To receive any declarations of interest from Panel members in relation to items on this agenda.

For the Panel to note the appointment of Councillor Murphy as Chair, and Councillor Ney as Vice-Chair for the 2025-26 Municipal Year.

The Panel noted the appointment of Councillor Pauline Murphy as Chair, and Councillor Carol Ney as Vice-Chair for the 2025-26 Municipal Year.

The Panel will be asked to confirm that the minutes of 11 February 2025 are a correct record.

The Panel agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 11 February 2025 as a correct record.

To receive any 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.

The Chair noted that this would be Stephen Beet and Emma Crowther’s last scrutiny meeting before they departed the authority next month. The Chair thanked both for their contributions to the Panel’s work, and wished them well for the future.

Stephen Beet (Head of ASC Retained Functions) and Ian Lightley (Livewell Southwest) delivered the Quarterly Performance report for Adult Social Care and discussed:

a)     Since the last update in February, the service had been working through the Transformation Board on an improvement plan focused on:

                          i.    Reducing waiting times for Care Act assessments and annual reviews;

                         ii.    Practice development;

                        iii.    Occupational therapy (OT) performance.

b)    Improvements had been seen in waiting times for assessments and reviews, and there had been an increase in the number of people receiving direct payments;

c)     The service had undergone a CQC inspection in June 2025, following an information return submitted in January. The inspection had been a positive experience, with the CQC engaging with a wide range of staff, providers, partners and councillors. The final report was expected in one to two months;

d)    Performance data demonstrated that:

                          i.    The number of people waiting over 500 days for assessments had significantly reduced, with the longest waits now under 300 days;

                        ii.     The overall number of people waiting for Care Act assessments had dropped considerably;

                       iii.     Improvements had been achieved through quality improvement work rather than additional resources, with successful test-of-change pilots in the South and East localities now rolled out city-wide;

e)     The service had developed a trajectory model to forecast when waiting times would reach acceptable levels, with October 2025 identified as the target. Although recent data had shown a slight reversal, the service remained on track;

f)      Analysis of assessment outcomes had shown that a high proportion of individuals did not require a funded care package, highlighting missed opportunities for early intervention and signposting. Work was underway with the Wellbeing Hub network to improve front-door triage and reduce unnecessary assessments;

g)     The “Waiting Well” policy had been implemented, including proactive contact with individuals on waiting lists via text messages and follow-up checks;

h)    Review performance had improved, with 57.9% of people receiving a review within 12 months of their care package, approaching the regional benchmark of 60.7%. No individuals had waited more than two years for a review;

i)      Occupational Therapy (OT) performance remained challenging, with a slight improvement in the number of people waiting. Improvement work was ongoing including:

                          i.    Demand and capacity modelling had been completed using national benchmarking tools;

                         ii.    The service was exploring whether some assessments could be avoided or replaced with quicker support offers;

                       iii.    A trajectory model for OT improvement was in development.

j)      A partnership with Plymouth Community Homes had enabled trusted assessors to carry out simple adaptations and remove over 100 cases from the waiting list.

In response to questions, the Panel discussed:

k)     Whether similar partnership arrangements existed with other housing providers such as LiveWest, Sanctuary and Sovereign. It was confirmed that broader  ...  view the full minutes text for item 93.

Councillor Aspinall (Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care) introduced the Palliative and End of Life Care item and discussed:

a)    The item had originated from a Motion on Notice brought to Full Council in March 2025. Due to the complexity of the subject, it had been referred to the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee for detailed consideration. Members were asked to consider the original motion alongside a written statement submitted by Councillor Beer.

Chris Morley (NHS Devon ICB) added:

b)    Progress was continuing against the locality delivery plan for end of life care in Plymouth and West Devon. The End of Life Steering Group continued to meet regularly and was aligned with the wider Devon Integrated Care Board (ICB) programme to improve end of life experiences across the region;

c)    Progress had been made against the previously agreed improvement plan, with most actions marked as complete or underway. Key developments included:

                         i.        Expansion of the end of life register into an integrated care planning system linked to the Summary Shared Care Record;

                        ii.        Establishment of a central information point for individuals and system partners, supported by St Luke’s Care Coordination Hub;

                       iii.        Completion of demand and capacity analysis, now informing the Devon commissioning plan;

                       iv.        Completion of service options appraisal and audit of care processes;

                        v.        Reallocation of training resources from the Hive system to broader management and leadership training for care providers;

                       vi.        Continued development of the Compassionate City programme and work on death literacy.

d)    A significant reduction had been observed in the number of deaths occurring in hospital, particularly at Derriford Hospital, indicating progress in supporting individuals to die in their preferred place of care.

Laura Daniel (Interim Cluster Manager, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust) provided an update on the end of life pathway at Mount Gould Hospital and discussed:

e)    The pathway had expanded to 12 beds, operating at approximately 90% occupancy to ensure availability for urgent admissions from the Emergency Department (ED);

f)     Over 420 patients had been supported since the pathway’s inception, with positive feedback from patients, families and staff;

g)    Integration of the Marie Curie team had strengthened communication and coordination between acute and community teams. Governance and scrutiny processes were in place to ensure continuous learning and improvement;

h)    The pathway aimed to support patients with both short-term and longer-term needs, recognising the therapeutic value of the environment;

i)     The ED team had focused on preventing unnecessary conveyance to hospital, and Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles were being used to track service improvements;

j)     Work was ongoing to embed Electronic Treatment Escalation Plans (ETEPs) and advance care planning across the Trust.

Tricia Davies (St Luke’s Hospice) provided an update on the Care Coordination Hub and discussed:

k)    The Hub had launched in April 2025 following public consultation, and aimed to provide a single point of contact for patients, families and professionals navigating end of life services;

l)     The Hub offered rapid response, shared decision-making, specialist advice, and support  ...  view the full minutes text for item 94.

Peter Collins (Chief Medical Officer, NHS Devon Integrated Care Board) presented an update on the Government’s proposed reforms to NHS England and the restructuring of Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), and discussed:

a)    The Government had signalled its intention in March 2025 to abolish NHS England and restructure the commissioning and organising functions of the health service, including ICBs. This included a requirement for ICBs to reduce their running costs by 33%;

b)    As part of the national specification, smaller ICBs were expected to align and merge with neighbouring systems. NHS England had approved the proposed clustering of Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly ICBs into a single entity. Work was underway to appoint a new Chair, Chief Executive and Executive Team, and to design the structure of the new organisation;

c)    Restructuring was intended to improve strategic commissioning, with a focus on understanding population needs and holding services to account for delivery. Members were assured that there should be no immediate impact on service delivery for residents, and that the changes were not expected to cause delays in treatment.

In response to questions, the Panel discussed:

d)    There was no expectation of increased funding beyond annual national growth allocations. Devon ICB currently received support funding from NHS England to manage its deficit, but future support was not guaranteed;

e)    The 33% reduction applied to the ICB’s running cost budget, not the total commissioning budget of £3 billion. The running cost budget was calculated nationally at £18.76 per head of population, recently increased to £19 due to inflation. For Devon, Torbay and Plymouth (population approx. 1.24 million), this equated to a running cost budget of approximately £23 million;

f)     Councillors queried the potential for shared services and economies of scale across Devon and Cornwall, including IT, payroll and procurement. It was clarified that the creation of ICBs had not followed a uniform model, and functions varied between systems. This presented an opportunity for ICBs to ensure that the teams were focused on the important matters and that important functions were transferred back to providers in the long term;

g)    Kevin Orford (Chair of Devon ICB) had chosen not to stand for reappointment due to personal reasons. Expressions of interest had been invited for the new Chair of the merged Devon and Cornwall ICB, and an announcement was expected shortly;

h)    Councillor Aspinall commended the staff of the ICB for their hard work and professionalism during the restructuring process, noting the challenges of a 33% reduction in staffing;

i)     Peter Collins offered to return to the Committee at a future meeting to provide further updates and engage with elected members on the implications of the reforms.

The Panel agreed to:

1. Note the update on NHS reforms and restructuring;

2. Request a future update once the new ICB structure and leadership were in place;

3. Thank Peter Collins and the ICB staff for their continued work and commitment during the transition.

Action: Officers to invite Peter Collins to return to the Committee once further  ...  view the full minutes text for item 95.

For the Panel to discuss items on the work programme for 2025-26.

The Chair invited members to suggest topics for inclusion in the Committee’s work programme. The panel agreed to add the following items:

a)    Carers Strategy and Carers Action Plan;

b)    Outcome of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection of Plymouth City Council’s Adult Social Care services, subject to readiness/publication;

c)    Winter Planning;

d)    Dental services.

Action: Officers to arrange a visit to University Hospitals Plymouth (UHP) to view the new Urgent Treatment Centre and combined outpatients facility, which was expected to open in August/September.

Action: Officers to arrange a visit to the Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) unit.

Action: Officers to progress a Joint Select Committee regarding Transitions from Children’s to Adults Social Care services.

For the Panel to review the progress of the Action Log.

Following a review of the Action Log, the Panel agreed to:

1. Request an update on the armed forces GP and dental provision item at the next meeting;

2. Note the progress of the Action Log.

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 items of business, on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

There were no items of Exempt Business.

Agenda