Agenda and minutes

Venue: Ascot and Bray - Town Hall

Contact: Andy Carswell 

Items
No. Item

82.

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Lenton and Carroll, Mark Sanders (WAM), Hilary Hall and Lynne Lidster.

83.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 217 KB

To receive any declarations of interest.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest received.

84.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 67 KB

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on March 13th 2018.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 March 2018 were Unanimously Agreed as an accurate record.

85.

Transforming Urgent Care Services pdf icon PDF 462 KB

To receive a presentation from the NHS East Berkshire CCG.

Minutes:

Rachel Wakefield, NHS, gave a presentation to the Panel. Rachel Wakefield gave the Panel a little background of the meaning of urgent care and the purpose of this work. It was explained that ‘Urgent Care’  is not really understood by people. The real meaning of ‘Urgent Care’ is that you need urgent attention but it was not life threatening on that day. The team wanted to try and understand what people needed and wanted and why they currently used the services they used. The team were in discussions with the Consultation Institute to understand processes and procedures.

 

The presentation highlighted types and locations of urgent care services for the future and different service models. Rachel Wakefield discussed all the points that the team wanted to understand, including why people choose a particular urgent care service, what people would do if they were told that an issue was not urgent, would the use of technology be supported and what was good about and what could be improved in the current service.

 

The team wanted to understand all the different groups, they required support from scrutiny, health and wellbeing boards and partners. There would be six public discussions between 31 May and 29 June and there would be provider meetings that would include GPs.

 

An issues paper was currently being drafted. This would be used as the basis for all communications. It would identify why things needed to change, engagement already taken, questions asked to the public and decisions that needed to be taken. There would be a virtual patient panel to check the language and comprehension.

 

Councillor Yong informed the Panel that the name of the unit was very important, the public were against the name ‘urgent care’, the name ‘minor injury’ was more preferred. Since this was not listened to, the public may not engage again. Due to the change, all experienced nurses left. Now anyone attending the urgent care  department were sent to the A and E department of the hospital. Rachel Wakefield informed the Panel that a specific programme  of work was going to be carried out which was to avoid sending people to A & E and to try and treat the patient on site.

 

The technology for the future was discussed by the Panel. Rachel Wakefield informed the Panel that they would be looking for a system that would have all detailed information/history about a person so it could be all known before treating them on the spot. The 111 system was recommissioned last September in order to have phased pathways now where a patient could speak to a clinician who could book appointments with a range of services such as midwifes, mental health, pharmacists and dental. Rachel Wakefield informed the Panel that from July 2018, there would be 111 Online and in the future there would be an opportunity to talk directly to a GP. Many different ways were being tested.

 

Councillor Diment raised three points, what was a virtual patient panel and was informed that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 85.

86.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Report pdf icon PDF 108 KB

To note the contents of the report.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor McWilliams informed the Panel that a full response had already been provided about what was done and what could have been done better.

 

The report had been presented at Planning and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Panel as it was predominantly about housing, it was not presented at Adult Services Overview and Scrutiny Panel as it did not qualify for adult social care.

 

Councillor Majeed raised the point that Mr X had suffered from mental and physical issues.

 

Councillor McWilliams informed the Panel that both he and Councillor Carroll were working very close together on these issues, along with Resilience that were doing great work within the Housing Team. It was crucial to provide wrap around service to get them back on their feet.

 

Councillor Majeed asked about why it had taken two years for the report and was informed that the first time the resident came to the service was 2015. The resident had received services but not the correct ones. The resident then complained in 2016 and 2017 and that was when the Ombudsman had picked this up. The borough had then apologised and improvements had been made to the service in order for it not to happen again.

 

All the recommendations had been accepted and were all in hand and ongoing.

 

Alison Alexander informed the Panel that all complaints went through a process. A quarterly report was submitted to Council and to Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel. Alison Alexander continued that out of 48 complaints received by the LGO about the Royal Borough, three were incomplete or invalid, twenty were referred back for local resolution and twelve were closed after initial enquiries. The remaining 13 resulted in detained investigation of which six were upheld and seven were not.

 

The Council was in the process of investigating a new housing system to ensure there was one database for recording of all decisions, with an estimated implementation date of the end of September 2018.

 

The Chairman thanked Councillor McWilliams and Alison Alexander for ensuring all processes were in place to avoid this situation arising again.

 

Members requested that they be informed of any future complaints that had been referred to the LGO.

87.

Commissioning of Sexual Health Services from March 2019

To comment on the Cabinet report.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Teresa Salami-Oru, Public Health Consultant, presented the report to the Panel. The report recommended that the Panel gave approval to the Managing Director, with the Lead Member Adult Social Care and Public Health, to commence procurement of a new sexual health services contract in partnership with Bracknell Forest Borough Council and Slough Borough Council and approve a temporary extension to the current contract, of up to three months, to accommodate any extended negotiations.

 

After a brief discussion, the Panel Unanimously Agreed the two recommendations.

88.

Optalis End of Year Performance pdf icon PDF 669 KB

To receive a presentation and consider its contents.

Minutes:

Angela Morris, Director of Operations, gave a presentation on the End of Year Performance.

 

Councillor Yong informed the Panel that the Daily Living Event, that took place at Ascot Racecourse had always been well accepted, very successful and had easy parking was available.

 

The Panel discussed the following points:

 

·         Councillor Diment commented that the presentation was very impressive. It would be a challenge in the coming year with an increase in growth of older people, however, Optalis were able to consistently apply the criteria that they believed in and maintaining carers by looking into different packages. Secondly,  the difficulty after Brexit and the retention of staff. Angela Morris informed the Panel that an initial impact assessment had been carried out and currently no detrimental effects had been noted.

·         The Chairman asked what steps were being taken to improve Homeside Close. Angela Morris informed the Panel that the registered manager at Allenby Road had been working with the Homeside Close registered manager over six months.

·         The Chairman asked if any surveys or questionnaires had been carried out with residents to ask how people felt about the transfer to Optalis. Angela Morris informed the Panel that surveys had come back positive.

 

The Chairman thank Angela Morris for the presentation.

89.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 26 KB

To review the ongoing Work Programme.

Minutes:

The Chairman asked Panel Members to inform the clerk by email if they wanted items added to the Work Programme.