Agenda and minutes

At this point Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on this agenda. A list of general personal interests previously declared are attached.

Members were invited to declare at this point in the meeting any personal or prejudicial interests they might have in the business on the agenda.

Councillor Simpson-Laing asked that the list of standing declarations be updated to show that she works for the Disabilities Trust and to include the declarations she had made at the previous meeting.

To approve and sign the minutes of the last meeting of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 23 September 2009.

RESOLVED:             That the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 23 September 2009 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting, members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Committee’s remit can do so. The deadline for registering is 5:00 pm on Tuesday 1 December 2009.

There had been no registrations to speak under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

The Executive Member for Housing and Adult Social Services will be in attendance to report on forthcoming priorities and to discuss the Committee’s Work Plan in relation to his portfolio. [Copy of presentation attached]

Members received an update from the Executive Member for Housing and Adult Social Services on forthcoming priorities in his area. He gave a presentation which covered the areas of Safeguarding and Personalisation as well as the outcomes of, and progress in relation to, the CSCI (Commission for Social Care Inspection) 2008 report.

With the Chair’s agreement, Mr John Yates of the Older People’s Assembly addressed the Committee. He raised concerns that the majority of people likely to be affected by Personalisation and Safeguarding issues may not know what these terms meant. He suggested that the Executive Member liaise with the Older Citizens Advocacy Service to ensure that target groups are kept informed of what was happening in these areas.

The Executive Member advised that he would take Members’ comments on board and that he would endeavour to attend the next meeting of the Committee on 14 December 2009. 

RESOLVED:             (i)         That the update from the Executive Member of     Housing and Adult Social Services be noted.

(ii)               That Members comments be noted.

(iii)             That the Executive Member be invited to attend the meeting on 14 December 2009.

REASON:                  (i)         In order that the Committee is kept informed on   work within the remit of the Executive Member for            Housing and Adult Social Services.

(ii)In order that the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee can make a contribution to this portfolio area. 

This report provides Members with an update on the provision of NHS dental services in York.

Members considered a report which updated them on the provision of NHS dental services in York.

The Acting Assistant Director, Primary Care, of NHS North Yorkshire and York provided the following information and responded to Members queries on specific issues.

• NHS Dental Waiting list is currently held as an Excel spreadsheet and administered by an admin person. Problems have been identified with the current system and it has been recognised that it needs to be looked at.
• First step is to validate the current waiting list by writing to everybody on the list and asking if they are still actively waiting for an NHS dentist -need to be aware that some people may be on the waiting list for an NHS dentist but also be receiving treatment from a private dentist.
• Some dentists hold their own waiting lists and this does not feed information into NHS waiting list and does not contribute to service planning.
• Monthly variations in data contained in the report can be explained by seasonal variations and also capacity and demand influences.
• There are very few dental practices solely providing NHS treatment – most have combination of private and NHS patients.
• For clarification, abbreviations used regarding contracts in Annex C are as follows: Personal Dental Services (PDS), General Dental Services (GDS) and Trust-led Dental Services (TDS). Units of Dental Activity (UDA) refers to general dentistry, Units of Orthodontic Activity (UOA) refers to treatment for straightening of teeth – generally realignment of teeth in children.
• With regard to dental care for children, there are links with Children’s Centres and the Salaried Dental Service has a rolling programme which identifies areas were children are in most need of treatment. Check are also undertaken in schools.
• In respect of salaries, UDA system is fixed nationally but UDA rate is not – these are tendered for - the average UDA rate nationally is £21 per UDA – the “Doncaster Model” incorporates a quality measure which dentists have to meet before they receive payment for an UDA.

Members queried the figure given in annex A of the report for the number of NHS practices in the City of York area and the Acting Assistant Director – Primary Care agreed to clarify this information and provide this to Members.  She referred to a data sheet which contained information on York (excluding Selby) which Members had requested and the Scrutiny Officer agreed to circulate this to Members following the meeting.

In response to a query regarding problems with recruitment and retention of dentists in York, the Acting Assistant Director – Primary Care confirmed that during the last procurement process there had been problems attracting sufficient interested parties and she had contacted the Department of Health for advice on tackling this issue. She also advised Members that there was a problem in finding suitable premises in which to locate dental surgeries. With regard to a query regarding entitlement to the use of services at Leeds Dental Institute, she advised Members that there was no charge  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

This report outlines the suggested scope and timetable for the childhood obesity review, which aims to address whether current service provision is effectively reducing childhood obesity in the city. [copy of presentation attached]

Members considered a report outlining the suggested scope and timetable for the review on Childhood Obesity, which aims to address whether current service provision is effectively reducing childhood obesity in the city.

Members asked that the Scoping Report be amended to include reference to liaising with the Local Healthy Schools Advisor and the Regional Healthy Schools Advisor as they stated it was critical to involve these people in the review. The  Scrutiny Officer suggested that this be added under Objective 2.

Members agreed to form a task group to undertake the remainder of the review.

Members received presentations which provided them with background information to the topic and statistical evidence collected by the School Health Team in relation to NP155 and NP156 in order to discover the extent of obesity within the city.

Presentations were heard from the:

·        Health Improvement Manager (Obesity) of NHS North Yorkshire and York;

·        Deputy Directorate Manager/School Health Service Manager of York Hospitals Foundation Trust

·        Chair of the Healthy City Board, Associate Director of Public Health & Locality Director for York (CYC and PCT)

·        Children’s Trust Unit Manager, City of York Council.

The Children’s Trust Unit Manager circulated a letter from the parents of a young girl who had attended the MEND (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition, Do It) programme which is run by a community based weight management team for overweight children who attend together with their parents and siblings. The letter expressed their gratitude to the team who had worked with her on the MEND programme which they said ‘changed her life’.

RESOLVED:            

(i)         That the scoping report be amended to include a  reference to involvement of the Local Healthy Schools Advisor and Regional Healthy Schools Advisor.

(ii)        That the scope, as amended above, and timetable set out at paragraph 5 of the report, be approved.

(ii)        That a task group be set up to undertake the work

REASON:

To ensure compliance with scrutiny procedures, protocols and workplans and to progress the review.

To consider the Committee’s Work Plan for 2009/10.

Members considered the workplan for the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee for 2009/10.

In relation to recent news reports on the use of anti-psychotic drugs in dementia care, the Chair asked if Members would like to receive a presentation or report on this issue.

The Chair also circulated a copy of a newspaper article regarding restricted treatments, one of which was facet joint and epidural injections for lower back pain. The Chair had been contacted regarding this and asked Members of the Committee for their thoughts.

In light of the Committee’s current workload it was decided to raise both these issues again under the workplan item at the January meeting.

The Committee were due to receive a Heath Scrutiny Networking Update at their meeting on 20 January 2010. The Scrutiny Officer advised that this would be replaced by a series of e-mail briefing notes to Members and should any Member wish to raise an issue, this would be brought to Committee.

RESOLVED:             That the workplan be noted.

REASON:                  To progress the work of the Committee.