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.

The Chair invited Members to declare at this point any personal or prejudicial interests they might have in the business on the agenda.  The following interests were declared in relation to agenda item 4 (Financial situation of North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT))

·        Cllr Moore declared a personal non-prejudicial interest as his wife worked for a local doctors practice.

·        Cllr Fraser declared a personal non-prejudicial interest as a retired member of UNISON.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 12 February 2007.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the Health Scrutiny Committee held on 12 February 2007 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 Panel’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 Wednesday, 7 March at 5:00 pm.

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

This report introduces representatives of the PCT, who will provide an update on financial issues relating to the PCT’s recovery plan, the contract with York Hospitals NHS Trust and partnership working with City of York’s Social Services departments.  The report also asks Members to consider whether they wish to receive information from professionals in the dental and podiatry services at a future meeting of the Committee.

Members received a report which introduced representatives of North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (NYYPCT), who had attended to provide an update on NYYPCT’S current financial situation.  The report also raised issues regarding dentistry and podiatry services in York, which Members might wish to consider at a future meeting. 

The presentation by Nick Steele, Finance Director of NYYPCT and Jane Marshall, the PCT’s Director of Commissioning and Service Development, gave an update on the financial position of the PCT for 2006/07. They stated that the current deficit forecast was £38 m, but that they were aiming for it to be £35m by the end of the financial year although they felt that their financial position had improved in January. There was a need to manage within resources during 2007/08 and repay all debt by the end of 2008/09. Savings of £25-30m were required in 2007/08 and £20-25m in 2008/09 but these could be made through reduction in growth and action on the 8 work streams.

Details of the Targeted Action Plan proposed in the following 8 specific work streams were given:

·        Community Services and Community Hospitals

·        Finance, Corporate Estates and IM& T

·        Medicines Management

·        Mental Health

·        Planned Care

·        Specialist Commissioning

·        Unplanned Care

·        Primary Care

Members were also given details of the PCT’s next steps, which involved listening to stakeholders comments, improved joint working, use of more strategic change options and service improvement in conjunction with Practice Based Commissioners.

In response to Members questions and in answer to concerns raised the PCT’s representatives commented as follows:

·        Contact was being made with all Voluntary Organisations to confirm that the PCT’s investment would continue at the 2006/07 level with no inflationary increase. This also included obtaining agreement from the organisations on Service Level Agreements where they existed and developing new agreements for services commissioned from others.

·        Home Start should already have been contacted regarding funding but if this was not the case they confirmed that contact would be made at the earliest opportunity.

·        Details of feedback received from Voluntary Organisations would be reported to the Committee.

·        An examination of demand would be carried out on a seasonal basis and planned for accordingly.

·        It had been found that hospitals were not the best place for some clinical conditions and that some patients could be better cared for elsewhere.

·        It was recognised that there was a need to invest and that cost reductions in secondary care could be used to invest in primary care based services.

·        The contract with Capio at Clifton Park, Shipton Road would be fully utilised and details of this would be provided for Members’ information.

·        ‘Prior Approval’ was one of ten measures put in place to reduce costs but as many of these were only temporary measures, they would be reviewed following consultation with GP’s.

·        There had been confusion in the early stages of ‘prior approval’ but this process only referred to new referrals.

Members commented that:

• Problems would arise if the knock on effect of the PCT’s overspend resulted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

Arising out of the report presented to Members on the financial situation of NYPCT, concerns were expressed in relation to reports of NHS dental treatments ceasing on patients as practices had used up their allocated units for dental activity for this financial year. It was understood that patients would have to wait 2 months for treatment until dental practices received their allocation for the 2007/08 financial year.

Lee Squire, Press and Communications Manager PCT, confirmed that 2 practices out of 18 in York had been forced to cease NHS treatment on certain patients and that 5 dental surgeries in the North Yorkshire area, out of 100, were in this situation. He confirmed that a major contact for dental services was to be let in the next financial year.

RESOLVED:             That further consideration be given to the dental service to include contracts and dental availability at the next meeting of the Committee.

REASON:                  To update Members and to carry out their duty to promote the health needs of the people they represent.

Arising out of the report presented to Members on the financial situation of NYPCT, concern was expressed in relation to the waiting list for podiatry services.

Jane Marshall confirmed that it was unacceptable that patients had a 1 year wait for treatment and that, with additional savings, further podiatry assessments would be undertaken which would reduce the waiting list.  She confirmed that she would be happy to update Members on the reductions made.

RESOLVED:             That further consideration be given to podiatry services at the next meeting of the Committee following receipt of additional information in relation to waiting lists.

REASON:                  To update Members and to carry out their duty to promote the health needs of the people they represent.