Agenda and minutes

At this point in the meeting, Members are asked to declare:

·        any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests

·        any prejudicial interests or

·        any disclosable pecuniary interests

which they may have in respect of business on this agenda.

At this point in the meeting, Members were invited to declare any personal, prejudicial or pecuniary interests, other than their standing interests attached to the agenda, that they might have in the business on the agenda.  None were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 20 February 2013.

RESOLVED:       That the minutes of the meeting of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 20 February be approved and signed by the Chair.

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. The deadline for registering is Tuesday 12 March 2013 at 5:00 pm.

It was reported that there had been one registration to speak at the meeting under the Public Participation Scheme.  Unfortunately Mr  Edmondson, the registered speaker, had subsequently been unable to attend the meeting and it had been agreed that his written statement would be read out in his absence.  The statement expressed concern about issues in respect of the wheelchair centre and asked that the committee give consideration to these matters.

Members agreed that it would be appropriate to give further consideration to the issues that had been raised in the statement.

RESOLVED:       (i)      That the written representation be noted.

(ii)      That Mr Edmondson’s approval be sought for the written representation to be forwarded to the wheelchair centre for their comments.

REASON:           To obtain further information in order that the Committee can determine whether to undertake scrutiny of the issues raised.

The Chief Executive from York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust will be in attendance to give a presentation in response to the Final Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry Chaired by Robert Francis QC.

The Chief Executive of York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust gave a verbal report to the Committee on the Francis Report.  A copy of his presentation is attached to the on-line agenda papers for this meeting.

The presentation covered the following issues:

(i)           The findings and recommendations of the Francis Report including issues in respect of:

·        Standards and compliance

·        Openness, transparency and candour

·        Compassionate, caring and committed nursing

·        Patient centred leadership

·        Accurate and relevant information

(ii)          The current situation in respect of York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust:

·        The Trust had already recognised and begun to address many of the findings in the Francis Report.

·        The Trust set its own values and priorities as well as addressing those that were set by Government.

·        The Board’s leadership on safety and the quality of care agenda.

·        A focus on value based recruitment – ensuring that employees shared the values of the Trust and that appointments were not just based on skills and intellect.  An example of this was that prospective health care assistants were required to spend a day in the hospital before making an application. 

·        The “My Ward Programme” which reinforced the autonomy of the ward sister and enabled them to demand the standards they expected.

·        An open culture within the organisation.  The importance that was placed on patient feedback and staff surveys.

·        The importance of the role carried out by the Governors.

(iii)        The challenges faced by the Trust:

·        The pressures on the hospital system.  The demands on health and social care. As provision was reduced in other parts of the system hospitals were becoming a place of last resort for some people. 

·        The financial environment – for example the reduction in tariff income and the resulting deficit that this had caused.

·        Patient demography.

·        The impact of negative media reporting and generalisations about care.  This could undermine the work that staff were carrying out.  It was important to be supportive as well as critical.

(iv)        What next for the Trust:

·        There was huge ambition for services in York.

·        There would be a need to respond to the increased regulation arising from the report.

·        The Trust would continue to promote increased openness.

·        Enhancing and responding to the patients’ voice.

Ms Helen Mackman, Lead Governor, gave details of the way in which the Governors were involved in ensuring high standards of care, including the “15 Steps” initiative. 

The Assistant Director Assessment and Safeguarding reported on a conference that she had recently attended which had covered issues arising from the Francis Report.  She highlighted the need to focus on standards of care and of listening to patients and taking appropriate action to address the issues they raised. 

Mr Chris Butler, Chief Executive Leeds and Yorkshire Partnership NHS, also stressed the need to ensure that patients’ stories were listened to as well as looking at statistics.  He stated that there was not always a correlation between the number of nurses and the quality of care.  He stressed the importance of the team leader role  ...  view the full minutes text for item 77.

This report analyses the latest performance for 2012/13 and forecasts the financial outturn position by reference to the service plan and budgets for all of the relevant services falling under the responsibility of the Director of Adults, Children and Education.

Members considered a report which analysed the latest performance for 2012/13 and forecasted the financial outturn position by reference to the service plan and budgets for all of the relevant services falling under the responsibility of the Director of Adults, Children and Education.

Members’ attention was drawn to paragraph 2 of the report which detailed the forecast outturn for Adult Social Services budgets.  Members questioned officers about the mitigating options that were being considered, including the discussions that were taking place with hospitals and clinical commissioning groups to develop a more integrated approach.  Members noted that specific actions were being costed in respect of the mitigating options and that a more detailed schedule of the proposed savings could be provided for Members.

Members noted the budget that had been set for the next financial year and asked if this would be sufficient to meet the needs of the changing demographic.  Officers stated that additional funding had been allocated in the two-year budget in recognition of this.

Referring to the Social Care Assessments, Members queried whether services would be able to cope if assessments were completed within a shorter period of time.  Officers gave details of the work that was taking place to look at ways of enabling people to access a variety of support within the community.

Members noted the performance analysis detailed in paragraphs 15 to 21 of the report.  Officers responded to questions on aspects of the analysis, including issues arising from the personalisation agenda and the way in which the direct payments were being used.

RESOLVED:       That the report be noted.

REASON:           To update the Committee on the latest financial and performance position for 2012/13.

This report summarises the work undertaken to date by the Task Group working on the Personalisation Scrutiny Review. The Committee are asked to note and comment on the report.

Members considered a report which summarised the work undertaken to date by the Task Group working on the Personalisation Scrutiny Review.

Members noted that paragraph 13 of the report should read “Councillor Jeffries, in her capacity as Co-Chair of the Independent Living Network”.

Members were encouraged to attend the public event that was being held on 23 April 2013.

RESOLVED:       That the report be noted.

REASON:           To keep the Committee updated in relation to ongoing work on the Personalisation Scrutiny Review.

This report summarises the work undertaken to date by the Task Group working on the Community Mental Health in the Care of Young People Scrutiny Review. The Committee are asked to note and comment on the report.

Members considered a report which summarised the work undertaken to date by the Task Group working on the Community Mental Health in the Care of Young People Scrutiny Review.

It was noted that the Task Group would meet with representatives of the Youth Council on 21 March 2013.

RESOLVED:       That the report be noted.

REASON:           To keep the Committee updated in relation to this ongoing scrutiny review.

Members are asked to consider the Committee’s work plan for the municipal year.

Members considered the Committee’s work plan for the rest of the municipal year.

It was noted that the End of Life Care Review had been well received when considered by Cabinet.  It was agreed that an item would be included on the work plan to enable progress on the recommendations to be monitored in six months time.

The Chair gave an update on the situation in respect of the Leeds Paediatric Cardiac Review.  She stated that she hoped to be in a position to provide more detailed information at the meeting in April.

RESOLVED:       That, subject to the inclusion of the items detailed above, the work plan be approved.

REASON:           To ensure that the committee has a planned programme of work in place.