Agenda and minutes

Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Panel - Wednesday 13 October 2010 3.00 pm

Venue: Warspite Room, Council House. View directions

Contact: Ross Jago, Democratic Support Officer  Email: ross.jago@plymouth.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

50.

APPOINTMENT OF VICE CHAIR

To appoint the Vice Chair of the Panel following the resignation of Councillor Coker.

 

Minutes:

The Chair announced the resignation of Councillor Coker and thanked him for his contribution to the work of the panel since the beginning of the municipal year.

 

The Chair welcomed Councillor McDonald to the panel.

 

Agreed that Councillor McDonald, having been proposed by Councillor Ricketts and seconded by Councillor Viney, was confirmed as Vice-Chair of the panel.

51.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

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

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest in accordance with the code of conduct.

CHAIR'S URGENT BUSINESS

52.

TASK AND FINISH GROUP - MODERNISATION OF ADULT SOCIAL CARE pdf icon PDF 22 KB

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

 

Minutes:

The Chair advised the panel that the Task and Finish Group had completed their review on the Modernisation of Adult Social Care. The report was being prepared and would be forwarded to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board on the 27 October 2010. Additional information received from the consultation process which closes on the 19October 2010 would be presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board at this point.

 

The report of the Task and Finish Group would be added to the next agenda of the Panel for information.

53.

RESPONSE TO THE WHITE PAPER - EQUITY AND EXCELLENCE: LIBERATING THE NHS

Minutes:

The Chair advised the panel that following the meeting of the 16September 2010 a response had been prepared with regard to the consultation document “Liberating the NHS: Local Democratic Legitimacy in Health”. The response had been forwarded to the Department of Health on the 11 October 2010.

54.

PANEL MEETING DATES

Minutes:

The Chair advised the panel that due to budget scrutiny taking place in January the panel’s scheduled meeting for the 12 January 2010 would need to be re-scheduled. The Democratic Support Officer would circulate alternative dates when they had been identified.

55.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 72 KB

The panel will be asked to confirm the minutes of the meetings held on 1 September 2010 and 16 September 2010.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Agreed that the minutes of the 1 September 2010 and the 16 September 2010 be approved subject to the following amendments –

 

  1. Regarding Minutes No. 43 and 45 of the 16 September 2010, General Practioners and UNISON were invited to the meeting but representatives did not attend;

 
  1. Regarding the meeting of the 16September 2010, Councillor Grant Monahan, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care was present at the meeting.

 

56.

TRACKING RESOLUTIONS AND FEEDBACK FROM THE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY MANAGEMENT BOARD pdf icon PDF 46 KB

The Panel will monitor the progress of previous resolutions and receive any relevant feedback from the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board.

 

Minutes:

Agreed that the panel noted the tracking resolutions.

57.

PETITION - GYNAECOLOGICAL SURGICAL CANCER UNIT pdf icon PDF 130 KB

The panel will receive a petition regarding the transfer of the Gynaecological Surgical Cancer Unit from Derriford Hospital in Plymouth to Treliske Hospital in Truro, Cornwall.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The panel considered a petition submitted to the Council against the proposals for a Designated Specialist Gynaecological Cancer Surgery Unit in Treliske Hospital, Truro. Three petition organisers introduced the petition. It was reported that –

 

  1. the petition was started at the end of 2009 when the proposals were first made; the petition was closed on the number10.gov.uk petition website in April due to the general election. The petition contained in excess of 3,000 signatures and it was felt by petitioners that there would have been further signatories had the petition not had to close;

 
  1. the petition highlighted the strength of feeling against proposals for a  Designated Specialist Centre based in Cornwall. This could lead to women in Plymouth having to travel for their care. It was felt that the travel distance was excessive and too far from family and friends which could cause additional stress at a difficult time;

 
  1. continuity of care was extremely important for women undergoing complex surgery. When undergoing this sort of surgery it was important to build up trust with the surgical team, this trust could not be built if surgery took place in one hospital and follow up care in another;

 
  1. first class care was already available at Derriford Hospital with reported outcomes among the best in the country, people should not be made to travel when excellent care was already provided in Plymouth;

 
  1. the proposals had not been widely publicised to members of the public or former patients of Derriford Hospital’s Gynaecological Cancer unit. The Petitioners’ felt that former patients and the wider general public needed to be engaged and have the opportunity for their concerns and opinions to be listened to;

 
  1. clinical aspects of recovery were extremely important but recovery was also aided by personal aspects such as the ability of friends and family to visit a patient and continuity of care.

 

Representatives from NHS Plymouth Primary Care Trust (PCT) and the Peninsula Cancer Network (PCN) attended the meeting to respond to the petition. John Richards, Chief Executive of the PCT reported that –

 

  1. the PCT and PCN appreciated the opportunity to attend and respond to the petition. The issue was taken very seriously and the PCT valued and respected the views of the petitioners;

 
  1. the PCT had not carried out adequate consultation on the proposals and were open to suggestions on how to consult better in the future;

 
  1. the situation since the 27 January 2010 when the panel first considered the proposals had changed significantly. The criteria against which the process for service change of this kind is tested has now been set out by the government and took into account patient choice and impact of choice;

 
  1. no decision had yet been taken and the Peninsula PCTs and PCN were currently working in collaboration to identify a new way forward.

 

Dr Simon Rule, Clinical Director for the Peninsula Cancer Network (PCN), in response to the petition reported that-

 

  1. some cancer treatments benefit from centralisation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.

58.

NHS PLYMOUTH - QUALITY, INNOVATION, PRODUCTIVITY AND PREVENTION PROGRAMME

The panel will receive information on the Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention programme.

Minutes:

Sharon Palser, NHS Plymouth Director of Development reported on the Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention programme (QIPP). It was reported that-

 

  1. the magnitude of the changes was very large and the pace of change was very quick;

 
  1. it was possible to make efficiency savings in service reconfiguration, by changing the way in which services were delivered could prevent services being cut;

 
  1. there were increasing expectations on the Health Service in general and the inflation in NHS costs was much higher than experienced in the rest of the economy;

 
  1. there were services that were being provided by the NHS which were ineffective and which had led to more effective services being unaffordable;

 
  1. there was a reliance on in-patient mental health care but community mental health care had been shown to produce better outcomes. There were many services which could be better provided in the community away from primary care settings;

 
  1. there would be a public engagement event on the 9 November 2010 and meetings with patient’s groups had been arranged.  Public messages would be distributed through newspapers and would be in plain English, the public would be invited to engage;

 
  1. NHS Plymouth would be happy to provide updates on a regular basis.

 

John Richards added that although the QIPP programme was high level and unspecific at this stage, NHS Plymouth wanted to provide the panel with an overview of the key points of the programme. The economic outlook for the country was poor and the NHS was not immune from this despite a ring-fenced budget. The end of the growth trend that the NHS has experienced over a number of years would be very difficult to deal with. The QIPP programme would highlight savings available in a range of NHS services and the 50 delivery plans which underpin the programme would help NHS Plymouth deal with budgetary constraints. Over the course of the next month financial information would be made available to the general public.

 

In response to questions from members of the panel it was reported that-

 

  1. the PCT would be abolished by 2013 under current government plans but cuts would begin next year so work had to start now. The PCT were discussing the plans with clinical colleagues and involving Sentinel;

 
  1. there was no intention to increase the number of staff to increase efficiency. It was not accepted by NHS Plymouth that more staff would be needed as many staff were caring for patients who did not need to be admitted to hospital;

 
  1. extensive cuts to services was not an option and the QIPP programme was a credible alternative;

 
  1. each delivery plan underpinning the QIPP programme would be assigned a project manager and a clinician;

 
  1. there was a good basis on which to take this programme forward in the city and evidence was available to support this view.

 

Agreed that NHS Plymouth would continue to provide regular updates on the QIPP programme and any substantial service variation that resulted from it. The updates would be added  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

59.

NHS PLYMOUTH TRANSFORMING COMMUNITY SERVICES pdf icon PDF 116 KB

The Panel will receive information on the transfer of NHS Plymouth’s community services.

Minutes:

Paul O’ Sullivan, Joint Commissioning Manager NHS Plymouth introduced the Transforming Community Services Programme to the panel. It was reported that-

 

  1. the programme was a continuation of NHS policy to move provider services away from the PCT which commissioned the services;

 
  1. there would be an increase in alternative community services which would sit between primary and social care;

 
  1. a number of options were available to the PCT in considering how to transfer the provider arm. Tendering for services was ruled out due to a lack of capacity in the private sector across the Peninsula; transferring the services to Sentinel was also ruled out due to procurement rules. There was no capacity with current providers to deliver the community services so an employee owned model had been identified as the way forward;

 
  1. the PCT would continue to work with the City Council on localities and integrated locality teams and the Transforming Community Service business plan would require scrutiny.

 

Councillors felt there was not enough time left within the meeting to consider further the details of the Transforming Community Services programme. Councillors considered a substantial service variation of this scale required greater scrutiny and would need to be added to the agenda of a future meeting.

 

Agreed that the Transforming Community Services programme would be added for the panel’s November meeting along with the initial business plan for the programme.

60.

WORK PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 82 KB

The panel will consider its work programme.

Minutes:

The panel noted the work programme and noted that a number of items could be required to move in order to consider substantial service changes.

 

Agreed that-

 

  1. the QIPP programme update is added to the work programme for January’s meeting;

 
  1. the Transforming Community Services programme and initial business plan is added to the work programme;

 
  1. an update on the timetable for proposals and consultation around Gynaecological Cancer Surgery is added to the work programme.

 

61.

EXEMPT BUSINESS

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(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Minutes:

There were no items of exempt business.