Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda. 

In accordance with the code of conduct, the following declarations of interest were made –

To receive reports on business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

There were no items of Chair’s urgent business.

To confirm the minutes of the last meeting held on 15 October 2015.

Agreed that the minutes of the meeting of 15 October 2015 were confirmed.

The Panel to receive Adult Social Care’s Corporate Performance Report.

Craig McArdle, Assistant Director for Strategic Co-operative Commissioning, Rob Sowden, Performance and Research Officer and Councillor Ian Tuffin, Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care were present for this item.  It was highlighted that -

K23: Deliver integrated commissioning as part of IHWB transformation programme 

System Design Group meetings have started to take place around the four commissioning strategies.

K48: Increase personalised packages of care to support people to live as independently as possible

Significant progress has been made to this long standing objective in 2012 and to ensure we were fully Care Act compliant.

K31:  Improve the quality of the care and support market

Quality and safeguarding embedded and have a well trained workforce and robust contract monitoring arrangements in place.

K49:  Create a Dementia Friendly City working with partners

Now reporting a higher diagnostic rate.

K50: Provide a seamless service for older people’s care including smoother discharge from hospitals (working closely with the NHS)

This was a south west issue and have seen improving trends in recent months and ensuring we have sufficient domiciliary care capacity.

The main areas of questioning from Members related to the following -

(a)         the number of homes that were outstanding or needs improvement;

(b)          public transport and Dementia Friendly City;

(c)         shortage of care workers;

(d)        personal budgets;

(e)          benchmarking sample size;

(f)          corporate plan reporting;

(g)         performance of the Dementia Strategy Group;

(l)         the number of people totally funded for care home provision.

Agreed to recommend to Board that the Caring Plymouth Panel will in future focus attention on the performance framework within the commissioning strategies given that they support the overall objectives of the corporate plan (on a page).

The Panel to be provided with the Fairer Charging Policy.

Craig McArdle, Assistant Director for Strategic Co-operative Commissioning, Joan Bird, Project Manager and Katie Griffin, Team Leader were present for this item. 

The main areas of questioning following the presentation related to the following -

(a)         the current positions of the 15 appeals ‘In Progress’;

(b)        notifying of people that could potentially be put into a negative;

(c)           confirmation on the number of assessments completed on a weekly basis;

            (e)        the appeal process;

            (f)         implementation of the Fairer Charging Policy;

            (g)        the assessment process;

Agreed that Caring Plymouth will have receive the Fairer Charging Policy following its review in the New Year.

The Panel to receive a presentation on Social Care Packages.

Craig McArdle, Assistant Director for Strategic Co-operative Commissioning, Helen Foote, Lead Accountant and Councillor Tuffin, Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care were present for this item.

The main areas of questioning following the presentation from Members related to the following –

(a)         winter pressures and step down beds;

(b)        the forecast overspend;

(c)         complex care packages demographics;

(d)        temporary nursing staff.

The Panel to be provided with an overview of CQC Report and Action Plan.

Lee Budge, Director of Corporate Business, Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust (PHNT) provided Members with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) Report and Action Plan.  It was highlighted that –

(a)           the report includes the PHNT’s responses to the CQC report;

(b)          they were outstanding for caring and good for well led openness and honesty of our culture;

(c)           there was a national challenge with the recruitment of nurses and medical staff.

The main areas of questioning from Members related to the following -

(d)        recruitment and retention of staff;

(e)        directive on 20% of empty beds;

(f)          The Success Regime;

(g)         nurses and bursaries.

Agreed that the Caring Plymouth Panel -

1.         To include at a future meeting a discussion with Health England Education (HEE) regarding changes to funding for training.

2.         To highlight to National regulators how competing or contrary directives could inhibit further functional integration across our healthcare strategy.

The Panel to receive a presentation on Diagnostic Waiting Times.

Lee Budge, Director of Corporate Business, Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust (PHNT) circulated presentation to the Panel on Diagnostic Waiting Times.

The main areas of questioning from Members related to the priority of patients being seen.

The Panel thanked Lee and was pleased with the progress being made at the hospital to reduce diagnostic waiting times.

The Panel to be provided with an update on Thrive Plymouth.

Rob Nelder, Public Health Consultation provided the Panel with a presentation on the next stage of Thrive Plymouth.  It was highlighted that -

(a)           they were currently working with Plymouth University (School of Government) to develop an evaluation for Thrive Plymouth;

(b)          they were working in partnership with the Knowledge Collective to devise a marketing strategy for Thrive Plymouth that was sustainable and flexible to cover the 10 year Thrive Plymouth campaign;

(c)           Year Two launch would focus on schools and educational settings.  Year two would provide the framework for all key stakeholders to help create the conditions for children and young people to make positive health choices and contribute towards health inequality in the city;

The main areas of questioning from Members related to the following -

(d)        costs of the marketing plan and potential income generation;

(e)        public health budget;

(f)          focus on parents influencing the behaviours of their children.

The Panel to review and monitor the progress of tracking resolutions and receive any relevant feedback from the Co-operative Scrutiny Board.

The Panel noted the progress made with the tracking resolutions.

The Panel to discuss and agree future items for the Caring Plymouth Work Programme.

The Panel noted the work programme.

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it (they) involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

There were no items of exempt business.