Adult, Community Services and Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel
Thursday 29 January 2009
ADULT, COMMUNITY SERVICES & HEALTH OVERVIEW & SCRUTINY PANEL
29 JANUARY 2009
PRESENT: Councillors Meadowcroft (Chairman), Mrs Endacott (Vice Chairman), Mrs Evans, Lenton, Mrs Napier and Mrs Proctor.
Also Present: Councillor Dudley
Officers: Mr Abrahamson, Mr A Brown, Mr Gould, Mr Herlinger, Mr Iddiols, Mr Mist, Mr A Scott and Mr Thompson.
57/08 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
None.
58/08 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Councillor Mrs Napier declared a Personal Interest in Agenda Item 6 – Safeguarding Adults – as her son was a vulnerable adult
Councillor Mrs Endacott declared a Personal Interest in Agenda Item 4 – Release of Service Users from Secure Accommodation – as she was a Governor for Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
59/08 MINUTES
- RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 16 December 2008 be approved subject to the following amendment:-
Minute 52/08 – Service Monitoring Report – paragraph 2 – line 3 - the words “a decision” be replaced with the words “an announcement”.
60/08 RELEASE OF SERVICE USERS FROM SECURE ACCOMMODATION
It was agreed that the item be deferred to the next meeting of the Panel.
61/08 RIGHT CARE RIGHT PLACE
Mr Alan Kennedy, Project Manager, Berkshire Shared Services, provided Members with an update on the implementation of the proposals to modernise health services in East Berkshire arising from the Right Care Right Place consultation.
Mr Kennedy advised that there had been positive feedback to the new Midwife led service introduced at Heatherwood Hospital in September 2008. He confirmed that all expectant mothers and GPs had been contacted and informed about the change and that all Midwives were qualified in Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics and Neonatal Advanced Life Support (NALS). He indicated that the number of births/bookings was being monitored and that numbers were increasing.
Members were advised that the Minor Injuries Unit at St Mark’s Hospital, Maidenhead had opened on Monday 29 September 2008, albeit with reduced hours of operation due to staff recruitment difficulties. The Unit was currently open from 9.00am to 5.00pm, with the target opening times being 8:30am to 6:30pm once fully staffed. Mr Kennedy informed Members that the Unit was currently seeing an average of 40 people per day and advised that it was hoped that the Unit would be fully operational by March 2009.
The opening of the new GP-Led Health Centre at Upton Hospital, which would provide GP services for registered and unregistered patients, remained on target for 1 April 2009. It was noted that an announcement on the award of the contract would be made within the next few weeks.
Mr Kennedy commented upon the procurement process for the provision of the Bracknell Healthspace and advised that 4 proposals were currently being evaluated. The 4 “bidders” would be making presentations on their proposals to an Evaluation Panel in the first week of February and that the Panel would then make a recommendation to the Berkshire East PCT Board. It was anticipated that an announcement as to the Preferred Partner would be made at the end of February.
Mr Kennedy advised that the transfer of Outpatient clinics from Acute Hospitals into local settings would be an ongoing feature of the commissioning process and that in some instances that would happen quickly and in other circumstances, such as the establishment of the Bracknell Healthspace, would be determined by the availability of a building. Progress of the change would be monitored and reported quarterly.
The establishment of an Urgent Care Centre at Wexham Park Hospital was underway and was scheduled to be operational in Summer 2009. Stakeholders were being engaged in the process and a Commissioning service specification was currently being developed. It was noted that the Bracknell Urgent Care Centre was directly linked to the Bracknell Healthspace project planned for 2010.
With regard to Cancer Services, the new Radiotherapy Service in Bracknell would be provided by the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust and was linked to the establishment of the Bracknell Healthspace. The planning phase for the new Cancer service in Slough would commence Autumn 2009.
Mr Kennedy then responded to a number of question/comments raised by Members. With regard to the changes to the maternity services at Heatherwood Hospital, Members were advised that the number of bookings were increasing and that there were currently about 40-50 babies being delivered per month. He confirmed that further details on the number of births/bookings would be provided for Members at the next meeting. It was also noted that a patients’ satisfaction survey would be undertaken in April 2009.
In response to a concern raised about the Minor Injuries Unit closing earlier than the advertised closure time on at least one occasion, Mr Kennedy advised that he would discuss the issue with the service provider and would confirm at the next meeting what time the Unit stopped accepting new patients. He commented upon the evaluation criteria upon which the success of the Unit would be judged and confirmed that, although 40 patients a day was on the margin of acceptability, no set limit had been agreed. He advised that it was too early to give an indication as to the future of the service as it had only been operational for just over 4 months. He advised that the Evaluation Panel would receive a report on activity levels on a three monthly basis and confirmed that Councillor Mrs Napier would be invited to join that Panel. He commented upon the concerns that had been raised with regard to the presentation of the leaflet publicising the Unit and confirmed that a revised leaflet would be produced and would be widely circulated by early April. The need to ensure that the service was as widely publicised as possible was stressed and Members discussed how the Royal Borough could assist with raising general awareness of the Unit by publicising it in the Around the Royal Borough newspaper that was distributed to all households in the Borough and by having links to the Unit on the Borough’s website.
In response to concerns raised about the effect the Bracknell Healthspace may have on the level of services provided at Heatherwood Hospital, Members were advised that the facility would enable services to be provided closer to the residents of Bracknell and that it was the intention that the Healthspace would complement services provided at Heatherwood hospital. Further details on the preferred bidder an proposed location of the Healthspace would be reported at the next meeting of the Panel.
With regard to the timescale for the transfer of more outpatient clinics to St Mark’s Hospital, Mr Kennedy advised that the progressive transfer of clinics would commence later in the year.
62/08 SAFEGUARDING ADULTS
Members received a report that outlined the Council’s responsibilities in ensuring that there were effective multi-arrangements in place to safeguard vulnerable adults, and to intervene when concerns of possible abuse were raised. The report commented upon the role of the East Berkshire Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board, which was a multi-agency group responsible for setting the strategic direction across the area, securing senior management engagement and leadership in the development of policy and standards to deliver improved practice. The report highlighted the process that was followed in dealing with incidents of abuse and referred to the review and adoption of the Berkshire wide Safeguarding Adults policies and procedures, which were in line with national guidance and standards for good practice.
Members were advised that, although issues around the protection of children were more widely recognised and multi-agency arrangements for safeguarding children were generally more established, in the light of the increasing recognition of abuse of vulnerable adults, the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) had identified safeguarding as a priority and that it now formed the basis of all inspections of local authorities with responsibility for adult social services. At present there was no specific ‘Safeguarding Adults’ legislation in England, however the safeguarding of vulnerable adults was addressed within a wide legislative framework and local authorities statutory duty to safeguard and take relevant action when abuse may have occurred was incorporated into a number of Acts.
The report also referred to the proposals to establish Partnership Boards for individual local authorities and to undertake extensive publicity and training within the Royal Borough and with partner agencies, including the independent and voluntary sector, in order to significantly increase the profile and awareness of adult safeguarding.
Members also received a presentation from Ed Thompson, Joint Commissioning Manager, and Andy Iddiols, Safeguarding Adults Co-ordinator, on the Safeguarding Adults Annual Report for 2007/8. The presentation provided Members with a detailed breakdown of the number of safeguarding investigations carried out during 2007/08, with a comparison to the previous year. It also highlighted the category and nature of the abuse, the location the abuse took place, the various agencies involved and now the incidents were dealt with and resolved.
Arising from the general discussion, the officers responded to a number of questions/comments raised by Members of the Panel. Members were advised that the service worked closely with the Customer Service Centre to ensure that all relevant calls/referrals were satisfactorily transferred to the Access Team. The officers indicated that the increase in the number of cases was principally due to the increase in awareness rather that an increase in incidents. The officers commented upon the campaign to raise the level of general awareness of the issues that would be undertaken later in the year. It was also agreed that the Panel should receive the 2008/09 Annual Report at a future meeting.
63/08 BUDGET REPORT
Members received a report that sought to inform the Panel of progress to date in the preparation of the 2009/10 Budget, which would be considered by Cabinet on 12 February 2009 and then Council on 24 February 2009. The report highlighted the implications for the Borough arising from the ‘Credit Crunch’ and detailed a number of budget savings that had been identified.
In response to a number of questions, the officers commented upon a number of the identified budget savings. Members were provided with further details on the posts that had been identified for deletion, the effect of the reduction in the subsidy on the Bridge the Gap Café and the review of the library service.
Arising from the discussion, the Panel expressed a general concern regarding the number of posts that were shown to be deleted but were reassured that there would be no significant effect on service delivery and that front-line services were to be preserved.
- RESOLVED: That the report be recommended to Cabinet, subject to the inclusion of the comments outlined above.
64/08 SERVICE MONITORING REPORT
The Panel received and noted the latest service monitoring report for activity within the Adult, Community and Health Services during the period to 31 December 2008. It was noted that the Adult Social Care budget currently showed an underspend of £219k, down £60k from an expected underspend last month of £279k.
65/08 WORK PROGRAMME
Members noted the items that had been identified for submission to the next meeting. It was agreed to defer the item on the Update on the Outcomes arising from the Annual Performance Assessment of Adult Social Care to the meeting in May. It was also agreed that Members be circulated with details of the review of the new system introduced to monitor the number of medical records that were unavailable at the Eye Unit at King Edward VII Hospital and that the matter be referred to the Panel only if there were any significant issues.
66/08 LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 – EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC
- RESOLVED: That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place on items 11 and 12 on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.