Agenda and minutes

Venue: The Guildhall, York

Contact: Judith Betts, Democracy Officer 

Items
No. Item

51.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 45 KB

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.

Minutes:

Members were invited to declare at this point in the meeting any personal or prejudicial interests, other than those listed on the standing declarations of interests attached to the agenda, that they might have had in the business on the agenda.

 

Councillor Jeffries declared a personal non prejudicial interest in the remit of the Committee as the co-Chair of the York Independent Living Network.

 

Councillor Funnell declared a personal non prejudicial interest in Agenda Item 6 (Health Watch Procurement Monitoring Report) as she had worked with North Bank Forum (the host provider for LINKs) when she worked for the Strategic Health Authority.

 

No other interests were declared.

 

 

52.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 77 KB

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 20 February 2012.

Minutes:

RESOLVED:       That the minutes of the meeting of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 20 February 2012 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

 

The Chair informed Members that she had written to the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group inviting them to attend future meetings of the Committee.

53.

Public Participation

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 Tuesday 13 March 2012 at 5:00 pm.

 

Minutes:

It was reported that there had been one registration to speak under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

 

A representative from York Older People’s Assembly (YOPA) spoke on Agenda Item 6 (Health Watch Procurement Monitoring Report).

 

He posed a series of questions to the Committee which included;

 

·        What criteria for continued patient and public involvement would be specified or defined in the draft tender requirements for the LINks (Local Involvement Networks)/HealthWatch transition?

·        What safeguards would be included in the tender specification to retain the group structure of York LINks and the involvement of its current membership?

·        If as suggested, various already established Voluntary Groups would act as information providers, how could/would HealthWatch maintain its authority and overall control of the process?

 

He added that he felt that although York LINks had been a strong proactive organisation working and acting at the behest of its members and the public, Health Watch had been branded  primarily as an information provider or router. He felt that this changed the emphasis from a public and patient based organisation to another department of the Council. In his opinion, this would be at odds with the ethos originally stated in the Health and Social Care Bill.

54.

Update Report on the Implementation of the Recommendation arising from the Childhood Obesity Scrutiny Review pdf icon PDF 88 KB

This report provides Members with an update in progress on the recommendation arising from the Committee’s Childhood Obesity Scrutiny Review.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members received a report which provided them with an update on progress relating to the recommendation that had arisen from the Childhood Obesity Scrutiny Review. The report asked them to consider whether they wished to sign off the recommendation as complete or if they wished to receive a further update report at a meeting in six months time.

 

The Committee was informed of the background to the review and the current situation, in particular, that there was not a lead officer who focused on Childhood Obesity. Officers suggested that Members might be minded to invite the new Director of Public Health to a meeting of the Committee in order to raise their priority to him or her.

 

Discussion between Members and Officers took place on whether data existed on a ward basis and on levels of obesity across age ranges.

 

It was reported that both types of data were not available, but that anecdotal evidence implied that there was disparity between wards. In response to a question about levels of obesity across all ages of children, it was reported that children were only weighed in Reception and Year 6. Some Members asked whether data existed relating to levels of diabetes in children, and were told that the available data suggested that it was increasing generally.

 

The Chair suggested that the Committee ask the new Director of Public Health to a future meeting, in order that Members could ask the Director about their priorities on Childhood Obesity.

 

RESOLVED:       (i)      That the report be noted.

 

(ii)      That the recommendation arising from the review be signed off as fully completed.

 

(iii)     That the Director of Public Health be invited to attend a meeting of the Committee once they are in post.1

 

REASON:           To raise awareness of the recommendation.

55.

Quarterly Financial & Performance Monitoring Report pdf icon PDF 91 KB

This report analyses the latest performance for 2011/12 and forecasts the financial outturn position by reference to the service plan and budgets for all of the relevant services falling under the responsibility of the Director of Adults, Children and Education.

 

Minutes:

Members received a report which analysed the latest performance for 2011/2 and forecasted the financial outturn position by reference to the service plan and budgets for all of the relevant services falling under the responsibility of the Director of Adults, Children and Education (ACE).

 

Questions raised by Members in relation to the report included;

 

·        The reason for delays in letting the Homecare reablement contract.

·        The reasons for an underspend in Supporting Living Schemes.

·        What issues had been encountered in the promotion of Self Directed Support

·        The timeliness of social care assessments

 

It was reported that delays had occurred in the lease of the Homecare reablement contract because a retendering process had to take place, and that the logistics of this process had reduced targets that had been set.

 

An underspend in Supporting Living Schemes had been attained through vacant posts in the Directorate, additional funding from the Primary Care Trust for the warden call service and contributions towards supported living.

 

Members were informed about the process used in order to count Self Directed Support. Officers informed the Committee that the resource allocation system for Self Directed Support included several components; an initial assessment of the person’s needs, a sample population to set up point scores to an equivalent monetary value, and then an allocation of that value to an individual dependent upon their need. It was reported that problems had been encountered with the calculation in the initial assessment form. Due to these problems the  confidence of people using the forms had been detrimentally affected  as they felt their care needs were not being evaluated correctly.

 

In response to a question about the length of waiting lists for social care assessments and whether this had been exacerbated by vacant posts in the Directorate. It was reported that one of the outcomes of a recent reorganisation had meant that funding for reassessments had been prioritised, and that average waiting time lists would now be available. Members requested that Officers included this data in future Monitoring Reports.

 

RESOLVED:       (i)      That the report be noted.

 

(ii)      That data on average waiting list times for the provision of social care be included in future monitoring reports to the Committee.1

 

REASON:           To update the Committee on the latest financial and performance position for 2011/12.

 

 

 

56.

Health Watch Procurement Monitoring Report pdf icon PDF 106 KB

This report updates the Committee on the progression from LINks (Local Involvement Networks) to Local HealthWatch by April 2013.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members received a report which updated them on the progression from LINks (Local Involvement Networks) to Local Health Watch by April 2013.

 

Officers informed the Committee that the current host of LINks, North Bank Forum, had been offered a 12 month contract extension (to March 2013) in order to prepare and manage the transition from LINks to Local Health Watch.

 

Discussion took place between Members and Officers on the contract extension and how North Bank Forum would manage the transition process.

 

Members decided that it would be beneficial to North Bank Forum to attend the next meeting in order to discuss how they would continue to provide the LINks service until Health Watch came into being, and how they would continue to support LINks as a Health Watch Pathfinder.

 

RESOLVED:       (i)      That the report be noted.

 

(ii)      That North Bank Forum be invited to the next meeting of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.1

 

REASON:           To oversee the transition from LINks to HealthWatch is identified as a priority from the Health Overview and Scrutiny Work Plan.

 

 

57.

Work Plan pdf icon PDF 44 KB

Members are asked to consider the Committee’s work plan for 2012.

Minutes:

Members considered a report which presented them with the Committee’s work plan for 2012.

 

The Scrutiny Officer informed the Committee that some Member Training had previously taken place on the personalisation agenda in Health and Social Care. She suggested that the Committee might want to choose this theme as a new scrutiny topic to conduct a review on, if they had any particular concerns around it.

 

She also suggested that if Members were happy, that an extra meeting be added into the workplan to focus solely on an interim report on the End of Life Care Review.

 

Members agreed that a representative from North Bank Forum be invited to the next meeting in May in order to answer questions that the Committee might have on the transition from LINks to Local Health Watch.

 

RESOLVED:       (i)      That the report be noted.

 

(ii)      That the attendance of the new Director of Public Health at a future meeting of the Committee be scheduled into the work plan once they are in post.

 

(iii)     That the attendance of a representative from North Bank Forum be added to the Committee’s May meeting.

 

(iv)    That an additional meeting be scheduled in order to discuss an interim report on the End of Life Care Scrutiny Review.1

 

 

 

 

 

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