Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from The Mayor Councillor Mrs Hailstones and the Executive Director of Operational Services.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on Wednesday 7^th January 2015 were agreed as a true and accurate record.

Minutes to follow

Two Digests were received by the Committee:-

Tuesday 13^th January 2015

Modernisation of Day Opportunities for People with Learning Difficulties

Kidsgrove Consultation and proposals for the Great Wyrley Community

Support Unit

A Member advised it had been decided that Kidsgrove Day Centre was to try and allocate other services and agencies to use the building which would generate remuneration.

The Committee supported this action, as it was a very positive move from a group of local residents.

Tuesday 3^rd February 2015

The Transfer of Services and Future Plans for Cannock Hospital

Committee received the Digest.

The Chair updated Committee on proceedings regarding the Engagement Event, Healthwatch wished to hold within Newcastle-under-Lyme.

The Working Group met on Wednesday 18^th February 2015 for the first initial meeting.  It was suggested to hold the event at Jubilee 2 during June/July 2015.  The event would commence from 3.00pm to finish at 7.00pm.  The difficulty that had arisen with the venue was that the event would have to finish at 6.00pm.

The Chair advised that the first part of the afternoon would enable the public to find out more about the health and social care services available in the area and to talk to service providers who had stands.  The second part was to be able to ask questions of the senior managers responsible for commissioning and providing services and to hear their responses during a public question time.

The Chair opened it up to Committee.

It was asked would the finish time have an impact on the number of people attending due to work commitments?  Also the Engagement Event that took place in Leek was not within the town centre which had an effect on the lack of attendance by the public.

It was suggested to use the Council Suite as the town centre was still the paramount place.

A flyer was tabled informing that Healthwatch, Staffordshire would be at Newcastle Library on Friday 27^th March 2015, 10.30am to 3.00pm for the public to voice their experience of health and social care services, whether it be praise, criticism or ideas for improvements.

RECOMMENDED:-

(a)   That the Working Group re-convene to look at the practicalities of holding the event within the Council Suite.

(b)   That Members’ inform their constituents of the “Your Voice Counts” event to be held on Friday 27^th March 2015.

Clarification was provided on the future proposals for Ward 4.  The intention was to reduce the number of Neuro and Old Age Psychiatry beds at Harplands hospital by 15, as a result of the success of the Outreach and Community teams, who were seeing increasingly more people in their own homes.  This had resulted in better assessments in familiar environments, more personalised care and had led to a reduction in the need for an acute admission.

The Neuropsychiatry inpatient service would be moving from Ward 5 to Ward 4 by the end of March 2015.

A Member raised concern surrounding Ward 4 being used as a dual care ward, supporting people with both physical and mental healthcare needs and asked for further information as one size does not fit all.

The Member was advised all the patients on this ward were suffering from mental health and were not ready to be discharged but it was a ward to get them ready to go home.

RECOMMENDED:-

That a further update to be provided at the next meeting of Committee.

A presentation will be carried out by Mr Warnes, Chief Commissioning Officer, North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group.

A presentation was carried out by the Chief Operating Officer, North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

NHS Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire CCGs were considering how they commissioned community based services for patients who were currently admitted to a hospital bed.  Their aim was to integrate care services to connect people with the care they need, when they need it.

The proposal was for more community based support for individuals in their own home or closer to home, when they were ready for this, which would result in a reduced need for community bed based services.

The vision was to develop a “step down” model of care, which saw the patient’s journey from the point of admission to discharge supporting less transfers of care between multiple organisations which would result in a reduction of delays.

They would develop a “step up” model, which would see a diagnostic and assessment centre within the community and a continued increase in easily accessible home based services within the community, improving quality of care for all patients.

It was pointed out by a couple of Members that the evidence supplied was quite long standing.  Members were advised that the evidence had been based upon the national users.

The following questions and observations were raised and responses provided by the Chief Operating Officer:-

1.            How could an elderly patient sitting in a chair at home be better looked after to those in a bed, at hospital, with immediate care?

Getting the patient home helps them to maintain their independence.

2.            The community services were not there.

A vast amount of patients were admitted with respiratory problems, within 48 hours that patient required rehabilitation.  If they did not receive it within 48 hours it would be harder to get them home.

3.            What was there in place to avoid patients being admitted into hospital in the first place?  What did you see being in place with GPs locally on an organisational level?

Primary care was struggling nationally.  It was difficult to recruit GPs.  There was a great deal of other primary care professionals to support GPs.  £10½m was to be invested next year into the model of care.

4.            Were there identifying areas where there were greater issues to admission into hospital due to the GP Practices not being efficient and/or deprived areas to be known for high admissions?

Every illness had a social class gradient.

5.            How did the model fit in with carers?

Care homes amount to 6% of A&E admissions.  A pilot scheme was delivered to a pilot population of 171 residents in a single nursing home in 2012. In 2011 the pilot site was not an outlier for either A&E attendance or unscheduled admission rates compared to other local nursing homes.

Following introduction of the service for the pilot population, their A&E attendance rate fell by 25% and unscheduled admission rate by 29%, compared to increases in rates for a local population (386 residents in 4  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To discuss and update the work plan to reflect current scrutiny topics

Annual Work Plan Review

To receive outcomes and recommendations of the topics reported during the past twelve months

RECOMMENDED:-

That the following items are added to the Work Plan:-

Ø  Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Partnership NHS Trust.  Quality Improvement Priorities for 2015/2016.

Ø  North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group.  Monitoring impact of the new hearing aid policy.  It was agreed by Members that a letter of objection to the provision of hearing aids in patients who were diagnosed with a mild hearing loss, not to be routinely funded, be sent to North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Board with a copy to Staffordshire County Council.

A Member enquired if the remit on the Work Plan could be explored.  It was asked for the Member to supply the Scrutiny Officer with some context, which would enable the Constitutional Review Working Group to get the right Officers together to discuss the Committee’s responsibilities.

Any member of the public wishing to submit a question must serve two clear days’ notice, in writing, of any such question to the Borough Council.

No questions had been received from the public.

To consider any business which is urgent within the meaning of Section 100 B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972.

Training for Members

Training for Members on health and wellbeing will be arranged after the Elections.  Could Members please suggest what they would like the training to focus on.

Quality Improvement Priorities for 2015/2016

Consultation on the suggested small changes to Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Partnership NHS Trust existing priorities.

Training for Members

RECOMMENDED:-

Nick Poutney, Scrutiny and Performance Manager from Staffordshire County Council, to provide training to enable new Members to have an understanding of the roles of the service providers.

Accountability Session Monday 23^rd March 2015

There would be an Accountability Session on Monday 23^rd March 2015 for the University Hospital North Midlands NHS Trust.  Members to notify the Scrutiny Officer of their wish to attend as soon as possible.