Agenda and minutes

The Chair reported that Councillor B Price had attended the previous Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee held on the 4^th April 2019 as a substitute for Councillor M Gant and that the Minutes should be amended to reflect his attendance.  Subject to that amendment the Minutes of were approved and signed as a correct record.

(Moved by Councillor R Claymore and seconded by Councillor M Oates)

Councillor R Ford declared a non-prejudicial interest in a matter which he planned to raise as a work plan item later on the agenda.  He recorded that through his employment he had been engaged to facilitate stakeholder communication engagement for Western Power Distribution.  Western Power Distribution is a power company, and together with all utility companies, was required to maintain a Priority Service Register.  Councillor R Ford reported that he intended to raise for discussion a proposal that the Committee add a review of Priority Service Registers to its work plan.  Councillor Ford confirmed that he did not consider that he had a conflict of interest and that he did not have a disclosable pecuniary interest but for the purposes of transparency he requested that this interest be noted.

No other declarations of interest were made.

To receive an update from the Chair

The Chair provided the following updates:

·         Several Councillors had attended the Staffordshire led Together We’re Better conversation event on 3 June 2019 in Tamworth on Health and Care in Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent.  This event was oversubscribed and accordingly the Chair reported that a further conversation event had been scheduled for 29 July in Tamworth and details of how to attend were provided to members. 

·         The Chair reported that he and two other Councillors had attended the Tamworth Cancer Wellbeing Centre Open Day and the Chair was exploring whether a representative would be prepared to come to the Committee to consider how Tamworth Borough Council could work better with organisations such as this in the third sector.

·         The Clinical Commissioning Group would be providing a briefing session open to all Councillors on the commissioning of health services on 31 July at 6pm

·         The Chair welcomed the new County Councillor representative on the Committee, County Councillor Tina Clements.

(Update on responses to the Reports of the Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee)

The Chair reported that Cabinet had received a report on the adoption of the Motor Neurone Disease Charter at its meeting on 11 April 2019 and Cabinet had resolved to support the adoption of the MNDA Charter in recognition of the specific nature, speed of progression and impact of Motor Neurone Disease which meant that it is particularly important to ensure support was provided as soon as possible.

(To receive an update from County Councillor T Clements)

County Councillor Clements provided an update on the following matters which had been considered at the Healthy Staffordshire Select Committee on 15^th July:

·         Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Transforming Care Partnership (TCP) – Patients with Complex Care needs – Staffordshire TCP had not achieved its end of year target set by NHS England, however, this was reported to be a similar position to many other TCP areas. Staffordshire was currently rated as green by NHS England and another inspection was due.  Questions were raised at that meeting regarding the capacity to meet the future need and the Clinical Commissioning Group provided assurances in that regard.

·         Nexus Care – the contracts held by Allied Healthcare had transferred to Nexus and representatives of Nexus presented to that meeting to update on progress made since the transfer of the contracts.  Stafford had been rated by the CQC in January 2019 as “Requires Improvement” and the Cannock branch was awaiting an inspection. It was reported that sufficient staff had been recruited to cover the care needs in the community.

·         Healthwatch- Staffordshire County Council commissions Healthwatch and it was reported that funding for this service had reduced.  Patient transport was one area which received focus.

·         George Bryan Centre – there was significant discussion on this item at the Select Committee and County Councillor Clements remained concerned that there was insufficient mental health care capacity based within Tamworth.  It was reported that there were two engagement events in Tamworth planned to ensure that Tamworth is heard in this area.

The Committee requested that County Councillor Clements seek further clarification on the sustainability of Nexus, given the issues that had arisen for Allied Healthcare.

To receive the Healthy Staffordshire Select Committee Digest fin respect of the following meeting(s):

·         10 June 2019

The Committee noted the Digest regarding the 10 June 2019 meeting.

Please see the link to the Forward Plan:

http://democracy.tamworth.gov.uk/mgListPlans.aspx?RPId=120&RD=0&bcr=1

The Committee considered the Forward Plan and identified that the Allocations Policy item was now due for consideration by Council at its meeting in November 2019 and that accordingly it was anticipated that this Committee would receive an update at its September or October meeting. No further Forward Plan items were identified for consideration by this Committee.

To consider the Staffordshire Observatory Data Pack – see link to document:

https://www.staffordshireobservatory.org.uk/publications/thestaffordshirestory/Locality-Data-Packs.aspx#.XSXuWU2Wzcs

The Committee considered the Staffordshire Observatory Data Pack for Tamworth.  It was noted that there were some limitations in utilising such data and that at times there could be better comparitors than those in other parts of Staffordshire and therefore the data should always be considered with some caution.

The Committee identified that the area of educational attainment / achievement was one area which would warrant further scrutiny.  It was noted that the school readiness of children (early years) was good whilst the GCSE attainment levels were considerably behind the national average.

The Committee discussed the best methods for taking this forward as a possible work item and agreed that a Task and Finish group should be formed to consider this matter.  The following members agreed to form the Task and Finish group:

·         Councillor Ford

·         Councillor Faulkner

·         Councillor Brindley

·         Councillor Claymore

The Chair requested that the Staffordshire Observatory Data Pack be left as a standing agenda item under the Work Plan to enable review at subsequent meetings.

To consider items for 2019/2020 Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee Work Plan

The Committee discussed the Work Plan for this municipal year and identified the following new items for inclusion:

·         Mental health issues in Tamworth – consider engagement with the third sector to understand further the relevant data / areas of concern / underlying causes and strategies to address

·         Invite representatives of other NHS organisations to attend the Committee, such as:

Ø  Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust regarding mental health services

Ø  Ambulance Service

·         Barriers to accessing GP Services in relation to residents with additional needs / Centralisation of some GP Services

·         Priority Service Registers – explore the opportunities to raise the awareness of such Registers for the benefit of local residents’ health and wellbeing.  Task and Finish group to be formed comprising:

Ø  Councillor Ford

Ø  Councillor Brindley

Ø  Councillor Claymore

Task and Finish group to aim to report back to the September 2019 meeting.

Councillor Box left the meeting before the discussion of the Priority Service Registers.

The Work Plan was updated as follows:

Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Work Plan