Meeting documents

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 30 January 2018.

The minutes of the meeting held on 30 January 2017 were approved and signed by the Chairman of the Committee.

To receive any declarations of interest

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive a presentation from Andy Battye (Head of Operations) and Mark Ainsworth (Director of Operations).

The Committee received a presentation by Andy Battye (Head of Operations) on the work of the South Central Ambulance Services (SCAS) NHS Trust.

The presentation included an update on:

•        The Ambulance Response Program (ARP)

•        NHS 111 and how SCAS has been awarded the new 111 contract for Thames Valley

•        Demand and performance

•        Hospitals and the challenges around hospital handovers

•        The recruitment and retention of staff including the issuing of staff finding affordable accommodation in the South Bucks area

•        The use of private providers

•        Next steps including the new rota project to reflect ARP implementation; the continued focus on areas of improvement; and close working with Hospital colleagues & wider health services

Following the presentation, a number of issues were discussed including the following:

-        The reasons for increase in demand and the need for more education about how to access alternative services

-        Treating patients with mental health issues, in particular elderly patients with dementia and how there is a need for better care in the community to avoid hospital admissions

-        Hospital delays at Wexham Park Hospital and how this is affecting the performance targets for hospital handovers

-        The likely impact on the service of HS2 construction camps and traffic on the road network.

-        The impact on recruitment and retention of housing costs and availability in the South Bucks area.

Members noted the request for support from the Council around housing opportunities for ambulance service staff, the sharing of positive news stories and the advertising of alternative services.

The Committee thanked Andy Battye for his useful and interesting presentation.

To receive a presentation by Robert Majilton, Deputy Accountable Officer

The Committee were disappointed not to receive the presentation from the NHS Chiltern Clinical Commissioning Group (Chiltern CCG).  The Committee agreed to invite the Chiltern CCG to provide an update at its meeting on 19^th June 2018 instead. Members expressed a particular interest in an update on:

·       Plans to merge the CCG’s in Buckinghamshire.

·       Services to elderly people, and in particular those with dementia.  Members are keen to understand how the CCG see the planning and development of services for this client group and also the role played by Oxfordshire Mental Health NHS Trust in service provision including the performance of the service.

The Committee received a copy of a report, that was due to be submitted to Cabinet at its next meeting, which provided an update on the outcomes of the Performance Indicator (PI) review for 2018/2019 and which sought Cabinet’s approval for the proposed changes to reporting as set out in the report.

It was noted that this year, the internal consultation process had been extended to include all managers within service areas, plus other staff as appropriate, prior to sign off by Heads of Service.  This was in order to make sure that the Performance Indicators adopted include the measuring of all aspects of each service to provide only meaningful information to Management Team, Members and Officers. This has also ensured that the process has been more robust than in previous years. 

To reflect joint services, indicators have been jointly reported where practical. Where this has not been possible, care has been taken to align indicators so that the data sets gathered within each Council are similar.

The Committee were advised that if approved by Cabinet, for 2018/19 there would be 14 priority PIs, 34 additional corporate PIs and 8 data only PIs, making a total of 56.  The changes to PIs from the previous year were set out in paragraph 4.4 of the report.  This included a set of additional PIs within Healthy Communities which have been created in response to the Homelessness Task and Finish Group that would be reported monthly to MT and Cabinet and quarterly to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

RESOLVED that that the report be noted and that the Cabinet be informed that the Committee had no comments to make on the proposals.

Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee received a report outlining performance of council services against indicators and service objectives during Quarter 3 of 2017-18. 

Members noted from the report that of the total 46 PIs, 4 were seen to be off target (one of these was a priority PI) with further details of these within the two detailed performance tables accompanying the report:

·       Appendix A – Priority indicators Q3 2017-18

·       Appendix B – Quarterly corporate performance indicators Q3 2017-18

Members also noted the additional homelessness PIs quarter 3 2017-18 as recommended by the Task and Finish Group which were set out in appendix C to the report.  

With regards to long term sickness absence being over target, the Committee were advised that the Council was working with Occupational Health to ensure that assessments get completed as quickly as possible and that timely advice is given to employees to help get them back into work.  A comment was made that it would be useful to compare the amount of long term sickness with that of other local authorities and the private sector.

The Committee were advised of the work which was being undertaken to ensure that the Council reaches the 91% target of food premises (risk rating A to C) being broadly compliant, including being more proactive in contacting businesses to encourage them to take up an inspection and improving the efficiency of how inspections are carried out. 

The Director of Resources provided clarification on why the target for determining planning applications had been set at 70%.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

To receive:

Members received the Minutes of the meeting of the Buckinghamshire County Council Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee held on 30 January 2018. 

Members commented on the item in the minutes related to Dementia Services.  They felt it would have been useful if there had been some information about the performance of the Oxfordshire Mental Health NHS Trust which provides services for Bucks.  This may be a matter the District’s County Council representatives might wish to raise.

It was RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Buckinghamshire County Council Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee be noted.

Members received the Minutes of the meetings of the Buckinghamshire County Council Children’s Social Care and Learning Select Committee held on 2 February 2018 and 6 February 2018.

It was RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Buckinghamshire County Council Children’s Social Care and Learning Select Committee be noted.

An opportunity for Members to raise questions about items:

• during the meeting
• written questions submitted previously
• raised by information items

There were no questions.

To note the work programme timetable.

The Committee considered the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme.

It had been agreed that the Chiltern CCG was to be invited to the meeting on 19 June 2018 to update the Committee on the work of the CCG (see minute 46 for more details).

RESOLVED that the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme, with the addition of the invitation to Chiltern CCG to the June Committee meeting, be agreed.