Meeting documents

Apologies were received from:

• Mrs L Clarke
• Mr C Etholen
• Julia Wassell
• Ms S Jenkins
• Mrs M Aston

The following change of membership was confirmed:

• Mr C Etholen would replace Mrs I Darby on the Committee.

Mr N Hussain declared an interest on items where transportation was discussed as he was involved with local transport companies.

Mr G Williams declared an interest where Children’s short breaks were under discussion as he was the Deputy Cabinet Member for Children’s Services.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 22^nd May 2018 as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 22 May 2018 were agreed as a correct record and were signed by the Chairman.

This is an opportunity for members of the public to put a question or raise an issue of concern, related to health.   Where possible, the relevant organisation to which the question/issue is directed will be present to give a verbal response.  Members of the public will be invited to speak for up to four minutes on their issue.  A maximum of 30 minutes is set aside for the Public Questions slot in total (including responses and any Committee discussion). This may be extended with the Chairman’s discretion. 

For full guidance on Public Questions, including how to register a request to speak during this slot, please follow this link:

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/about-your-council/scrutiny/getting-involved/

A public question had been received on 20 July, too late for consideration for this meeting.

The question had been sent to the relevant health organisation for a response which would be sent to the member of the public and circulated to the Committee on receipt.

There were no further public questions.

Purpose:

The Council’s Adult Social Care transformation plans were reviewed by the Committee at its November meeting.  This item will provide Members with more detail on the transformation projects and provide progress on the delivery.

Attendees:

Lin Hazell, Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing

Ms K Jackson, Service Director, Operations

Ms T Ironmonger, Assistant Director of Public Health

Ms J Bowie, Service Director, Integrated Commissioning

Mr M Everitt, Interim Business Intelligence Business Partner

Papers:

Power point presentation attached

Intended outcome:

For Members to gain a greater understanding of the details around the transformation projects and to seek reassurance that the transformation plans are on track for delivery.

The Chairman welcomed officers Ms T Ironmonger, Assistant Director of Public Health, Ms K Jackson, Service Director for Adult Social Care (ASC) Operations, and Ms J Bowie, Service Director for Integrated Commissioning. Lin Hazell, the Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing joined part way through the item.

An overview of the presentation circulated with the agenda was given by officers.

The following issues and questions were raised by the Committee: 

• In response to a question about how adult social care works with the NHS to improve delays in transfer of care out of Hospital, the Cabinet Member and officers confirmed that they work very closely as a system to minimise delays.  The number of delays due to adult social care was relatively low compared to the national figures.
• A Member asked whether the regular ASC six monthly update to Cabinet could provide more specific and informative details on the transformation plans, including evidence of improved outcomes and delivery timeframes. Members enjoyed client case studies but wanted to understand the impact of change on the different tiers from how the service was now delivered to how it will be delivered in future. In response to a question about the new Integrated Care Service (ICS) User Group, Ms Jackson agreed to share more information on this Group.
• A Member asked whether the ageing population had been reflected in the plans for more care homes in future.  The officers confirmed that modelling had taken place to ensure predicted growth was reflected in the plans.
• A Member asked whether other local authorities had been going through similar transformation and whether information sharing had taken place.  The officers confirmed that they had spoken to, and visited a number of other authorities, including Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire and discussions were also taking place at a national level through the Association of Directors in Adult Social Services Group. In response to a question about whether the workforce was trained to take on this new approach and whether the Service was working with local universities and colleges to provide the right level of training for the future, the officers confirmed that this was happening and 94% of the current workforce had received training,

·         There were £5.2million projected savings linked to the transformation plans.  The officers confirmed that they were confident that these savings would be made. The slide in the presentation highlighting the new social care contacts and established client base shows percentages for "now" and "in the future".  The Committee asked to see the raw data behind these percentages in order to understand the proposed shifts in the different tiers in terms of actual numbers of clients.

• A Member commented on the heavy reliance on IT in order to successfully deliver the transformation plans and asked how the IT system integrates with the health sector; Ms Bowie explained that significant progress had been made in IT.  Mention was made of the Airedale model which uses Assistive technology in care homes and this was currently being looked at.  
• A  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Purpose:

Cabinet agreed to go out to consultation on the draft Short Breaks Strategies for Disabled Children and Adults at its meeting on 18^th June.  The purpose of consulting is to help develop the Council’s vision of how short breaks should be delivered in Buckinghamshire.  The Children’s Select Committee considered the Disabled Children’s short break strategy at its meeting on 10^th July.  This item is for the Committee to review and comment on the Adult’s Short Breaks strategy.  These documents will then be subject to a subsequent consultation later in the year.

Attendees:

Lin Hazell, Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing

Ms J Bowie, Service Director, Integrated Commissioning

Papers:

Adult Short Breaks Strategy report

Buckinghamshire Adult’s Short Breaks Draft Strategy 2018-2022

Adult Short Breaks Strategy Equalities Impact Assessment

Intended outcome:

For the Committee to discuss the strategy and formulate a response on any areas of particular concern which will be sent to the Cabinet Member for consideration as part of the first phase of the consultation.

Lin Hazell, Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing introduced the item and Ms Bowie, Service Director for Integrated Commissioning provided details on the current Adult Short Breaks Strategy consultation.

The Chairman highlighted a recent newspaper article which made reference to the importance of unpaid carers and the estimated cost savings to the health and social care sector.

• The following issues and areas of concern were highlighted by Members: A single approach and principles for children services through to adults to improve user experience.
• A Member expressed concern about the wording in paragraph 1.2 of the strategy document and felt it would benefit from more explanation about the role of the community sector.
• It was felt that the lack of reference to young carers in both the Children’s and the Adult’s Short Breaks strategies needed to be addressed and the views of young carers should be included in the evaluation of the consultation so that an informed decision could be taken.
• A Member felt that the objectives outlined in the strategy needed to be re-focussed to reflect what was fundamentally what carers wanted which was a break from caring.
• Comments were made about the use of Plain English and the readability of the strategy and asked that future documents were reviewed in light of this.
• A Member commented on the benefits of forging closer links with organisations representing the Armed Forces, particularly as the County Council had signed the Armed Forces Covenant.
• Transport was identified as an integral part of the success of a short break and the Committee would like to see this issue reflected more as the strategy develops.
• A Member expressed concern about the tight deadline between the end of the strategy consultation and the development of the short breaks policy and asked for reassurance that enough time had been allocated for the evaluation of the strategy.  Ms Bowie confirmed that the timings were tight and the timelines might need to be reviewed in light of the feedback from the strategy consultation.

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member and officer for their input and confirmed that he would send a letter on behalf of the Committee to the Cabinet Member for consideration as part of the first phase of the consultation.

ACTION: Ms Wheaton

Purpose:

The Committee agreed to set-up an inquiry group to review how well Buckinghamshire is doing at tackling child obesity.  The inquiry group commenced their evidence gathering in January and this item is for the inquiry group to present the draft report to the Committee for agreement before it is presented to Cabinet.

Attendees:

Mr B Roberts, Chairman of the Child Obesity Inquiry

Mr R Bagge, Member of the Child Obesity Inquiry

Mr D Martin, Member of the Child Obesity Inquiry

Papers:

Draft Child Obesity Inquiry report

Intended outcome:

For Members of the Committee to agree the draft report which will then be presented to Cabinet in October 2018.

The Chairman introduced the draft report and asked Members for their feedback ahead of the report being presented to Cabinet in October.

Members made the following comments :

• The aim of the Inquiry was to look at how Buckinghamshire was doing at tackling child obesity which was acknowledged as a national issue.
• The issue was recognised as requiring a whole system approach and improvements would be gradual but change needed to happen as obesity had underlying complex health issues.
• The new sugar tax had raised less money than expected and therefore the funding available to promote physical activities in schools would need to be undertaken in a co-ordinated way in order to gain the maximum benefit.
• A Member commended the recommendation about using the Local Area Forums priorities budget to support local initiatives. The important role of planning was acknowledged by the Members.  The report highlights the importance of lobbying Government for legislation to restrict the applications for unhealthy food outlets and also the need to include more green spaces as part of new developments.
• A Member commented that using local celebrities to endorse healthy lifestyles was very powerful and something which could be considered as a number of celebrities live in Bucks.
• Healthy Lifestyle would be a mandatory subject in schools from 2020.

The Committee thanked Mrs Wheaton, Committee & Governance Adviser, for her high quality and effective support throughout the Inquiry.

RESOLVED: The Committee AGREED the report which would now be presented to Cabinet in October and then circulated more widely to all interested parties. 

For the Chairman to update the Committee on health and social care issues and forthcoming events.

Papers:

Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust’s Quality Accounts 2017/18 (p.68, Statement from the HASC Select Committee)

The Chairman reported the following:

• Bucks Healthcare Trust’s (BHT) Annual Quality Accounts were included in the agenda pack and the Committee’s response to the Accounts was included.
• BHT’s Board meeting was taking place on Wednesday 25^th July 10am-1pm, Wycombe Hospital
• Healthwatch Bucks Annual Report launch was taking place on Wednesday 25^th July at 5.30pm at Wycombe Wanderers Football Stadium, Adams Park, High Wycombe
• BHT’s and the CCGs Annual General meeting and family fun day was on Saturday 28th July from 11am, Stoke Mandeville Hospital

An opportunity to update the Committee on relevant information and report on any meetings of external organisations attended since the last meeting of the Committee.  This is particularly pertinent to members who act in a liaison capacity with NHS Boards and for District Representatives.

Ms T Jervis, Co-opted Member of the Committee and Chief Executive of Healthwatch Bucks will present the key highlights from Healthwatch Bucks Annual report.

Papers:

Healthwatch Bucks Annual report 2017/18

Ms T Jarvis, Chief Executive of Healthwatch Bucks, presented the key highlights from the Healthwatch Bucks Annual Report.

The report had been compiled by talking to a large number of service users accessing a wide range of different health services and maded a number of recommendations.

The priority from 2018/19 remained focused on social care, mental health, primary care, rehabilitation. There would also be a focus on GP access for those with no fixed abode and a street campaign targeting people’s views on access to urgent care.

The annual report was being formally launched at Wycombe Wanderers Football Stadium, Adams Park, High Wycombe 25 July, at 5.30pm.

The Chairman thanked Ms Jarvis

Purpose:

For Committee Members to note the work programme and discuss future items.

Papers:

Work programme attached

The Chairman confirmed that the issues raised at this meeting would be included in the Work Programme. There were no further comments from the Committee.

ACTION: Ms Wheaton

The next meeting is due to take place at 10am on Tuesday 2^nd October 2018 in Mezz Room 1, County Hall, Aylesbury.

The next meeting was due to take place at 10am on Tuesday 2 October 2018 in Mezz Room 1, County Hall, Aylesbury