Medway Council HEALTH and ADULT SOCIAL CARE OVERVIEW and SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
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Medway Council HEALTH AND ADULT SOCIAL CARE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE 18 February 2010 5:00 pm to 7:15 pm RECORD OF THE MEETING PRESENT: Councillors Avey Committee members: Councillors Avey, Bhutia, Gilry, Val Goulden, Gulvin, Hewett, Kemp, Maisey, Murray and O'Brien (Chairman) Co-opted members: Shirley Griffiths, LINk Co-ordinator Substitute members: Councillor Kenneth Bamber (for Councillor Griffin) Councillor Smith (for Councillor Sheila Kearney) Councillor Harriott (for Councillor Shaw) In attendance: Elizabeth Benjamin, Lawyer Rose Collinson, Director of Children and Adults Marion Dinwoodie, Chief Executive, NHS Medway Rosie Gunstone, Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinator Lois Howell, Company Secretary, Medway NHS Foundation Trust Preeya Madhoo, Performance Manager, Adults Councillor Mason, Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care David Quirke-Thornton, Assistant Director, Adult Social Care 616 RECORDS OF MEETINGS The records of the meetings held on 5 November 2009 and 21 January 2010 were agreed as correct records. This record is available on our website - www.medway.gov.uk 617 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Griffin, Sheila Griffin and Shaw. 618 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST The Chairman, Councillor O’Brien, declared a personal interest in any reference to the NHS by virtue of the fact that members of his family work within the NHS. Councillor Gilry declared a personal interest in any reference to Medway Maritime Hospital by virtue of the fact that she occasionally works there. Shirley Griffiths, LINk Co-ordinator, declared a personal interest in all items by virtue of being a member of Medway NHS Foundation Trust, a member of South East Coast Ambulance Trust and Medway Older People’s Board. 619 WORK PROGRAMME Discussion: The Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinator introduced the work programme and responded to Members’ questions. With regard to the briefing on 8 April 2010 by the Chief Executive of NHS Medway the Chairman requested a timeline on that evening of the full consultation process of service developments and substantial variations flowing from the Storm events held by NHS Medway and the Strategic Commissioning Plan. He also requested a date for consultation on the transforming community services item, to ensure there was full engagement with the Committee prior to any decision being taken. In the absence of the Chief Executive of NHS Medway at this stage in the meeting the Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinator was requested to convey the Committee’s request to her after the meeting. She mentioned that there was one item on the Cabinet forward plan not currently scheduled for this Committee, which was the Health and Wellbeing Strategy. Members agreed to add this to the work programme for 3 June 2010. This record is available on our website - www.medway.gov.uk Health and Adult Social Care, 18 February 2010 The Chairman expressed concern that in spite of the signing of a protocol last year in relation to formal consultation with the Committee, that no Trust in Medway had yet consulted on any service development or substantial variation. In relation to the update on the hydrotherapy pool Christine Baker from Medway Pensioners Forum handed a petition to the Chairman for submission to the next Council meeting. A suggestion was then made that the topic of mental health should be added to the work programme for a future meeting of the Committee and this was agreed. With regard to the Member task group to work with officers prior to the 23 March 2010 meeting relating to carers Councillors Avey, Gilry, Gulvin and Sheila Kearney were nominated. A comment was made that the meeting on 23 March 2010 will clash with a meeting of Rural Liaison Committee. The Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinator pointed out that the date for the Committee to meet had been agreed when the schedule of meetings had been put together. Decision: (a) It was noted that there would be an informal evening briefing with the Chief Executive and officers from NHS Medway on the following topics on 8 April 2010: • Strategic Commissioning Plan • Operating Plan • Transforming Community Services The Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinator was requested to ask the Chief Executive of NHS Medway to ensure that a timeline for official consultation with the Committee around issues flowing from the Storm events, the Strategic Commissioning Plan and about transforming community services to ensure consultation prior to any decision being taken;. (b) Members noted progress with relation to the health effects of telecommunication masts; This record is available on our website - www.medway.gov.uk Health and Adult Social Care, 18 February 2010 (c) Delegated authority was granted for the Head of Democratic Services in conjunction with the Chairman and spokespersons of the Committee to devise a response to the NHS consultation in relation to car parking charges; (d) A task group was set up comprising Councillors Avey, Gilry, Gulvin and Sheila Kearney to work with officers in the next few weeks on gathering further evidence on best practice, setting key lines of enquiry and holding small informal discussions with carers with a view to reporting to the meeting on 23 March 2010; (e) The scope and suggested way forward for 23 March 2010 meeting as set out in paragraph 8.3 of the report was agreed; (f) Delegated authority was granted for the Head of Democratic Services to work with the Chairman and spokespersons of the Committee to nominate a list of attendees for the regional scrutiny event on 1 April 2010 in Crawley; (g) The topic of mental health was added to the work programme on a date to be agreed; (h) It was noted that the Health and Wellbeing Strategy would be considered at the 3 June 2010 meeting of this Committee. 620 ANNUAL PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF ADULT SOCIAL CARE Discussion: The Assistant Director, Adult Social Care, introduced the annual performance assessment of adult social care and stated that he was pleased to say that the Council had been awarded a three star rating which meant the service consistently delivered above minimum requirements for people, was cost effective and made contributions to wider outcomes for the community. In response to a question he stated that the Care Quality Commission would regulate all NHS Trusts with effect from April 2011. He then drew Members’ attention to the fact that mental health had been singled out as needing further attention not just the aspects relating to the care provided by Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT) but also in the wider sense in relation to housing, social care support, employment issues and supporting independence more generally. This record is available on our website - www.medway.gov.uk Health and Adult Social Care, 18 February 2010 Following a question about the future of `A’ block at Medway Maritime Hospital (the part of the hospital which hosted the acute mental health beds) the Company Secretary of Medway NHS Foundation Trust stated that she did not know any details regarding the future of the block other than the fact that KMPT had not formally indicated to the Foundation Trust (the owner of the building) that it wished to vacate the premises. Subsequently the Chief Executive of NHS Medway stated that a full review of mental health beds was being undertaken following a joint strategic needs assessment of mental health in Medway. This had gone through a number of phases already but in response to a request by the Chairman she guaranteed to have a full dialogue with the Committee about the review in the final phase. Discussion then took place about methods to engage with the public and the Assistant Director, Adult Social Care, stated that the Council was working with partners such as NHS Medway about the best way to reach people. He also referred to the Institute of Public Care at Oxford Brookes University which had undertaken research on this topic and devised a method where they engaged with people from the age of 50 + and asked them to picture their lives in five year stages. The idea of this was to encourage them to think of the sort of services they would like to receive later in their lives. A suggestion was made that more use could be made of sheltered housing, including Medway Council sheltered housing, as a venue where engagement could take place. Decision: Members noted the report and the update on `A’ block and noted they would receive further details of the timetable for the consultation on the review and redesign of mental health beds in Medway and Swale once it was ready. 621 COUNCIL PLAN MONITORING THIRD QUARTER Discussion: The Performance Manager, Adults, introduced the Council Plan monitoring report for the third quarter of 2009-2010 and handed round to the Committee an updated appendix. She referred to the individual National Indicators and pointed out those that were meeting national This record is available on our website - www.medway.gov.uk Health and Adult Social Care, 18 February 2010 targets but not local ones on the basis that the Council had set some challenging targets. Responding to a query about NI 131 L `Number of service users whose delayed transfer of care was attributable to social care’, the Assistant Director, Adult Social Care, stated that measures were being put in place to assist with the target such as the use of Platters Farm to offer intermediate care. The Chief Executive of NHS Medway stated that the measures put in place were a good example of the way in which the various agencies were working together to avoid people being taken to hospital unnecessarily. Discussion took place about NI 8 `adult participation in sport and active recreation’ and the Assistant Director, Adult Social Care, confirmed that although he agreed that the method of calculating the participation level was flawed this was a target which the Council had to include.