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 disclosable pecuniary interests, other than their standing interests attached to the agenda, that they might have had in the business on the agenda.

No other interests were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 23 October 2013.

Resolved:  That the minutes of the last meeting of the Health                     Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 23 October                   2013 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. The deadline for registering is Tuesday 26 November 2013 at 5:00 pm.

To register to speak please contact the Democracy Officer for the meeting, on the details at the foot of the agenda.

Please note that this meeting, including public speakers, will be sound recorded to allow members of the public to listen to the proceedings without having to attend the meeting. The sound recording will be uploaded on to the Council’s website following the meeting.

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

John Yates, from York Older People’s Assembly, shared a recent experience he had with the Accident and Emergency (A & E) Department at York Hospital. He told the Committee that he had been taken to hospital by ambulance on Sunday morning and noted that staff were still dealing with a backlog of patients from the previous evening. He spent seven hours in the department, He also commented that whilst he was in  A & E he had not been offered breakfast and that the only food available were high sugar products such as chocolate bars. He passed on his comments to the Hospital management and they had responded positively.

This report analyses the latest performance for 2013/14 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 Health & Wellbeing.

Members received a report which analysed the latest performance for 2013/14 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 Health & Wellbeing.

The Assistant Director of Assessment and Safeguarding and Finance Manager for Adults, Children & Education responded to specific queries raised by Members.

They commented that in some areas the position had worsened since the last report had been presented to the Committee such as in external nursing care. There were also areas where targets had been missed such as in inclusion for disabled patients, but that this was due to the method of counting the figures, and that a new process would be introduced in the coming year.

Queries raised by Members included;

·        Reasons for why there were a lower number of required placements in External Residential Care.

·        Why there was a surplus in the Public Health grant as a contingency for the transferred contracts from the Primary Care Trust (PCT)?

·        Reasons for missing the target for Adults with Learning Disabilities in Settled Accommodation.

·        What action had been taken in relation to delayed discharges from Bootham Park Hospital?

·        What action in general was being taken to have a single process for users across Health and Social Care services in York?

A reason given for why there had been a lower number of placements required in External Residential Care was that there had been a better use of beds and that users were being offered care in their homes for longer.

Regarding the surplus and transferred contracts from the PCT over to the Council, it was reported that contracts had been handed over on an arbitrary basis around population levels, which had affected figures.

Targets had been missed in relation to Adults with Learning Disabilities in settled accommodation as the indicator used to measure the target had changed over the past year, and Officers were now only counting people known to Social Services.

In regards to the question about delayed discharges from Bootham Park Hospital, Officers reported that they had not received the same level of data from that Hospital compared with that from York Hospital. It was reported that discussions were taking place with bed managers to discover the current situation.

Concerns were raised by Members around Care Homes in the city. The Chair suggested that the attendance of the Care Quality Commission at the next Committee meeting would provide a good opportunity for Members to share these concerns further.

Resolved:  That the report be noted.

Reason:     To update the Committee on the latest financial and                 performance position for 2013/14.

Debbie Ward and Janice Sunderland from North Yorkshire and Humber Commissioning Support Unit (CSU) will present an update report on how the CSU and York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust are working together.

It was reported that this agenda item had been rescheduled to be considered at the Committee’s December meeting. 

The Committee will receive a briefing paper from the Partnership Commissioning Unit, on behalf of the four North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), and Heads of Midwifery/Patient Engagement Leads from commissioned providers of local maternity services.

Members received a briefing paper on the NHS Friends and Family Test from the Partnership Commissioning Unit (PCU), on behalf of the four North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), and Heads of Midwifery/Patient Engagement Leads from commissioned providers of local maternity services.

The Senior Commissioning Specialist from the PCU and the Head of Midwifery from York Hospital NHS Foundation Trust were in attendance to answer Members questions.

It was reported that results and feedback from the tests taken by users of maternity services in York would be presented to the Children’s Trust Board in January 2014.

Members asked whether adjustments would be made for those taking the test that had Learning Difficulties. It was reported that a lead nurse would read through the form to aid the person taking the test.

Resolved:  That the briefing paper be noted.

Reason:     To ensure that the Committee is informed of the NHS               Friends and Family Test and its roll out in York.

This report sets out the findings of the Task Group to date and highlights some emerging trends arising from the review. 

Members considered the draft interim report of the Personalisation Scrutiny Review Task Group.

The Chair allowed for the former Chief Executive of York Mind, who had contributed to the Scrutiny Review to share his thoughts with the Committee. He felt that the review had helped to give more information about what personalisation was, but had not addressed why it had not been more successful. In addition, he recognised that there was a need to decommission services but wished to have a clear timeframe set.

Discussion took place around Personal Health Budgets. It was understood that by April 2014 all people  would be able to ask for a Personal Health Budget, and by October 2014 Health and Social Care services would have to provide this to those who had requested it. It was felt that barriers over communication between carers and providers still existed. One Member pointed out for some people it was unclear about what they were being consulted on, therefore there was a need to share ‘success stories’ around personalisation.

It was felt that further work was needed to identify what the barriers were and also to scrutinise the transformation process towards Personal Health Budgets.

Resolved:  (i)      That the report be noted.

                   (ii)      That another Task Group meeting be scheduled                       in order to examine what are the barriers to the                     take up of Personal Health Budgets and to                                     identify what scrutiny work should take place in                          regards to the transfer of services.

Reason:     To enable the review to proceed in accordance with                           scrutiny processes.         

This report presents updated information on the work so far completed by Members of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) in relation to the corporate review into York’s Night Time Economy.

Members considered a report which presented them with information on work done by the Committee in relation to the corporate review into York’s Night Time Economy.

The Chair noted that the review had raised further issues, in one instance caring for people with mental health issues not least at night time and during the weekend. She was pleased the review had allowed them to talk to York Street Angels. The Street Angels had commented on the professionalism of the Yorkshire Ambulance Service, the Police and Doormen in the city centre. They also expressed their gratitude for the support they received from City of York Council. Members were delighted that these organisations were talking to one another in partnership over the issues that the review had raised.

Resolved:  That the report, the work on the review to date and the             measures needed to progress the review be noted.

Reason:     To ensure compliance with scrutiny procedures,                       protocols and workplans.

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

Members considered the Committee’s work plan and made the following amendments;

·        That the update report from the CSU and York Teaching Hospital on how they are working together be scheduled for the December meeting. [Amended at 18 December 2013 meeting]

·        An additional meeting of the Personalisation Scrutiny Task Group be arranged.

Resolved:  That the work plan be updated with the following                       amendments suggested above.

Reason:     To ensure that the Committee has a planned                                       programme of work in place.

Any other business which the Chair considers urgent.

The Chair reported that she and the Vice Chair had been invited to attend a Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting in Leeds. However, given that neither she nor the Vice Chair could attend, she asked the Committee to nominate a Member to attend in their place.

Following discussion it was resolved;

Resolved:  That Councillor Wiseman attend the meeting of the                            Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee in place           of Councillors Funnell and Doughty.

Reason:     To ensure that the Committee is represented at the                            meeting.