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.

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 interests were declared further to the standing personal, non prejudicial interests declared at previous meetings and listed in the agenda, which were amended to indicate that Cllr Wiseman had now been appointed a Governor of York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and that Cllr Moore’s wife still worked in the Health Service.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 5 November 2007.

In relation to minute 23 (Work Planning for Health Scrutiny 2007/8), Members requested that written information on the Exception Panel be provided to them in advance of the meeting in January.¹

RESOLVED:That the minutes of the last meeting held on 5 November 2007 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair, with an amendment to resolution (iii) of minute 23 (Work Planning for Health Scrutiny 2007/8) to indicate that Dr Brian McGregor would address a future meeting of the Committee, rather than the January meeting specifically.

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 Friday 30 November at 5pm.

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

John Yates addressed the meeting regarding agenda item 6 (Local Involvement Networks (LINks)) (minute 29 refers), on behalf of the Older People’s Assembly, in relation to the mechanism for referral of matters by LINks for overview and scrutiny and its the implications for the Health Scrutiny Committee, in terms of training and workload.

This report introduces the Assistant Director of Commissioning and Service Development (Primary Care) at North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT), who will update Members on the provision of NHS dental services in York.

Members received a report which introduced the Assistant Director of Commissioning and Service Development (Primary Care) at North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT), who updated them on the provision of NHS dental services in York.

The update covered the following areas:

·  The allocation of York patients to NHS dentists;

·  Service developments;

·  Emergency dental care services;

·  Future commissioning plans.

A briefing note summarising the update was circulated to Members.

Members noted that the information provided was not comparable with that received at previous meetings and highlighted the need for benchmarking.  They also reiterated their request for Office of National Statistics information on numbers of people who do not see a dentist at all.  The update did not provide information on how long patients were waiting to be allocated an NHS dentist and on how much additional capacity was being created, as opposed to existing capacity made available when patients moved on, and Members requested that this be included in future updates.  A report back was also requested on progress with commissioning a Sunday morning emergency dental clinic.

RESOLVED:(i)That the update on dentistry from the Assistant Director of Commissioning and Service Development (Primary Care) at the PCT be noted;

(ii)               That further written updates on dental provision in York be received every 6 months.¹

REASON:In order to carry out the Committee’s duty to promote the health needs of the people it represents.

This report introduces the Finance Director at North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT), who will update Members on the current financial situation at the PCT.

Members received a report which introduced the Finance Director at North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT), who updated them on the current financial situation at the PCT.

The Finance Director gave a presentation which outlined current performance and the outlook for 2008/9, and concluded that despite good progress overall against the recovery plan, there remained an outstanding debt of £35.6m and a year end forecast of a £19.2m deficit.  A handout summarising the presentation was circulated to Members.

The Acting Chief Executive of York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Assistant Director of Communications at the PCT also attended the meeting and commented on the issues raised by Members.

Members requested that the information to be circulated in advance of the next meeting include details of the Exception Panel’s impact on financial performance.¹

RESOLVED:That the update from the Finance Director at the PCT be noted as a basis for continuing discussions with the PCT about their financial recovery plan and a further update be requested at the end of the financial year.²

REASON:In order to carry out the Committee’s duty to promote the health needs of the people it represents.

This report updates Members on progress in establishing a Local Involvement Network (LINk) for the City of York Council area.

Members received a report which updated them on progress in establishing a Local Involvement Network (LINk) for the City of York Council area.

City of York Council were working closely with North Yorkshire County Council and carrying out a joint procurement exercise to establish two LINks, one for each local authority area.  The Head of Strategic Partnerships and the Commissioning and Contracts Manager, who were the Council’s officers with responsibility for overseeing this process, had provided a briefing note on progress so far, which was attached as Annex A of the report, and attended the meeting to answer Members’ questions.

Members highlighted the need to involve the voluntary sector in the procurement exercise as far as possible, within the restrictions of the legal framework,¹ and for appropriate training to be provided to them on LINks.² They also requested that officers circulate information, by email, on the roles of LINks and hosts, and copies of the tender documents.

The Department of Health was currently running a consultation process on draft regulations which imposed duties on commissioners and providers of health and social care services to respond to LINks and to allow entry by LINks to premises under certain conditions.  The consultation document was attached as Annex B of the report and also contained details about LINk requests for information and LINk referrals to overview and scrutiny committees.³

Members agreed that they wished to submit a response to the consultation as a Committee and discussed the issues that they wished to raise.

RESOLVED:(i) That the update about the formation of a LINk for the City of York Council area be noted;

(ii)               That a response to the Department of Health’s consultation on regulations for LINks be submitted by the Scrutiny Officer, in consultation with the Chair and Vice Chair, on behalf of the Committee, incorporating the following comments:⁴

a)     That more clarity was needed as to whether LINks covered practitioners operating on the fringes of health and social care services;

b)That a requirement was needed that initial responses to LINk recommendations or reports from commissioners of services and to LINk referrals from overview and scrutiny committees should set out how the matter would be dealt with and in what timescale;

c)That clarification was required as to whether there would be any process for resolving disagreements between LINks and overview and scrutiny committees with regards to whether a scrutiny review was appropriate.

REASON:      In order to carry out the Committee’s duty to promote the health needs of the people it represents.