NHS Sussex) and Dr Andrew Hodson (Primary Care Clinical Lead, NHS Sussex) came to hear, at our invitation, directly from patients covering Crawley Down & East Grinstead Surgeries. Jeremy’s constituency covers Crawley Down but I represent the three other Surgeries in Mid Sussex - two in East Grinstead and one in Burgess Hill where many of my constituents attend. This is part of ongoing effort and engagement to make sure my constituents get the service and support they need.
You will remember back in March 2023 my outrage at the situation with Modality, well it really brought patients’ feedback to a head. Residents had been writing to me and my case work team to share their worries and concerns over the last year. The availability of face-to-face appointments, getting through to the surgery on the phone and follow up care were not being addressed adequately. We have continued to work on this on behalf of Burgess Hill and East Grinstead constituents.
In May 2023 Jeremy & I meet with Vincent Sai, CEO of Modality and his team. We have attended the Patient Participation Group, joined public meetings, Town led meetings and splinter groups of patients and activists on this issue to get a full and accurate picture of the issues faced.
Every concern I have received has been logged and I have been briefing the Integrated Care Board and encouraging you all to make your own approaches and share your experiences. To bring you up to date, all are now on side, to improve access and care for patients of the practices which come under the Modality umbrella.
So much so that the recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) have visited each of the practices several times and have now delivered their report, putting the surgeries into special measures. There is now a strict timeline of essential care that must be achieved and a set timeline of 6months to revaluate the findings. Steps will be taken if these are not met.
We all know behind each of these statistics are people and their health worries. My aim is to raise the care needs to the standard all patients deserve. That’s why it was so important to me to bring everyone around the table for some constructive straight talking and positive action to move forward. I also want to speak for those who are frightened and those with no voice, those who are carers and busy families with young children. We will find a solution to make this work for our residents and just look how far we have come in the process. I will continue with my casework team stand up for constituents on this and keep you updated.
