Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Martin Barkley, Carol Harries and Sue Jacques.

Paul Newton as substitute for Martin Barkley, Tom Hunt for Sue Jacques.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 15 November 2013 were confirmed by the Board as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Manager, Safeguarding Children’s Services, Children and Adults Services which provided information in respect of the Annual Report of the County Durham Local Safeguarding Children Board (LCSB) which set out the work of multi-agency partners to ensure effective arrangements were in place to safeguard and protect vulnerable children and young people from abuse and neglect.  The report set out achievements in 2012/13 and priorities and challenges for 2014 (for copy see file of Minutes).

Councillor Nicholls referred to work undertaken in the area of alcohol abuse and asked whether there was any co-ordination with street wardens regarding alcohol consumption by young people.  The Strategic Manager, Safeguarding Children’s Services replied that there were issues around alcohol use by young people and alcohol teams and locality teams worked together to address these issues.  However, improved working with Accident and Emergency Departments was needed and also between alcohol workers and children’s services.

Ms R Shimmin, Corporate Director of Children and Adults Services informed the Board that a number of members on the LCSB Board were also members of the Health and Wellbeing Board, which created improved co-ordination of working and information sharing.

Mr A Foster, Chief Executive, North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust referred to Paragraph 28 of the report and asked what work was taking place to identify areas most in need in light of current financial constraints, and also work taking place to assess the impact of welfare reform.

The Corporate Director of Children and Adults Services replied that frontline services where protected wherever possible with resource being focussed on protection.  The County Council had a strong corporate approach to the issue of welfare reform and undertook to circulate a summary of work done in this respect to Board members.

The Head of Planning and Service Strategy also undertook to circulate information on the National Child Protection System.

Resolved:

That the range of work taking place to safeguard children in County Durham, and the continued challenges, developments and achievements in this critical area of work be noted.

The Board considered a report of the Safeguarding and Practice Development Manager, Children and Adults Services which provided information about the current position of the County Durham Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) achievements on 2012/13 and plans for 2013/14 (for copy see file of Minutes).

The Corporate Director of Children and Adults Services highlighted  the positive input of NHS partners on the SAB since the establishment of Clinical Commissioning Groups.

The Head of Planning and Service Strategy, Children and Adults Services, asked whether there were any issues around information sharing between agencies.  The Safeguarding and Practice Development Manager replied that the LSCB and SAB had adopted 8 ‘golden rules’ which provided core principles around information sharing, details of which would be circulated to Board members.

Resolved:

That the report, and ongoing developments achieved in this area of work, be noted.

The Board considered a report of the Programme Director (Clinical Strategy), County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust (CDDFT) and received a presentation which provided an update on the CDDFT’s Evolving Clinical Strategy (for copy for report and presentation see file of Minutes).

The Corporate Director of Children and Adults Services re-iterated to the Board that the acute sector was part of a larger care system, and expressed concern that some information provided in the presentation had not been previously shared with local authority and CCG partners.  The Foundation Trust agreed to ensure this feedback was presented to CDDFT.

Resolved:

That the report and presentation be noted.

The Board considered a report of the Chief Operating Officer, North Durham and DDES Clinical Commissioning Group, which provided an update on progress relating to the implementation of the transformation of current Intermediate Care Services taking place within County Durham (for copy see file of Minutes).

Resolved:

That the report be noted and the Board continue to support the implementation of the ISIS model.

The Board considered a joint report of the Corporate Director, Children and Adults Services, Chief Clinical Officer, Durham, Dales, Easington and Sedgefield Clinical Commissioning Group and the Chief Operating Officer, North Durham and DDES Clinical Commissioning Group which presented the final Better Care Fund (BCF) (formerly Integration Transformation Fund) plan which had been provided to Durham, Darlington and Tees (DDT) Area Team by the deadline of 14 February 2014 (for copy see file of Minutes).

Resolved:

i)                 That the Better Care Fund Plan for County Durham be approved

ii)               That the power to update the s256 schedule for 2014/15 be delegated to the Corporate Director, Children and Adult Services, Durham County Council, the Chief Clinical Officer, DDES CCG and the Chief Operating Officer, ND and DDES CCG in consultation with the Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board.

The Board considered a report of and received a presentation from the Director of Public Health County Durham which presented the 2012/13 annual report of the Director of Public Health.  This was the first annual report produced under the new NHS arrangements which transferred some public health functions to local authorities (for copy of report and slides see file of Minutes).

The Chief Executive, North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust referred the Board to correspondence he had received from NHS England regarding proposed improvements to dental and oral care and asked why there were no statistics relating to dental care in the annual report of the Director of Public Health.  The Director of Public Health replied that the commissioning of dental health services was now led by NHS England.  The Director of Public Health County Durham added that she could make enquiries of NHS England regarding any issues which may exist regarding dental provision within County Durham.  The Corporate Director of Children and Adults Services suggested that a report be brought to a future meeting of the Board which provided details of co-ordination and provision of dental health services.  The Chairman agreed that such a report would be useful for the Board to receive.

Resolved:

i)                 That the 2012/13 annual report of the Director of Public Health, together with the key messages contained therein, be noted;

ii)               That the information contained within the presentation “Annual Report of the Director of Public Health for County Durham 2012/13 be noted;

iii)              That the report was used to inform commissioning plans, service developments and assessment of need to support a range of funding bids, particularly by third sector organisations be noted.

iv)             That a report on dentistry provision within County Durham be brought to a future Board meeting.

The Board considered a joint report of the Chief Clinical Officer, Durham, Dales, Easington and Sedgefield Clinical Commissioning Group and Chief Operating Officer, North Durham and DDES Clinical Commissioning Group which provided an update on CCG planning progress, including the timetable, planning requirements, communications and engagement, commissioning intentions and contract development (for copy see file of Minutes).

Resolved:

·                 That the report be noted

·                 That ongoing delegated authority be granted to the Corporate Director of Children and Adult Services, Durham County Council, Chief Operating Officer for North Durham and DDES CCG, Chief Clinical Officer for DDES CCG and Chief Clinical Officer for North Durham CCG, in consultation with the Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board for the following:

·              Refresh of the CCG plan post contract sign off

·              Approval of CCG plans

·             Approval of final 2 year operational plans and draft 5 year strategic plans

The Board considered a joint report of the Head of Planning and Service Strategy, Children and Adult Services and Director of Public Health County Durham which presented the review of the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2014-17 (for copy see file of Minutes).

Resolved:

i)                 That the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2014-17 be approved;

ii)               That the change to Strategy Objective 4 and the additional outcome to support this objective be approved;

iii)              That the Board sign up to the National Pensioners Convention’s Dignity Code.

Resolved:

That under Section 100 A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A to the said Act.

The Board considered a report of the Director of Public Health which provided a summary of Pharmacy Relocation Applications received from NHS England in accordance with the NHS (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013 since the last formal meeting of the Board in November 2013 (for copy see file of Minutes).

Resolved:

That the Board note that two existing Pharmacy Relocation Applications had been approved.