Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Mrs Johnson and Mrs Winfield.

To receive declarations of interest from Members on items included on this agenda.

Councillor Mrs Hailstones declared an interest as she is employed by Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Partnership NHS Trust as a district nurse.

Councillor Loades declared an interest on item 5, Healthwatch.

To consider the minutes of the meetings held on Wednesday 8^th July 2015 and the LGA Peer Review of Decision Making Arrangements on Monday 27^th July 2015

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meetings held on Wednesday 8^th July 2015 and Monday 27^th July 2015 was agreed as a correct record.

Resolved:-

Committee received the summary of the Healthy Staffordshire Select Committee meetings held on the 5^th August 2015 and the 10^th August 2015.

The Interim Accountable Officer from North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group and the Clinical Lead from Stoke-on-Trent Clinical Commissioning Group will be in attendance.

The Chair welcomed the Interim Accountable Officer from North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group and the Clinical Lead from Stoke-on-Trent Clinical Commissioning Group to the meeting.

The name “New Model of Care” had been changed to “My Care My Way – Home First”.  A Member raised concern over the renaming, as those who worked within the NHS still recognised it as Step Up and Step Down and asked how was the CCG going to roll it out to individual people?

The Interim Accountable Officer advised the title “Step Up Step Down” was a nationally accepted term.  The Step Down model of care, 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 in delays. As part of the wider system reconfiguration the model Step Up was developed, which saw a diagnostic and assessment centre introduced within the community and a continued increase in easily accessible home based services within the community, improving the quality of care for all patients.

The stakeholder group working with the CCGs suggested My Care My Way – Home First, as it was felt that this name better described the service in northern Staffordshire, giving it a unique identity rather than the generic term Step Up Step Down.

The following questions were raised by Members and response provided:-

Q1:      What was the cost to the CCG of implementing this service?

A1:      CCGs pay for a Spell (the length of time in days from admission date to discharge date) and HRG (a means of aggregating health data into groups of interventions that are of a similar cost and of a similar nature and complexity).  When patients are discharged within the trim point (Spell) they often move into a community service and a similar payment is made to the community trust, this is known as a complex discharge.   In effect, the CCG pays twice for each complex discharge. My Care My Way will save money as more people will be discharged home rather than into another service.

Q2:      What would be the savings and were there plans to reinvest into the community care?

A2:      There would be a saving of c£15m for the full year.  This was a combination of savings of patients returning home rather than into a community bed and admissions avoided.

Q3:      This would affect a vast amount of people, had there been sufficient communication with the patients?

A3:                  All patients and their families are routinely communicated with regarding their ongoing care. Specific communications about My Care My Way have been issued via the CCGs’ websites, briefings, public meetings and public facing documents and advice leaflets.

Q4:      What impact had there been on the staff?

A4:      Redeployment and retraining of staff was being considered.  There had been an increase of 30% more staff.

Q5:      The consultation document advises that 37 beds at Longton would be lost.  Are we going to be looking at more closure of beds in the community hospitals?  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Please see attached letter from Councillor Adams.  A further response to questions submitted to follow.

The Chair welcomed suggestions on how the Committee could progress the analysis of how many Key Stage 2 school children can swim 25 metres within the Borough and why are not all the schools in the borough delivering a swimming programme.

Resolved:-

(a)  As a Committee, to engage with all primary schools.

(b)  To request from Entrust the number and names of schools who have/have not signed up to a swimming programme.

July and August summary updates attached

The Committee received the July and August updates.

Resolved:-

That Healthwatch provide specific information regarding the following areas:-

Residential Care

How many visits are being carried out in Newcastle and Staffs Moorlands.

Disabled People Accessing Services and Continuous Care

·      Disabled people are having difficulty in accessing health care services and difficulty in waiting times.

·      Disabled people arriving for appointments and being turned away because they live on boundaries of the ward that the funding coding has changed and then being told to report back to their GP.  In some cases there had been no warning via letter or telephone.

·      People accessing mental health care services, child and adolescent.

To resolve that the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following report because it is likely that there will be disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 7a in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

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

Resolved:-

That the following items be added to the work plan:-

Wednesday 18^th November 2015

Better Care Fund

The Head of Housing and Regeneration Services be invited to present the future direction of the Better Care Fund process.  What role should districts/boroughs play?, What should the Council be offering in relation to the wider health and wellbeing agenda, particularly in terms of the services it delivers?  Has the Partnership focussed on the ‘right’ areas in terms of needs, priorities and outcomes?

Dementia Services within Newcastle-under-Lyme

The Commissioning Manager, Dementia and District Commissioning Lead for Newcastle be invited to present a report covering:-

·        What is dementia?

·        What causes dementia and how can it be prevented?

·        What is the dementia pathway in North Staffordshire from memory services to end of life?

·        Work that was happening in health and social care

Wednesday 6^th January 2016

Swimming as part of the National Curriculum for Key Stage 2 Children

A report to be presented into the findings carried out by Committee.

The Midway Walk In Centre

A review to be presented by Officer(s) from North Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Clinical Commissioning Groups on the outcome of a programme of work and the level of patient engagement undertaken to establish a suitable service.

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.

Accountability Sessions, Staffordshire County Council

Please see attached timetable

There was no urgent business.

Wednesday 18^th November 2015, 7.00pm in Committee Room 1

Wednesday 18^th November 2015, 7.00pm in Committee Room 1.