Agenda and minutes

Councillor John Robinson (Durham County Council) was appointed as Chair of the Committee.

Councillor Ray Martin-Wells (Hartlepool Borough Council) was appointed as Vice Chair

Councillor L Povey, substitute for Councillor L Grainge (Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council)

None recorded.

To receive and approve the minutes of the meeting of the Better Health Programme Joint Health Scrutiny Committee held on 9 March 2017.

Agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on 9 March 2017 be confirmed and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

To consider the attached report of the Principal Overview and Scrutiny Officer, Durham County Council.

Consideration was given to the report of the Principal Overview and Scrutiny Officer, Durham County Council which proposed the re-designation of the Better Health Programme Joint Health Scrutiny Committee.

The Principal Overview and Scrutiny Officer invited the Committee to agree to the extension of the terms of reference/protocol for the Better Health Programme Joint Health Scrutiny Committee to incorporate scrutiny of the Durham, Darlington and Teesside, Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) and any associated service review proposals.

The Principal Overview and Scrutiny Officer referred to section 8 of the terms of reference and highlighted that the Joint Committee does not have the power of referral to the Secretary of State, the Scrutiny Officer asked for this to be amended to  the following, ‘The Joint Committee does not have the power of referral to the Secretary of State, this will be retained by each Local Authority’.

In order to agree to the changes, each Local Authority had to be in attendance at the meeting.  Given that one authority was not in attendance, it was suggested that as the terms of reference and protocol had informally been agreed, that the Chair would e-mail each Local Authority asking for agreement to the changes.

Agreed that:

1.    The Chair of the Committee e-mail each Local Authority to request agreement to the changes outlined above.

To receive a joint presentation Alan Forster, Durham Darlington and Teesside, Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby STP lead officer which sets out:-

·                     The story so far and timeline going forward;

·                     Proposals for option appraisal evaluation criteria;

·                     STP/Better Health Programme Engagement activity –update;

·                     Potential agenda items for forthcoming meetings.

For members information the following Phase 5 engagement reports for Maternity and Paediatrics services are attached:-

(a)            On-street survey of women by Explain market research;

(b)            Feedback on discussions with Community and Voluntary groups co-ordinated by VONNE;

(c)             Feedback report from 11 Public engagement events by Proportion Marketing Ltd.

A joint presentation was provided to the Committee by Alan Foster and Ali Wilson, which outlined to the Committee:-

-        The story so far;

-        Proposals for option appraisal evaluation criteria

-        STP/Better Health Programme Engagement activity – update;

-        Potential agenda items for forthcoming meetings

Mr Foster informed the Committee that the STP was a clinically led programme and the four principles of the programme were:-

-        Preventing ill health and increasing self care

-        Health and care in communities and neighbourhoods

-        Better health programme – meeting standards and reducing variation in hospital care

-        Use of technology in health care

Members were reminded why change was needed which included providing care closer to home, seven day working and the availability of skilled staff, and providing the best use of resources. 

The Committee were shown a diagram of the model of care which focused on prevention and self care at the bottom of the spectrum and specialist Hospitals at the top.  The model illustrated how people should be directed into services to prevent ill health.  Local hospitals offered as much as they could and fewer people needed to access specialist care but when they did, this needed to be right. 

Councillor Dryden questioned the use of resources and asked when the Committee would be informed of the amount of resources that would be needed.  Alan Foster responded saying that in October 2016, he was asked to forecast over the next 5 years the gap in resources and it was estimated at £280m based on the current STP footprint.  This did not include the Local Authority resources.  Councillor Dryden questioned the local authority resources and Alan Foster indicated that there had been no assumptions made for Local Authorities because of the changing nature of grant funding.  The Committee was informed that resource implications for each Trust were work in progress.  Ali Wilson referred to the CCG resource implications and stated that if Commissioners do nothing they will not have enough resource to fund the services they currently provide.  It was about looking at providing services in a different way so that all services could still be provided.

Councillor Clark questioned if the STP name was to be changed to partnership not plan?  Further to this, Councillor Clark raised concerns regarding financial resource, lack of staff, and how these would be affected by Brexit.  Cllr Clark questioned if the STP was changing to Accountable Care Organisations?

The Chair indicated that at a recent conference that he had attended STPs were referred to as Advance Care Pathways.  Alan Foster informed the Committee that STPs had morphed into STP Partnerships, which in essence is organisations working in partnership. STP Partnerships have to have a STP Plan.  There were many different names being used, such as, Accountable Care Organisations, Accountable Care Systems, Accountable Care Partnerships, it was about partnership working and how it was moved forward.

At a recent meeting of Durham County Council’s Adults, Wellbeing and Health Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Temple indicated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.