Adult, Community Services and Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel
Monday 7 September 2009
ADULT, COMMUNITY SERVICES & HEALTH OVERVIEW & SCRUTINY PANEL
7 SEPTEMBER 2009
PRESENT: Councillors Mrs Endacott (Vice Chairman – in the Chair), Baskerville, Mrs Evans, Mrs Herdson (substituting for Councillor Mrs Proctor), Lenton, Mrs Luxton (substituting for Councillor Meadowcroft), Majeed, Mrs Napier and Mrs Yong.
Non Members: Councillor Dudley
Also Present: Mrs C Finlay and Mrs Paula Head (Berkshire East PCT) and Mrs S Holmes (Windsor, Ascot and Maidenhead LINk)
Officers: Mr Abrahamson, Mr Herlinger, Mr A Scott, Mrs Shawcross, Mr Taylor and Mr Thomas.
PART I
33/09 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Meadowcroft and Mrs Proctor.
34/09 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Councillor Mrs Napier declared a Personal and Prejudicial Interest in Agenda Item 5 – Personalisation Within Adult Social Care – as her son was in receipt of a care package.
Councillor Mrs Herdson declared a Personal and Prejudicial Interest in Agenda Item 5 – Personalisation Within Adult Social Care – as her mother was in receipt of a care package.
Councillor Mrs Herdson declared a Personal Interest in Agenda Item 10 – Fundamental Service Review of Public Library – as Chairman of the Maidenhead Arts Council.
Councillor Mrs Luxton declared a Personal Interest in Agenda Item 4 – Right Care Right Place – as a Governor on the Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Councillor Lenton declared a Personal Interest in Agenda Item 11 – Development of Services at Boyn Grove and the Larchfield Estate – as a Director of Windsor Housing.
35/09 MINUTES
- RESOLVED: That the Part I minutes of the meetings of the Panel held on 7 and 9 July 2009 be approved, subject to the inclusion of Sheila Holmes (Windsor Ascot and Maidenhead Link) to the list of Members present at the 9 July meeting.
Mrs Paula Head, Director of Commissioning and Service Redesign – Berkshire East Primary Care Trust, 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.
Mrs Head advised that the future of the Minor Injuries Unit would be considered by the PCT’s Board at its meeting to be held on 24 September 2009. In response to a number of comments/questions, Mrs Head confirmed that the results of the Patients’ Survey would be taken into account as part of the evaluation and that the MIU would remain open pending any decision by the Board. She explained that the Board meeting would be held in public and that the agenda and supporting documentation would be made available in advance of the meeting. She advised that, as the MIU had not been staffed as originally envisaged, consideration would have to be given to an alternative approach being adopted in order that access to the services was available at peak times. It was noted that the service provider would be advised of any decision made by the PCT to enable them to advise their staff accordingly. The Lead Member for Adult and Community Services advised that a letter would be sent to the Trust indicating the Borough’s strong support for the continuation of the service. It was suggested that a similar letter would be sent on behalf of the Panel.
Mrs Head advised that the PCT was currently in discussion with the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust about how the new Radiotherapy Service would be provided in Bracknell. In response to a question as to why the service could not be provided at Heatherwood Hospital, Mrs Head advised that the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, as the current service provider, had an influence on the location of the new Linear Accelerator. She also referred to the practical problems that would be associated with locating services provided by one Trust in another Trust’s building.
Members were advised that detailed work was underway to determine the exact configuration of services to be provided at the Bracknell HealthSpace, in preparation for the planning application which would be submitted by October 2009. A health impact assessment had been completed to identify any additional impact, positive or negative, on the local community. which would also inform the detailed planning of the service.
Mrs Head advised that the procurement of the GP led medical centre (EAPMS) for Slough, to be located at Upton Hospital, was reaching a conclusion with the process still on track for a December 2009 opening. The Centre would be open 365 days a year, 8am – 8pm, and would provide a service to both registered and unregistered patients.
It was noted that the transfer of more outpatients to local settings was largely being driven by Practice based commissioning and that a range of schemes were being put in place through various projects, which varied according to the needs of each locality. Schemes in the Royal Borough included a review of outpatient clinics at St Mark’s Hospital and better access to cardiology diagnostics.
Members considered the report that was due to be submitted to Cabinet on 24 September on the timing of implementing self-directed support and a new contribution policy for self-directed support. It was noted that Cabinet, at its meeting held on 25 June 2009, had approved to undertake limited implementation of self-directed support, and consultation on a new council policy for contributions towards the cost of non-residential care. However, since that meeting, there had been further guidelines from the Department of Health entitled ‘Fairer Contributions’ July 2009 and a recent external consultants’ review of progress on self-directed support had recommended bringing forward implementation in order to maximise the benefits of the new approach for all new and existing users during 2010-11.
In response to a number of comments, Members were advised that no changes were being proposed to the eligibility criteria and the Officers advised that a working group had been set up to look into the possible procurement of FACE (Functional Analysis of Care Environments), which was a suite of computer-based tools that allocated needs to resources with a clear audit framework.
- RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Cabinet be advised that the Panel endorses the recommendation to proceed with implementing self-directed support for all new users from January 2010 and to begin transferring existing users to personal budgets in June 2010.
38/09 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 July 2009. It was noted that the Adult Social Care budget showed a projected under spend of £205k, which related mainly to the impact of demographic changes.
39/09 WORK PROGRAMME
Members noted the items that had been identified for submission to the next meeting. It was also agreed that a special meeting be held prior to the October Cabinet meeting to enable the Panel to consider the Cabinet report on the preliminary Budget. It was also suggested that the PCT’s report and decision on the Minor Injuries Unit at St Marks Hospital, Maidenhead also be submitted to that meeting for consideration.
40/09 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 13 and 14 on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 2 and 3 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.