Meeting documents

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the Improvement & Review Commission held on 11 December 2014, be approved as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

The Meeting considered the final report in respect of the Commission’s extensive review into Urgent Health Care, following a unanimously agreed motion at the Full Council on 28 July 2014.

The Chairman remarked on the relevance of the review given recent national media coverage of Accident & Emergency issues. He also welcomed the Health Care Provider representatives who were attending this evening in the public gallery.

The Commission now had to agree its final recommendations for referral to the forthcoming Full Council meeting of 26 February 2015, for onward referral to the Health care providers and others, including the Bucks County Council’s Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee to aid consideration of their work.

The review had consisted of:

·         A public listening event held on 15 October 2014;

·         A presentation from, and discussion with, health providers on 12 November 2014;

·         A presentation from, and discussion with, Healthwatch Bucks on 11 December 2014; and

·         Written and verbal submissions, including one from Steve Baker MP.

The listening event attended by some 75 people had seen contributors sharing their experiences of urgent health care and suggesting one practical suggestion to improve the current arrangements.

Four themes emerged from this event of:

·         Communication and Access to urgent health care services;

·         Treatment received;

·         Urgent Health Care facilities; and

·         Distance and travelling between Stoke Mandeville Accident & Emergency and High Wycombe Minor Injuries and Illness Unit.

In response to this listening event, Health Providers (NHS Chiltern Clinical Commissioning Group, Bucks Urgent Care LLP, Buckinghamshire Healthcare National Health Service Trust and South Central Ambulance National Health Service Foundation Trust) made a joint presentation to the Commission on 12 November 2014. Here the providers stated their wish to coordinate services so that patients and the public were clear about where to go for what condition, both out of hours and within primary care. It was also confirmed that the providers were holding a series of listening events and noted the individual patient stories asking for more joined up care, less gaps between services and the need for better communication.

The 11 December 2014 presentation to the Commission by Healthwatch Bucks outlined the findings of Healthwatch’s cross Buckinghamshire survey of patient experiences of urgent care services. These findings, along with the presentation by Ozma Hafiz co-ordinator of the ‘Save Wycombe Hospital’ campaign and the submission from local MP Steve Baker, were considered by the Commission.

The Meeting considered the key findings of the Review along with the 8 recommendations (and reasons) as featured in the Report as follows:

Recommendation 1

Following the local campaign that is being conducted and other recent measures (such as the Bucks version of the "Health Help Now" website which was due to be available from December 2014) patients’ views should be sought on the ease of accessing the right service.  Patient and GP feedback and action  needs to continue until there is less confusion and clear evidence that patients are using the most appropriate service access channels for their medical condition and the levels of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

Councillor Dominic Barnes, Chairman on the Houses in Multiple Occupation Task and Finish Group gave a presentation on the work of the Group and the recommendations arrived at and the reasons for such.

Referring to the Group’s original terms of reference:

·           To establish the level of provision, in both quantity and quality of Houses in Multiple Occupation within Wycombe District;

·           To consider the current effectiveness of statutory legislation and voluntary codes utilised by Wycombe District Council in respect of HMO’s; and

·           To explore the benefits of the extension of licensing of HMO’s beyond that required by statute, the cost effectiveness of such and whether this would result in better standards of provision,

Councillor Barnes outlined the visits made and meetings held by the Group exploring other authorities’ schemes, questioning local landlords and officers from the Council’s Legal, Planning, Environmental Health, Housing and Building Control sections.

The fears that not tackling the problems of poor standards of Houses in Multiple Occupation would result in a brake on economic growth and detraction from the District as a destination / area for investment were explained.

Key issues to be considered in the formulation of any policy in respect of Houses in Multiple Occupation were outlined: the problem of accurately ascertaining the number of HMO’s; the variation of definitions of HMO’s, the barrier that prevented licensing schemes funding any resultant enforcement work and the increasingly important role of HMO’s in the District’s housing stock.

Councillor Barnes re-iterated his view that failure to set up an additional licensing policy would only be putting off the need for action; standards would worsen if delayed. The ultimate aim of the scheme was to make HMO’s invisible, regulated, clean and safe.

Members made a number of points and received clarification on a number of queries as follows:

·         The implementation of an additional licensing policy would also have a positive effect on neighbours currently blighted by poorly run HMO’s;

·         Given increasing house prices and the scarcity of social housing, more and more residents of the District would be using HMO’s so they needed to be of a good standard;

·         There were wider benefits of the scheme that could not be costed, in that Oxford and Slough had seen reductions in associated refuse, anti-social behavior and environmental problems, this was effectively the payback of the proposed scheme; and

·         Localisation of the proposed additional licensing policy was rejected as this could result in moving the problem HMO’s from area to area within the District, rather than tackling them comprehensively.

The Chairman commended the Group on its report and work on this complex subject and expressed his personal view that there was not an option to do nothing. It was however recognized that scoping the details of the scheme, if agreed by Cabinet, to effect genuine improvement, would take time and a two-year lead-in period was envisaged.

The Meeting then considered the recommendations and reasons listed in the report as follows:

a)   To carry out a Housing Condition Survey for the Wycombe  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

This matter was deferred from the 12 November 2014 meeting of the Improvement & Review Commission in order that the changes proposed to the protocol could be studied by Members in detail.

The reasoning behind the revision of the protocol was primarily the removal or correction of a number of out of date cross references and statutes found in the document. However a suggestion from Councillor Snaith had been received during the deferral period to consider further changes, relating to the ‘Call-In’ procedure featured, in that he suggested only two rather than the current three criteria need be met for a ‘call-in’ to qualify for inclusion on a Commission agenda. The automatic debate of ‘call-ins’ coming to the Commission was also suggested.

Members discussed Councillor Snaith’s further proposals in respect of changes to the ‘call-in’ procedure, a vote was taken and these further amendments were lost

A vote was then taken in respect of the original appended ‘tidying’ amendments to the protocol and these were agreed.

RESOLVED: That (i) the amendments to the Improvement & Review Protocol as outlined in  Appendix A be referred to the Council’s Regulatory & Appeals Committee for consideration; and

(ii) no further amendments be made to the the ‘Call-In’ procedure featured therein.

The Chairman gave a verbal update on the meeting of the Chairmen and Vice Chairmen of the Improvement & Review Commission and Audit Committee in respect of Quarters 1 & 2 performance indicator analysis for 2014-15, held on 18 November 2014.

The Meeting had analysed the indicators out of sequence, in that they had been considered by Cabinet before the Chairman’s meeting, the Commission was assured that future scheduling of this Chairman’s meeting would be before Cabinet so that the Chairmen’s comments on the indicators could be considered by Cabinet.

No matters of concern had been identified for specific, more in depth, scrutiny by the Commission at the said meeting.

The work of Andy Foreman (Policy Officer) was commended; his ability to investigate the performance returns with departments on behalf of the Chairmen was acknowledged and appreciated. Members were sad to see that Andy was leaving the Council at the end of March, but wished him luck in his new ventures.

The Meeting noted the update in respect of the Commission’s work programme and the current position with regard to Task and Finish Groups.

The Meeting agreed that the report of the Budget Task and Finish Group, given the tight timeframe in respect of the Budget preparation be referred direct to Cabinet on 9 February 2015 being presented by the Group Chairman Councillor Richards and Commission Chairman.

It was noted that for the next Improvement & Review Commission meeting on 11 March 2015 an item relating to Induction Training (for newly elected Members) in respect of scrutiny and the Commission would be included.

No topics were identified on the attached Cabinet Forward Plan for review by the Commission at future meetings.

There were no Councillor Calls for Action.