Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed Gill Root from the Department of Public Health to the meeting.

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 in the business on the agenda.

Councillors Funnell and Hodgson declared personal interests in Agenda Item 4 (Update Report- Merger of Priory Medical Group) as current registered patients at Priory Medical Group.

Councillor Funnell also declared a personal interest in the same agenda item as Chief Executive of the National Eczema Society.

Councillor Douglas declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 6 (Community Mental Health and the Care of Young People Scrutiny Review-Interim Report) as her son was a member of York Youth Council who had carried out ongoing work related to the scrutiny review topic.

No other interests were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meetings held on Wednesday 24 April 2013 and Friday 26 April 2013.

Resolved:           That the minutes of the meetings of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on Wednesday 24 April 2013 and Friday 26 April 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 25 June 2013 at 5:00 pm.

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

Andrew Collingwood raised comments about the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) provision in the city. He expressed concerns about the differing length of waiting lists to access each stage of therapy and also about the shortfall of workers involved in IAPT. He felt that this should be investigated because of the risk it could be putting people at. He informed the Committee that he had submitted a Freedom of Information Request to Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust who provided mental health services alongside NHS North Yorkshire and York in North Yorkshire.

Discussion took place on the issue raised by Mr Collingwood, and it was felt that there was also a greater need to start talking about less costly mental health treatment and general support that could be offered to users of mental health services in York. The Director of Public Health confirmed that he would raise the concerns with the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group, as they were responsible for the commissioning of services such as the IAPT. The Chair requested that the Freedom of Information Request made by Mr Collingwood be circulated to Members of the Committee.

John Yates, from York Older People’s Assembly made general comments about the minutes of Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings and raised particular concerns about wider contributions and their contributions no longer being recorded in the minutes.

In response the Head of Civic and Democratic Services outlined the Council’s standard practice and approach to the recording of meetings and decisions which was in line with nationally recommended good practice.

It was noted that the matter had been invited for review by the Chief Executive by Mr Yates.

The Committee will receive an update report on a number of questions raised at a previous meeting relating to the merger of Priory and Abbey Medical Groups to discuss how well the merger is working with the Out of Hours Service.

Members received an update report from the Head of Primary Care for North Yorkshire and the Humber, NHS England, on the merger between the Priory Medical Group and Abbey Medical Group. The report sought to answer a number of questions that had been raised by Members at a previous meeting.

In response to questions from Members, it was reported that the merger would not result in a change in how Out of Hours Services were commissioned. The Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group would be responsible for the commissioning of GP Out of Hours Services. In addition, there would need to be a review on the effect of the merger for both Medical Groups on the wider changes within Primary Care. However, these changes were not likely to arrive straightaway. 

Resolved:  That the report be noted.

Reason:     To keep Members informed of the merger                                  between the Abbey and Priory Medical Groups.

Members will receive a verbal update from the Chair of the Personalisation Review Task Group on the current progress of the review.

The Chair of the Personalisation Scrutiny Review Task Group gave a verbal update on the progress so far of the review. She informed the Committee that a couple of workshops had taken place as a result of recommendations from the Task Group but that there was a sense that the topic needed a fresh focus.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Task Group was scheduled for 19 July 2013 when further discussions could take place about what was required to further the aims of this review.

The Chair confirmed that she would be happy to inform the Committee on the progress of the Task Group at the next Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting.

Resolved:            (i)      That the update be noted.

                             (ii)      That the Chair update the Committee on                                     progress of the Personalisation Scrutiny                                               Review following the next Task Group                                             meeting.   

Reason:              To continue work on the review.

This report sets out the findings to date in relation to the scrutiny review on Community Mental Health and the Care of Young People.

Members received a report which set out the findings to date in relation to the scrutiny review on Community Mental Health and the Care of Young People. The report asked them to comment upon the findings to date and to note that the Task Group had planned one more scheduled meeting to bring the review to a conclusion.

Councillor Runciman, who submitted the topic for review, spoke about how the review had raised Mental Health awareness.

It was reported that the final report would come to the Committee in September 2013 and progress to Cabinet thereafter.

The Chair also felt that the draft Final Report of the scrutiny review should be presented to the York Youth Council, who should also be invited to attend the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee in September.

Resolved:  That the report and work to date be noted.

Reason:     To conclude the work on the review in line with                          Scrutiny Procedures and Protocols.

At the Annual Council meeting on 23 May 2013 appointments were made to various Committees, outside and partnership bodies for the 2013/14 municipal year. As a result, the membership of Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee changed slightly for 2013/14. In turn, this has had a slight effect on the membership of some Task Groups, which this Committee has set up. This report seeks to update the membership of Health Overview & Scrutiny Task Groups, as appropriate. 

A report was considered on the membership of the Community Mental Health in the Care of Young People and Personalisation Task Groups, in light of the changes to the membership of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee at the Annual Council.

As a result it was;

Resolved:            (i)                That Councillor Doughty replace                                                   Councillor Richardson on the                                                       Community Mental Health in the Care                                              of Young People Task          Group.

                             (ii)                That Councillor Jeffries replace                                                    Councillor Cuthbertson on the                                                      Personalisation Task Group.

Reason:              To update the membership of the Task Groups                         following the reallocation of Committee places at                             Annual Council.

The Chair will give the Committee a verbal update on proposed changes to Children’s Cardiac Services.

Members received an update on the ongoing situation about the national review of Children’s Cardiac Surgery at Leeds General Infirmary.

The Chair informed the Committee that;

·        The Independent Reconfiguration Panel’s report concluded that the proposal to close Children’s Cardiac Surgery at Leeds should not be reviewed as the review process to determine which centres should remain open had been flawed.

·        That the review was carried out on the premise that patients would only be attending the centres for one service only and not for life.

·        That the report also concluded that the IRP found that all of the centres earmarked for closure were safe.

She added that in her view;

·        The result of the review did appear to be predetermined as there were no representatives from Yorkshire on the panel which assessed Children’s Cardiac centres.

·        There were also concerns that some Members of Safe and Sustainable had made up their minds that Leeds should close at the beginning of the process.

·        That the provision of Adult Cardiac Surgery should also be reviewed.

Discussion took place amongst Members and Officers. Some pointed out that £6 million pounds had already been spent on the review and proper information had not been provided and therefore the process could not progress. It was also added that one recent view from a whistleblower suggested that actions had been taken in regards to reviews of providing care in smaller number of centres had sacrificed lives on local prejudices and surgical empire building.

Other Members added that cardiac surgeons who were based in all Children’s Cardiac Centres suffered additional stress in that they did not know whether they would have to move to another area of the country.

Resolved:           That the update be noted.

Reason:              In order to keep Members appraised of ongoing                        circumstances in relation to the provision of                               Children’s Cardiac Services in the region.

Members are asked to consider the Committee’s work plan for the municipal year and a list of possible topics for future Scrutiny reviews.

Members considered the Committee’s Work Plan (which included a list of possible topics for the Committee to conduct scrutiny reviews on in the new municipal year).

The Chair suggested that given that the Personalisation Scrutiny Review Task Group was due to meet on 19 July and the Committee’s next meeting was on the 24 July, that any outcomes from the Task Group be added to the work plan for the next meeting.

She also updated Members on progress on a topic that the Committee had been looking at, namely, what could be done in regards to the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group’s inherited debt from NHS North Yorkshire and York. It was reported that the topic had been discussed in Parliament but that a response to a letter written to the Secretary of State for Health persuading him to write off the inherited debt had not yet been answered. The Committee felt that another letter should be written to press for an answer.

Further discussion took place around the following topics, which could be examined by the Committee through a review;

·        Hospital Discharges

·        Men’s Health

·        York as a Dementia Friendly City

·        Loneliness in York

Members felt that a topic that focused on Men’s Health was important, as men had tended to be less willing to highlight health problems that they might had already encountered, or would do in the future.

It was also reported that at a previous Corporate and Scrutiny Management Committee that a proposal for a themed review across the remits of all Scrutiny Committees should take place between all the relevant Committee Chairs. A themed topic that was proposed was the Night-time Economy of York.

The Chair suggested that each Committee Member might wish to take up one of the topics identified and work out a remit for a review on their own topic. Councillor Wiseman said she would work to bring together a topic on Men’s Health to be considered by the Committee at their July meeting. It was suggested that the Dementia Friendly topic be taken off the list as Without Walls were conducting a review into this.

Resolved:  (i)      That the work plan be noted subject to the                                  following amendments¹;

·        That an update be given following on from the meeting of the Personalisation Review Scrutiny Task Group be considered by the Committee at their July meeting.

·        That a topic on Men’s Health be put forward as a scrutiny topic for the Committee to review in the new municipal year.

                             (ii)      That a further letter be written to the                                             Secretary of State for Health, in regards to                                 wiping the inherited debt of the Vale of York                                    Clinical Commissioning Group from NHS                                       North Yorkshire and York.²

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