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. A list of general personal interests previously declared are attached.

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 Simpson-Laing declared standing declarations as a member of Unison, as an employee of Relate and as she worked with the Disabilities Trust.

Councillor Fraser declared a standing declaration as a member of the retired section of UNITE the TGWU ACTS section.

Councillor Sunderland declared a personal non prejudicial interest in relation to Agenda item 6 (Update Report – Outreach Workers) as an employee of the Citizen’s Advice Bureau.

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 5:00 pm on Friday 11 December 2009.

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

Sally Hutchinson, made representations on behalf of Age Concern. She made a plea to the Committee, on behalf of the voluntary sector and Age Concern, that they would be happy to assist with the long term planning of services in an effort to provide a better quality of life for older people. She felt that this would also hopefully assist the Authority in saving money.

With regard to the feasibility report on access to outreach workers she expressed surprise that this issue was still under consideration. She referred to the services and schemes that were available to help support older people to lead independent lives. She went onto point out that voluntary workers often saw things very differently to older people and they were often a vital source of information in gaining necessary assistance for residents.

This report provides an update of the 2009/10 position for both finance and performance in Adult Social Services, the main area covered by the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Consideration was given to a report, which provided an update of the 2009/10 position for both finance and performance in Adult Social Services, the main area covered by the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

It was reported that the net approved budget for Adult Social Services was £40m and, after identifying £665k of in-year savings to address cost pressures in the year, it was currently projected that there would be an overspend of £1,053k. Officers confirmed that the underlying cause of the overspend continued to relate to the increases in the number of customers supported at home, increased Direct Payment take up and increase in the number of Mental Health residential and nursing placements.

Officers referred to progress made in reducing the overspend and to a number of targets which had been exceeded.

Members questioned the affect of the reduction in the residential care budget and the working time directive in relation to costs.

Following further discussion it was

RESOLVED:             That this report be noted.

REASON:                  To continue to update the Committee on the budget situation in this area.

This report details a referral from the Executive regarding overspends in Adult Social Services.

The Committee considered a report which gave them details of a referral from the Executive regarding overspends in Adult Social Services. 

It was reported that the Executive had highlighted the increased demand levels for adult community care packages and care packages as having an impact on the Council’s budget. As a result they had requested the Scrutiny Committee review the reasons for and possible options for offsetting the increase and demand in these services.

Annex 1 of the report also provided a further monitor report, which showed that the projected overspend on Adult Social care had now risen to around £1.1m from £589k at the last report.

Officers referred to the significant demographic changes in society resulting in increased demand on services together with the increasing cost of care related to additional holiday provision in the private sector and implementation of the working time directive. Reference was also made to the reduction in income and other cost pressures together with the fact that York was one of the lowest funded authorities in the country. In answer to a question, it was reported that in 2007/08 the average annual care expenditure in England was £979 per older person compared to York’s spending of £689 per older person.

Members commented on and questioned the following points:

·        Details of future requirements in respect of community based support for Learning Disabilities;

·        Need to learn from other authorities and their areas of expertise;

·        Costs of telecare against that of homecare;

·        Partners input into services also required examination;

·        Details required of Impact of More for York on services;

·        Concerns that any further cuts would impact on frontline services;

·        Need for meaningful information to enable the Committee to provide the Executive with options for offsetting the increase in demand for these services;

• Queried what options the Executive Member had considered, accepted and rejected, to bring the budget back into balance. (The Executive Member did not give this information;
• Queried the wisdom of the Council’s Executive accepting wholly uncosted amendments to their budget for 2009/10, proposed by a minor opposition party, which included notional, unspecified savings.

The Executive Member declined to comment on a number of these issues.

[As amended by the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee at their meeting held on 13 January 2010.]

Following further lengthy discussions consideration was given to the following options:

Option 1            Monitor the situation through regular reports

Option 2         Call an additional one-off meeting between Members of the Committee, the Director of Housing & Adult Social Services and the Head of Finance to discuss the budget pressures in more detail.

Option 3         Progress this topic to review clearly indicating which issues need to be addressed and what outcomes could realistically achieved.

Option 4            Take no further action

RESOLVED:             That the Executive Member/Leader be requested to provide details of the capital and revenue figures for Adult Social Services for the 2010/11 financial year to enable the Scrutiny Committee to discuss this matter at their meeting on 13 January 2010, in order to respond  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

This report asks Members to consider a scrutiny topic registered by Councillor Wiseman on improving care for newborns and new mothers.

Consideration was given to a scrutiny topic registered by Councillor Wiseman on improving care for newborns and new mothers. The topic registration form had been attached to the report as Annex A.

The Committee considered the information provided to support the eligibility criteria and the consultation undertaken as part of the feasibility process together with the comments subsequently received.

Sally Hutchinson raised concerns in respect of the recent experiences of a new mother with the maternity service and her subsequent discharge from hospital. She confirmed that poor communication together with the level of care expected from family members after major surgery had resulted in a complaint being made. She felt that the response received had not been satisfactory and she therefore felt that scrutiny of the maternity service would be useful.

Gareth Whiles, Assistant Director Children, Maternity and Sexual Health for NHS North Yorkshire and York was in attendance for consideration of this report. He confirmed that maternity matters formed part of the health visitor service. He went onto report that NHS North Yorkshire and York were shortly to examine a revised universal services model for 0 –19 year olds which would take into account how Health Visiting Services were provided in York. It was anticipated however that this work would not be complete until October 2010 but that it would pick up many of the issues raised. He confirmed that he would be happy to report back to the Committee on progress.

Members expressed concern in relation to the timeframe for the NHS review. They referred to gaps in services and to the fact that health visitor were no longer connected to family doctors and to the breakdown in communication which could result. It was suggested that if this topic was pursued that any information gathered could then be fed into the NHS review.

Members were asked to consider the following options:

Option A                     Progress the topic to review

Option B                     Do not progress this topic to review

Option C                     Receive a presentation from NHS North Yorkshire & York on the work being undertaken in this area.

RESOLVED:             That the Committee agree to proceed with Option C and request that NHS North Yorkshire and York provide a presentation on the work they are undertaking in relation to this subject prior to progressing this topic to review. ^1.

REASON:                   To address the concerns raised in the topic registration form.

This report presents Members of the Committee with an update on a previously registered scrutiny topic regarding ‘outreach workers’ for further consideration.

An update report on a previously registered scrutiny topic regarding ‘outreach workers’ was considered by the Committee.

It was reported that, at their meeting in January, Members had considered a scrutiny topic registered by Councillor Alexander regarding the availability, funding and uniform distribution of access to outreach workers. A feasibility study had now been prepared for Members consideration a copy of which had been attached to the report as Annex B and a briefing note on outreach workers for older people as Annex C.

Officers confirmed that the briefing note contained details of the work done on the development of community based services and new services commissioned together with the current position.

Members commented and questioned the following aspects of the report:

·        Confirmed that the handypersons scheme provided by Yorkshire Housing was available to a whole range of tenant’s who met their eligibility criteria;

·        Grant from HBOS for ‘Befriending Service’ with an end date of March 2010;

·        Need to ensure that funding was equally spread, this may require the involvement of partner organisations to assist;

·        Confirmation that Community Outreach was provided by numerous voluntary organisations in many different forms eg from Ward funding, MIND etc;

·        Need to examine what was on offer and advertise the details;

·        Centre for Independent Living would offer advice;

·        Strengthen the connection with partners and help engage customers.

Members then considered the following options:

Option A            If there are still outstanding issues, progress this topic to review

Option B         If all issues have now been addressed, do not progress this topic to review

Option C            Continue to receive regular updates

RESOLVED:                         That based on the information contained within the report and its annexes the Committee agree not progress this topic to review.

REASON:                              Based on the information contained within this report and its annexes, no gaps in service have been identified.