Agenda and minutes

Venue: Via Video Conference

Contact: Liz Wheaton 

Media

Webcast: View the webcast

Items
No. Item

1.

Election of Chairman

To elect the Chairman of the Health & Adult Social Care Select Committee for the ensuing year.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The meeting was opened by Mrs E Wheaton, Committee and Governance Adviser, Buckinghamshire Council.

 

RESOLVED: That Mrs J MacBean be elected as Chairman of the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee for the ensuing year.

2.

Appointment of Vice-Chairman

To appoint the Vice-Chairman of the Health & Adult Social Care Select Committee for the ensuing year.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That Mr M Collins be elected as Vice-Chairman of the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee for the ensuing year.

 

3.

Apologies for absence/changes in membership

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

 

4.

Declarations of interest

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members made the following declarations of interest:

 

·         Mr G Hollis declared that he was a  first responder for South Ambulance Service;

·         Mr A Turner declared that he was a trustee of an independent day care provider, The Princes Centre;

·         Mr L Wood declared a non-pecuniary interest as Trustee of a not for profit care agency currently in the start-up phase.

 

5.

Covid-19 update pdf icon PDF 199 KB

The Committee will hear from the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, the Cabinet Member for Communities and Public Health and the Chief Executive Officer for Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust about their response to the Covid-19 crisis and the steps currently being taken in the recovery phase.  They will be joined by the Corporate Director for Adults, Health and Housing and the Director of Public Health, Early Help and Prevention.

 

Presenters:

Neil Macdonald, Chief Executive Officer, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

Angela Macpherson, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care

Gareth Williams, Cabinet Member for Communities and Public Health

Gill Quinton, Corporate Director, Adults, Health and Housing

Jane O’Grady, Director of Public Health, Early Help and Prevention

 

Papers:

Covid-19 Adult Social Care update

Covid-19 Public Health update

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Mr N Macdonald, Chief Executive, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, provided the following overview of the work carried out by the Trust since the beginning of the pandemic.

 

·         The Trust normally had 17 critical care beds available. They had been asked to increase this to 75 beds by the Easter bank holiday weekend in line with national data modelling. The cost per bed was in the region of £0.25m.

·         Cases had peaked towards the end of April with approximately 30 critical care patients and 150 in-patients at Stoke Mandeville hospital. Locally the peak had not been as high as expected but the plateau had taken longer to decrease.

·         All routine work such as screening, elective surgery and face to face out-patient appointments had been suspended.

·         Approximately 96% of all out-patient appointments had been completed virtually. This figure was below 6% before the pandemic.

·         The Trust had worked with Buckinghamshire Council and local GP’s to identify vulnerable people.

·         Private hospitals had been utilised as part of the national contract to increase capacity. The Chiltern Hospital had taken cancer surgical patients and The Shelburne Hospital had managed haematology and chemotherapy patients.

·         Urgent care, emergency and maternity services had remained. Initially Accident and Emergency departments had seen a decrease in demand of 45% compared with the average for the time of year but this had started to return to normal levels.

·         Changes to the estate had included building a new ward, mortuary and testing facilities.

·         Intensive work over a two week period had enabled 2000 staff to start working from home.

·         At its peak 12% of staff had been away from work either through sickness or the need to self-isolate.

·         There had initially been some issues with the supply of PPE. 4,000 members of staff had now been trained in its use.

·         As services re-opened additional space, time, staff and PPE would be needed to carry out the same tasks.

·         Elective cancer surgery had resumed at Wycombe hospital. Non-emergency cardiac and stroke services were starting to resume.

·         All patients brought in for surgery would need to self-isolate at home for 14 days with their whole household.

·         It was expected to take several months for all services to resume and would be subject to delay if there were further peaks.

 

During the discussion, Members asked the following questions.

 

·         In response to a question about how many Buckinghamshire patients were currently in private hospitals and what were the plans for their return, Mr Macdonald made the following key points:

·         At end of March private capacity had been purchased as part of a national package. This was expected to continue until at least the end of July with discussions ongoing at a national level.

·         The Shelburne hospital currently had 8-9 haematology and chemotherapy patients. The Chiltern hospital ran 33 surgery lists per week.

·         The need for additional capacity would still be needed in the longer term as extra space was needed to carry out operations.

·         In response to a question about patients needing to self-isolate for 14  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Key priorities for 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 386 KB

The Committee will hear from the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, the Cabinet Member for Communities and Public Health and the Chief Executive Officer for  Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust on their key priorities over the coming months.  They will be joined by the Corporate Director, Adults, Health & Housing and the Director of Public Health, Early Help and Prevention.

 

Presenters:

Angela Macpherson, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care

Gareth Williams, Cabinet Member for Communities and Public Health

Neil Macdonald, Chief Executive Officer, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

Gill Quinton, Corporate Director, Adults, Health & Housing

Jane O’Grady, Director of Public Health, Early Help and Prevention

 

Papers:

Key priorities – Adult Social Care

Key priorities – Public Health

Better Lives presentation (background information) – please note this presentation was produced in February 2020 so before the outbreak of Covid-19

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Mrs A Macpherson, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, highlighted the following priority:

·         The Better Lives service started in 2018. Its aim was to support residents to live independently for longer. This was in line with resident’s wishes but also delivered savings against care home costs. The service supported re-enablement and worked with

Childrens Services to support young people as they transitioned into the adulthood.

 

Mr G William, Cabinet Member for Communities, highlighted the following priorities a:

·         To provide an effective response to the pandemic with a joint approach including:

o   The immediate response including contact tracing and local outbreak control.

o   Working with the HASC, including inviting voluntary and community sector (VCS) partners to join.

o   Creating community board profiles to with the support of local people to understand local needs.

7.

Work programme

The Committee will discuss possible items to include on the Committee’s work programme for the coming year.

 

Presenters:

All Committee Members

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members of the committee discussed ideas for the work programme and made the following comments:

·         A Member felt that the “Support for carers” item should also include support for medical staff and other key workers in the health care sector.

·         The request for a definitive update on the Chartridge Ward should be changed from “could” to “will”.

·         A Member asked for an update on social prescribing as part of the Primary Care Network item.

·         A Member suggested that the new test, tracing and tracking service should be reviewed by the Committee.

·         It was agreed that an n update on the delivery of the Better Lives strategy should be an item early in 2021..

·         A Member commented that an update on integration of Health and Social Care would be useful at a future meeting.

 

ACTION:

·         Mrs Wheaton to amend the work programme in light of the above comments and circulate to Members.

·         A briefing would be organised for Committee Members in advance of the next Select Committee.

8.

Date of next meeting

10th September 2020 at 10am

Additional documents:

Minutes:

10 September 2020, 10am