Agenda item

Sue Baknak, Engagement Manager with Healthwatch gave a presentation to members and set out the role of the organisation in acting as an independent voice of local people, championing quality health and social care.

Sue Baknak went on to explain the 5 year Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) and the role of community engagement to gain service user feedback, raise awareness of the key issues affecting local health and social care services and to recommend improvements. Continuing, Sue Baknak introduced 3 documents which helped to support the work of Healthwatch and the STP:-

            Together We’re Better: Guide to Engagement and Consultation

            Become an Ambassador

            Conversation Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent

The Chair referred to the engagement which had been carried out and which had not contained the detail of the STP because it had not been published at that time.  The STP would bring about huge change and was full of jargon and he asked what strategy Healthwatch would employ to communicate this complex set of big changes.

In response Sue Baknak stated that the document was a summary of the case for change, it identified work streams that needed to be addressed and the funding gaps.  There had been presentations and Healthwatch had facilitated table conversations together with a Q and A session from an informed panel.  Healthwatch were also part of the communication group to ensure that the public were informed going forward. 

Sue Baknak was asked how bias within reporting from the Ambassadors would be eliminated and she explained that all of the feedback was made via a template, the feedback was structured and was analysed alongside a survey.

Councillor Loades asked whether Healthwatch had been asked to look at the ambulance service and specifically how members of the public could help to alleviate pressure on the A and E department.  Sue Baknak commented that the formal consultation was in the early stages and that the ambulance service would be included.

Continuing, Councillor Loades believed that district councils should use their powers to influence and improve public health. For example, the number of fast food outlets could be restricted under planning regulations.  Similarly, by helping to ensure that provision for care facilities such as a doctor’s surgery were included in the design stages for new housing estates. Licensing powers to restrict alcohol sales could also be brought into play.  The Chair added that this area of scrutiny could be included within the work programme of this Committee.

In response to a question from Councillor Gardner Sue Baknak explained that the STP had been signed off by Health England and that it was the responsibility of the STP Programme to set out the timeline. The Healthwatch role was to facilitate engagement, consultation should be transparent about what could be influenced and changed.  There was a statutory responsibility to consult but no corresponding responsibility to react.

In conclusion the Chair commented that Staffordshire Health Select Committee would be closely scrutinising the final detail of the STP and that the Select Committee had powers to refer to the Secretary of State.

Agreed:         That the presentation be noted.