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.

The following interest was declared further to the standing personal, non-prejudicial interests declared at previous meetings and circulated with the agenda.

Councillor Morley declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in relation to Agenda item 6 (Feasibility Report – Access to Outreach Workers) as he had the power of attorney for a resident who used the befriending service offered by Age Concern.

To approve and sign the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 3 November 2008.

RESOLVED:             That the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 3 November 2008 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. Anyone who wishes to register or requires further information is requested to contact the Democracy Officer on the contact details listed at the foot of this agenda. The deadline for registering is Friday 2 January 2009 at 5.00pm.

It was reported that there had been two registrations to speak at the meeting, under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

The first was from John Yates on behalf of the Older People’s Assembly who spoke in relation to the Annual Health Check for 2008/09. He expressed concern in relation to the recommendation to delegate the responsibility for compiling the commentary to the Healthcare Commission to only two members of the Committee. He pointed out that the Annual Health Check consultation document placed a strong emphasis on the importance of taking the views of patients, their carers and others into account and he felt that more members of the Committee should be involved in compiling the response.

Annie Thompson, LINks Co-ordinator, confirmed that a LINks event was to be held on 25 February 2009 at the Priory Street Centre in order to compile the LINks Annual Health Check response to the Commission.

The second registration was from Sally Hutchinson on behalf of Age Concern. She referred to concerns that had been expressed following confirmation that Age Concern would not be seeking funding from 2009/10 onwards for befriending services and that she was pleased that their service had been so well received. She also referred to Cllr Alexander’s request for a scrutiny topic on Access to Outreach Workers and to concerns expressed in the report on the reporting back mechanisms for work undertaken. She confirmed that she was satisfied with the reporting back to Ward Committees that had been carried out, as their work was often highly confidential. She also confirmed that it had been found that the befriending services offered by Age Concern had not been the best way in which to provide such a service. In future this needed to be available to all old people not just those in particular Wards. She asked the Committee to consider deferring consideration of this scrutiny topic pending the outcome of the Housing and Adult Social Services discussions with a range of stakeholders, representative agencies and providers about commissioned services that would focus on ensuring that vulnerable people could live safely and independently rather that focussing on a specific service.  

This report asks Members of the Committee how they wish to respond to the Healthcare Commission’s request for comments on the Annual Health Check 2008/2009.

Consideration was given to a report, which asked the Committee how they wished to respond to the Healthcare Commission’s request for comments on the Annual Health Check for 2008/09.

Members were reminded that the Annual Health Check was the system that the Healthcare Commission used to assess the performance of all NHS trusts in the following areas:

·Acute Trusts (including Foundation Trusts)

·Ambulance Trusts

·Mental Health Trusts (including Foundation Trusts)

·Learning Disability Trusts

·Primary Care Trusts (both as providers and commissioners of care)

·Care Trusts

·The Health Protection Agency

·NHS Direct

·NHS Blood & Transplant

The Chair reminded Members of the earlier comments made by the speaker in relation to this item. He confirmed that Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s were required to be focussed when responding to the Commission and should only comment on specific issues for which they could provide evidence.

Members confirmed that any submission they made would be public information and would be based on evidence that they had gathered during the year. In previous years Members had also had sight of the PCT’s draft comments to assist them in their final submission.

A representative of the PCT confirmed that they were at present drafting their own comments on the Health Check with a view to taking them to a Board meeting on 31 March 2009. He stated that he would be happy to share their draft comments with Members prior to the Committee’s next meeting on 30 March 2009.

Following further discussion it was

RESOLVED:             That the Chair, Vice Chair and Cllr Wiseman in conjunction with the Scrutiny Officer be delegated the responsibility of creating a commentary on the declarations of any of the NHS Trusts that they feel appropriate and that all members of the Committee be emailed details for their comments. ^1.

REASON:                  To enable the Health Scrutiny Committee to carry out their duty to promote the needs of the people they represent.

This report provides Members with an update on the provision of NHS dental services in York and presents a new style reporting template from the Primary Care Trust (PCT).

Members considered a report, which provided them with an update on the provision of NHS dental services in York. The Primary Care Trust (PCT) had also presented Members with a new style of reporting template.

Amanda Brown, Assistant Director of Commissioning and Service Development, was in attendance to answer Members questions in relation to the information. Annex 1 of the report detailed the numbers of patients seen, additions and allocations from the access database and overall trend information since 2006. She confirmed that the information provided had been obtained by their Business Development Unit from each dentist’s contract in the York area.

Members expressed concern that a number of the charts were not comparable, that the bar charts made it difficult to view trends and that providing waiting times for patients on one date did not meet the Committee’s needs. 

In answer to Members comments, the NYYPCT representative confirmed that she would investigate the possibility of amending the information provided to relate to the Selby/York area only, detail the number of dentists in the area, the number of new dentists that had come into the area and numbers that provided NHS services to enable them to view seasonal trends. She would also look at the possibility of providing information on ‘waiting times for patients still on the list’ as a mean average over a length of time rather that at a specific point in time.

Following further discussion it was

RESOLVED:        (i) That the report and update from the PCT on dental services be noted;

(ii)  That the PCT be requested to amend the new reporting template to include the following information:

·        Information to relate to the Selby/York area only;

·        Number of dentists in the York area;

·        Number of new dentists in the York area;

·        Number of dentists providing NHS treatment in the York area;

·        Information on the number of residents who do not see a dentist at all.

(iii)To investigate the possibility of showing the information on ‘waiting times for patients still on the list’ as a mean average over a length of time rather than at a specific point in time;

(iv)That the PCT be requested to provide future updates on dental services in York on a quarterly basis. ^1.

REASON:      In order to carry out their duty to promote the health needs of the people they represent.

This report asks Members to consider a scrutiny topic registered by Councillor Alexander to scrutinise the availability, funding and uniform distribution of access to outreach workers.

Members considered a report, which related to the registration of a scrutiny topic by Cllr Alexander to scrutinise the availability, funding and uniform distribution of access to outreach workers.

Councillor Alexander had referred to the number of people in Holgate Ward who relied on an outreach worker service, from providers such as Age Concern. During the Health Scrutiny Committee’s recent Dementia Review it had become clear that this service was different from a befriending service. Outreach workers usually provided practical assistance and were paid; whereas the befriending service tended to concentrate on social visits and staff were normally volunteers. He had also found that the outreach worker service was unequally available across the city (due to the way that Ward Committees allocated their individual budgets). In previous years Age Concern had bid for funding for the scheme but they had made the decision not to apply for funding for 2009/10.

Based on evidence presented within the report, Officers had advised Members not to proceed with the review. They did state that, if this were to be put forward as a scrutiny topic that it should be more broadly focused on the outcome (sustainable neighbourhoods for vulnerable people) rather than starting with the input (how outreach workers were funded) and a revised topic registrationform would therefore need to be submitted.

Officers confirmed that Housing and Adult Social Services were at present involved in discussions with various agencies and stakeholders about commissioned services and the implementation of the government’s initiative “Putting People First”. He suggested that Members may wish to defer consideration of this matter pending the outcome of these discussions.

Members stated that this scrutiny request could potentially be a large piece of work and that the issues raised would involve agencies other than the Local Authority.

Councillor Alexander expressed disappointment that Officers had advised against proceeding with the review. He did however confirm that he would be happy if a review was taken up at a later date, following completion of works on the commissioning of services by Housing and Adult Social Services. 

RESOLVED:       (i) That based on the evidence presented within the report Members do not proceed with the Scrutiny Review on Access to Outreach Workers at the present time; ^1.

(ii)   That the Director Housing and Adult Social Services provide an update report to the Committee, later in the year, detailing the outcome of discussions with stakeholders, representative agencies and providers about the commissioning of services and partnership working to provide these services; ^2.

(iii)             That following receipt of this report the Committee give further consideration to the need for a scrutiny review on this matter.

REASON:      (i) On the basis that the voluntary sector agencies are not obliged to apply for funding and that the Ward Committee process for applying for grants had been called in via the scrutiny function before in April 2008, there was therefore, little to be gained from scrutinising the same subject twice.

(ii) (iii) In order to ascertain whether a more  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

This report informs Members of the Committee about recent events attended by both Members and Officers outside the formal meeting cycle of the Health Scrutiny Committee.

Consideration was given to a report, which informed the Committee of recent events attended, by both Members and Officers outside the formal meeting cycle of the Health Scrutiny Committee.

Details of the following events and meetings were reported:

• Members’ visit to York Hospital (13.10.08)
• Scrutinising Health Inequalities (07.11.08)
• LINks Facilitated Workshop (17.11.08)
• CFPS training day on the Darzi Report (10.12.08)  

RESOLVED:             That the update report be noted.

REASON:                  To keep Members informed of events attended that are relevant to Health Scrutiny.