HEALTH bosses have pledged to improve, following a unanimous vote of no confidence in their abilities by council watchdogs.

On Monday, councillors at the Isle of Wight Council’s policy and scrutiny committee for adult social care and health said the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) was failing to adequately communicate with patients.

They cited the closure of the Sandown Medical Centre to new patients and the backlog of children waiting for an autism referral.

Following the criticism, the CCG said it would improve, and would involve local people more.

In a statement, the CCG said it recognised it had not always had access to the skills and experience needed for the Isle of Wight.

Maggie MacIsaac, who has been the CCG’s accountable officer in the interim since April, said: “It is clear there are genuine and justified criticisms that we have not always done enough, quickly enough, to involve people in determining how the care they need should be provided.

“We need to do more to communicate, and to engage with people – we must recognise this, and work to ensure that people feel that we are an open, listening organisation which actively seeks out feedback and acts upon what we hear.”

David Radbourne, NHS England director of commissioning operations, said: “The CCG has recently joined forces with the other members of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight CCG Partnership, and we believe that was the right thing to do in order to enhance the leadership team, strengthen the commissioning function and create closer joint working with local government.

“We exercised our formal powers of direction with the CCG last year to accelerate improvement and have been closely monitoring their progress, meeting regularly with them and the hospital trust, and we will be stepping up our work to help them improve.”

Mr Radbourne said a £400,000 grant from NHS England’s GO retention fund would allow practical support to the workforce on the Island.

UPDATED 2.11PM: The Isle of Wight Council have welcomed the CCG's pledge.

Committee’s chairman, Councillor John Nicholson, said: “We welcome the swift and constructive response from the CCG and NHS England to our strongly-held concerns. 

“We are a statutory committee with powers to hold to account those responsible for adult social care and health provision on the Island – and felt this was a matter that needed urgent attention from the CCG. 

“I thank them for their response, and we will be working closely with them to ensure the issues raised are followed through on behalf of the Island’s residents.” 

Council leader, Councillor Dave Stewart, said: “We are pleased the CCG has recognised and acknowledged the position and we are keen to work with them in the interests of the Island. 

“It is important this committee exercises its statutory function to call to account – and there will now be ongoing dialogue between the committee and the CCG.

“The primary aim of the committee is to strengthen the voice of local people to ensure their needs and experiences are considered by health partners in the delivery of services. This increases the accountability of NHS organisations and holds them to account for the decisions they make.” 

The Policy and Scrutiny Committee for Adult Social Care and Health is not a decision making body and can only recommend actions.

It does however have the power to refer concerns about changes in service delivery direct to the Secretary of State for Health. 

For more about the closure of the Sandown Medical Centre to new patients, see this week's County Press.