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.

Councillor Kirk declared a standing declaration as a governor of York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Councillor Fraser declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in agenda item 5 (Work Planning for Health Scrutiny for 2007/08) as a governor of the York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and as a member of the retired section of UNISON.

Councillor Moore declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in agenda item 5 (Work Planning for Health Scrutiny for 2007/08)  as his wife worked in the Health Service.

Councillor Funnell declared a standing personal non-prejudicial interest as she had previously worked part time for Patient Public Involvement.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 2 April 2007.

RESOLVED:             That the minutes of the meeting of the Health Scrutiny Committee held on 2 April 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 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 June 2007 at 5.00pm.

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

To welcome new Members and receive a presentation on the role of Health Scrutiny.

Officers gave Members a presentation, which introduced them to the work of Health Scrutiny, including their responsibilities and aims. Details of the presentation were circulated at the meeting and a copy is attached as an appendix to these minutes.

Arising out of the presentation Members made the following comments:

• That there was a need to honour statutory obligations through the development of partnership working.
• Time spent on PCT finances the previous year had meant that little could be undertaken which had been frustrating.
• Need to refocus on the real issues concerning users.

Pat Sloss, NY&YNHS PCT, confirmed that the majority of Directors of the PCT were now in place and that further key appointments were in the process of being made.  She also confirmed that she would forward an overview of the proposed new structure to members of the Committee.

This report updates Members about the commentaries on the self-assessment declarations of NHS trusts which were submitted by this Committee in April 2007.

Members considered a report, which updated them on the commentaries on the self-assessment declarations of NHS trusts which were submitted by this Committee in April 2007.

It was reported that in 2005/06 the Healthcare Commission had introduced a new system of assessment for the NHS, known as the annual health check. This system looked at a broader range of performance than the previous system of star ratings. A key part of the check was the rating of every NHS organisation on quality of services and use of resources. The aim was to ensure that healthcare organisations offered high quality services as well as value for money.  Details of the comments sent to the Trusts by the City of York Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee were set out in the report which covered:

• North Yorkshire and York PCT
• York Hospitals NHS Trust and
• Yorkshire Ambulance Trust

Officers reported that, as this check was only in its second year it was still evolving but that there were currently 24 standards. It was felt important to contribute to the check as any comments made were reported verbatim to the Health Trusts. It was confirmed that the Healthcare Commissions website published the results of the health checks and Officers agreed to send this link to all Members and partners.

Members expressed their thanks to the Scrutiny Officer, Cllr Fraser and former Cllr Cuthbertson for their work in providing this information in March 2007.

RESOLVED:           i) That Members note the update on the Annual Health Check 2006/07 which reflected the position as at the end of the last municipal year.

ii)                  That Members note that at the end of 2007 or early 2008 they will be invited to prepare a commentary on the trusts’ performance during 2007/08 and that will be included in their work planning for this municipal year.

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

This report asks Members to commence their work planning for the municipal year 2007/8.

Members considered a report, which detailed the Committees work during the last municipal year. It was reported that in January 2007 the Committee had agreed for future scrutiny they wished to identify an area of work based on the remit of the Healthy City Board as part of the Local Strategic partnership.

It was confirmed that Government funding of £10,000 had been made available for the formation of a regional network of stakeholders in health scrutiny. This network had met and agreed that a main priority issue would be health inequalities and how to develop work plans to address these.

The network would work closely with a national local government capacity building programme project, which would cover the whole of the Yorkshire and Humber region and be hosted by the City of Bradford Council. This project was being funded by central government and the Department of Health and had commenced in April 2007.

Geoff Ainsley of Bradford Metropolitan Council who was co-ordinating this project attended the meeting. He gave a presentation to Members on the Yorkshire and Humber Local Government and Health Project, details of which were circulated at the meeting and are attached as an appendix to these minutes.  

He confirmed that this was a new project, the first of its kind in the country, to run from April 2007 to March 2009. It was supported and funded from the Yorkshire and Humber capacity building programme “Working Together to Improve” and the Regional Public Health Group at the Government Office for Yorkshire and Humber. It was explained that the objectives of the programme were to support local authorities in strengthening their contribution to public health in order to achieve excellence in improving health and reducing health inequalities, as well as ensuring that these achievements were recognised by their local population.

Arising out of the presentation Members stated that the main problem related to prevention and that major links were required with GP’s etc to provide a joined up service.

Officers referred to a regional health scrutiny event in Leeds, being organised to help strengthen scrutiny’s contribution to public health to which all members would be invited. As soon as the date and venue were known these would be emailed to Members.

Officers and the Chair confirmed that it was also hoped to hold an informal work-planning seminar to determine the major issues for scrutiny during the current year. This was proposed for August or September and would involve the cancellation of the scheduled meeting on 3 September and its replacement with the above event.

 It was confirmed that invitations would be extended to the voluntary sector, PCT and the Ambulance Trust together with representatives from the Health Forum held in January. Members felt that it would be useful if Bill Hodson, Director of Housing and Adult Social Services could be also be invited. The Chair confirmed that if Members were aware of any additional groups or individuals that could add to the informal work planning session that they should  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.