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.

No additional interests other than those general personal interests attached to the agenda were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 30 March 2009.

RESOLVED:             That the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 30 March 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. 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 8 May 2009 at 5.00pm.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

This report provides Members with an update on the provision of NHS dental services in York and presents information requested at previous meetings.

Consideration was given to a report, which provided Members with an update on the provision of NHS dental services in York.

The Committee were reminded that, at their meeting on 5 January 2009, they had requested the dental update to include the following:

Ø     Information should relate to the Selby/York area only

Ø     The number of dentists in the York area

Ø     The number of new dentists in the York area

Ø     The number of dentists providing NHS treatment in the York area

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

Ø     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.

At the Committee’s meeting in February consideration had been given to a scrutiny topic on ‘Access to Dental Services’ submitted by Cllr Moore. Consideration on whether to progress the topic had been deferred pending receipt of additional information.

Confirmation had now been received that neither York LINk nor North Yorkshire County Council Scrutiny Committee would be examining dental provision at the present time.

Amanda Brown, Assistant Director of Commissioning and Service Development, was in attendance to answer Members questions in relation to the information supplied. Annex 1 of the report detailed the number of new patients seen, residents who do not see a dentist, new patients assigned to a dentist, waiting times and supply of primary dental services. It was confirmed that in Point 3, in the second paragraph, there was a need to add the word ‘charges’ following the word treatment in the fourth line.

The Chair confirmed that this information was now clearer and would assist the Committee in identifying trends.

Members requested clarification that there was no longer a need to register with a dentist, for further details of new patients assigned a dentist and access to emergency treatment out of hours.

Councillor Moore referred to inconsistent dental practices regarding reminders, emergency treatment and requirements for payment in advance. He pointed out that his scrutiny topic referred to whether patients could obtain treatment they required when they needed it.

Consideration was then given to the following options:

Ø     Whether they wished to make any further amendments to the type of information included within the standard report writing template

Ø     Whether they wished to continue receiving quarterly updates on dental services in York from NHS North Yorkshire & York.

Ø     Whether they wished to go ahead with the ‘Access to Dental Services’ Review topic submitted to the Committee by Councillor Moore and discussed at their meeting on 2^nd February 2009.

Following further discussion it was

RESOLVED:            That the Scrutiny Committee:

(i)    Note the report and the update from NHS North Yorkshire & York and agree to continue to monitor the provision of dental services on a quarterly basis;

(ii)  Make no change to the information included in the standard reporting template;

(iii)             Do not proceed with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

This report provides Members with an update on information related to the Alcohol Reduction Strategy and provides answers to questions raised at previous meeting of the Committee held on 2 February 2009.

Members considered a report, which provided them with an update on information related to the Alcohol Reduction Strategy.

The Committee were reminded that, at their meeting in February, they had been asked to consider a feasibility study registered by Cllr Sue Galloway on the performance and value for money of the North Yorkshire and York NHS’s alcohol treatment services, particularly in relation to hospital admissions and the impact on NI (National Indicator) 39 of the Local Area Agreement.

At that time Members had deferred making a decision on progressing this topic until further information including a joint briefing report could be prepared by the trusts to include:

Ø      Clarification as to the data that is currently collected

Ø      Confirmation of targets and how these are reported (including the definition of an alcohol related hospital admission)

Ø      Historical data

Ø      Feedback from the pilot being carried out by Harrogate Accident and Emergency Department in respect of the electronic collection of data

This information was now provided in the Annexes to the report.

Libby McManus, Chief Nurse at York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, was in attendance and circulated details of alcohol related activity related to attendance in the Accident Emergency Department at York Hospital (copy attached to these minutes). She went onto explain the details of the data provided. She stated that collection of data on alcohol-harm related admissions had started in June 2008 and the caveats involved in interpreting these figures.

The Chair thanked Libby McManus for attending and presenting this information. He stated that the Committee’s original concern had been that this type of data was unavailable hence the request for the scrutiny topic.

RESOLVED:     i) That the Committee agree not to go ahead with the proposed scrutiny topic on the ‘Alcohol Reduction Strategy’ put forward by Councillor Sue Galloway;

ii)            That the joint briefing note and annexes to this report be forwarded to the Gambling and Licensing Acts Committee and the Safer York Partnership for their information. ^1.

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

This report is to update Members on further developments in relation to the Annual Health Check 2008/09.

Consideration was given to an update report on further developments in relation to the Annual Health Check 2008/09.

This check was the system used to assess the performance of all NHS trusts and a few other types of organisation in the NHS in England. In 2008/2009 it would be assessing:

·        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

At the Committee’ meeting in January 2009 Members of the Committee had delegated the Chair, Vice Chair and Conservative Party representative, the responsibility of creating commentaries on the declarations produced by the three NHS Trusts. These commentaries had now been prepared and forwarded to the relevant trusts and had been attached to the report as;

Annex A – Yorkshire Ambulance Trust

Annex B -  York Hospitals Foundation Trust

Annex C -  NHS North Yorkshire and York

It was reported that the Trusts would include the relevant commentary from the Committee in their declarations word for word. The results of the Annual Health Check would then be published in October 2009.

The Chair thanked the Scrutiny Officer for all her work in presenting the information in a concise, readable form and Cllrs Ayre and Wiseman for all their assistance.

RESOLVED:             That the Annual Health Check report be noted.

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

This report informs Members of the Committee about recent events attended by both Members and Officers outside of 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:

• Informal meeting with LINks (13.01.09)
• Regional Health Scrutiny Officers’ Network (22.01.09)
• Meeting with Hospital Governors (11.03.09)
• Councillor Call for Action (CcfA) (16.03.09)
• LINks Annual General Meeting (AGM) (26.03.09)
• Meeting with Chief Executive of NHS North Yorkshire & York (09.04.09) 

RESOLVED:             That the update report be noted.

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

Consideration was given to the Health Scrutiny Committees’ Work Plan.

The Chair confirmed that it was important that this was carried over into the new scrutiny structure.

Following discussion it was agreed to add the PCT mental health services commissioning to the Work Plan. Graham Purdy confirmed that community services were also involved in this issue and that he would like the opportunity to speak to the Committee on this issue in the future. ^1.