Agenda and minutes

At this point in the meeting, Members will be invited to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on the agenda.

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 Fraser declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in agenda item 4 (Final Report of the Health Scrutiny Committee – Dementia Review) as a member of the retired section of Unison.

Councillor Pierce declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in agenda item 4 (Final Report of the Health Scrutiny Committee – Dementia Review) as a member of the retired section of Unison and as his wife was a consultant psycho-geriatrician, although not with York Healthcare Trust.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2008.

RESOLVED:             That the minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Management Committee held on 17 November 2008 be signed 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 Tuesday 16 December 2008 at 5 pm.

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

This report presents the final report from the Health Scrutiny Committee regarding their Dementia Review.

Members received a report which presented the final report from the Health Scrutiny Committee regarding their Dementia Review.

Members had the option to support all, some or none of the recommendations from the review, as detailed in paragraph 7 of the report, and to provide their comments prior to the report being considered by the Executive.

The Chair of the Health Scrutiny Committee outlined the findings and recommendations from the review, and also recorded his thanks to the Scrutiny Officer and Democracy Officer for their work.

Members made the following comments on the final report:

·  Welcomed the clarity of the report.

·  Noted the large numbers of patients with dementia that had not been diagnosed and observed that some of the recommendations addressed but did not completely resolve this.

·  Queried whether there was an on call liaison service at consultant level operating from Bootham Park Hospital and noted that the management of Bootham Park by the Primary Care Trust did not necessarily aid the integration of services.

·  Expressed the view that some of the patient experiences detailed made for depressing reading and that the issues they raised needed to be flagged up with all interested parties.

·  Recognised that there was lots of good work going on and significant progress had been made in recent years, despite the lack of support for staff, and that anecdotal evidence always tended to focus on problems.

·  Expressed concern that carers could not get the information they needed because of patient confidentiality.

RESOLVED:(i) That the contents of the final report and its annexes be noted, accepted and forwarded to the Executive;¹

(ii)               That thanks be recorded to all those who had participated in the review;

(iii)That copies of the report be sent to all interested parties, including service providers, consultees, the Secretary of State and the Chief Executive of the NHS, following its consideration by the Executive,² and a press release be issued publicising the work.³

REASON:                  To inform the Executive’s consideration of the final report.

This report summarises the position to date on expenditure against the budget available specifically for supporting scrutiny reviews in 2008/9 and seeks Members views on the available budget for 2009/10, with a view to making a recommendation to the Council as part of the budget setting process.

Members received a report which summarised the position to date on expenditure against the budget available specifically for supporting scrutiny reviews in 2008/9 and sought their views on the available budget for 2009/10, with a view to making a recommendation to Council as part of the budget setting process.

Members had the constitutional right to consider what recommendation they wished to make to Council in relation to the allocation of budget for supporting scrutiny reviews in 2009/10.  Members also had the option to review the sum allocated for spend on each agreed review.  It was reported that this amount was currently £250 and suggested that Members may wish to consider revising the sum initially awarded for reviews, by increasing it to £500.

Members highlighted the importance of increasing the budget for reviews, in relation to the ability to draw on external expertise, to hold events at outside venues and to effectively take on the expanding scrutiny role in relation to partnership organisations.  The Chair of the Education Scrutiny Committee highlighted that additional funding was needed for that Committee’s current review for the production of an additional flyer and hire of the Mansion House for an event.

RESOLVED:(i) That the report and the current budget position be noted;

                        (ii) That it be agreed that the amount initially allocated for research supporting agreed reviews be increased to £500 per review for the remainder of the current financial year;¹

                        (iii) That the amount initially allocated for research supporting agreed reviews in 2009/10 be considered after the working group considering the new scrutiny structure has reported.

REASON:                  To enable a robust scrutiny review support budget to be set for the 2009/10 financial year.

Members received a report which summarised the position to date on expenditure against the budget available specifically for supporting scrutiny reviews in 2008/9 and sought their views on the available budget for 2009/10, with a view to making a recommendation to Council as part of the budget setting process.

Members had the constitutional right to consider what recommendation they wished to make to Council in relation to the allocation of budget for supporting scrutiny reviews in 2009/10.  Members also had the option to review the sum allocated for spend on each agreed review.  It was reported that this amount was currently £250 and suggested that Members may wish to consider revising the sum initially awarded for reviews, by increasing it to £500.

RECOMMENDED:(i) That the budget for supporting scrutiny reviews in 2009/10 be £20k, subject to the outcome of the working group considering the new scrutiny structure.¹

REASON:                  To enable a robust scrutiny review support budget to be set for the 2009/10 financial year.