Agenda and minutes

Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Panel - Thursday 24 January 2013 2.00 pm

Venue: Warspite Room, Council House. View directions

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

Items
No. Item

48.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

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

Minutes:

The following declarations of interest were made in accordance with the code of conduct -

 

Name

 

Minute Number and Issue

Reason

Interest

Councillor Mrs Aspinall

Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust - Maternity Acupuncture Service

Retired Midwife and member of the Royal College of Midwives.

Personal

Councillor J Taylor

Clinical Commissioning Group Authorisation Update

Clinical Commissioning Group Employee

Personal

 

49.

CHAIR'S URGENT BUSINESS

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

Minutes:

There were no items of Chair’s urgent business.

50.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 82 KB

The panel will be asked to confirm the minutes of the meetings held on 22 November 2012.

Minutes:

Agreed to approve the minutes of the 22 November 2012.

51.

TRACKING RESOLUTIONS AND FEEDBACK FROM THE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY MANAGEMENT BOARD pdf icon PDF 27 KB

The panel will consider previous resolutions and feedback from the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board.

Minutes:

The panel noted the tracking resolutions.

52.

PLYMOUTH HOSPITALS NHS TRUST - MATERNITY ACUPUNCTURE SERVICE pdf icon PDF 132 KB

The panel will consider the recent closure of the maternity acupuncture service at Derriford Hospital.

Minutes:

Following a resolution on the 22 November 2012 the panel considered the closure of the Maternity Acupuncture Service at Derriford Hospital. 

 

Sue Stock, Head of Midwifery and Imogen Montague, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist representing Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust reported that -

 

(a)   like many of the hospital’s services, the maternity service had been undergoing a period of change due to reducing budgets;

 

(b)  the maternity acupuncture service had been challenged for a number of years and a recent inspection by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) had also challenged the validity and continuation of the service;

 

(c)   the service was unable to guarantee one to one care with every woman in the acute setting and as such all available resource had to be redirected into the acute care setting;

 

(d)  the research and trials available on the benefits of  this kind of acupuncture was poor, inconclusive and did not show benefits over and above a placebo treatment. It was not felt that there was enough evidence to support continued acupuncture service provision in this area;

 

(e)  commissioners had confirmed that the hospital would not receive a payment over and above the tariff to fund the service.

 

Mrs Kerry Dungay, previous service user, Mrs Sarah Budd, former acupuncture midwife, Dr Adrian White, Researcher and Acupuncture practitioner and Nick Pahl, Chief Executive of the British Acupuncture Council attending the meeting to speak in support of the closed service.  It was reported that –

 

(f)    the maternity acupuncture service was set up in 1988 initially to deal with pain relief in labor and later developed  to deal with serious antenatal problems;

 

(g)   an online petition had received1400 signatures and two previous service users  had said they would be unable to deal with another pregnancy without the acupuncture service;

 

(h)  the trust figures on the numbers of service users  were misleading and inaccurate;

 

(i)    the closure of the service was purely a cost saving exercise which would have a significant impact on the care of pregnant women in Plymouth;

 

(j)    there were many areas of routine care which were not evidence based;

 

(k)  NICE guidance was retrospective and there was high quality evidence available to support the service;

 

(l)    acupuncture reduced the pharmaceutical costs for the NHS;

 

(m)acupuncture is a main stream provision in health services and is provided in various settings, there were upward of 4.5 million acupuncture treatments per year.

 

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

 

(n)  the numbers stated in the Trust’s report related to first appointments rather than total sessions;

 

(o)  there was a large number of signatures from patients on the petition but also signatures from people across the country;

 

(p)  many members of the public would be unable to afford the level of acupuncture required to deal with Hyperemesis Gravidarum;

 

(q)  although it was stated that acupuncture was cost effective the evidence base was not strong and needed time to be developed;

 

(r)   the service cost £180 per  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

53.

CLINICAL COMMISSIONING GROUP AUTHORISATION UPDATE

The panel will receive a presentation on the Clinical Commissioning Group and its authorisation process.

Minutes:

Karen Kay, Designate Head of Western Locality Commissioning, NEW Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) provided the panel with a presentation on the authorisation process and possible commissioning intentions.

 

The panel Agreed to note the presentation and request that the Western Locality Operating Plan is made available to a future meeting of the panel.

 

(This agenda item was moved to facilitate better management of the meeting.)

54.

HEALTH AND WELLBEING BOARD AND STRATEGY UPDATE pdf icon PDF 96 KB

The panel will receive an update on the developing Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy and Health and Wellbeing Board.

Minutes:

Ross Jago, Democratic Support Officer introduced a briefing paper updating members of the panel on the development of the Health and Wellbeing board and joint health and wellbeing Strategy.

 

The panel agreed to –

 

(1)  note the report;

 

(2)  request that the draft health and wellbeing strategy is presented at a future meeting of the panel;

 

(3)  recommend to the Shadow Health and Wellbeing Board that the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service is invited to become a member.

 

55.

WORK PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 38 KB

The panel will consider its work programme.

Minutes:

Agreed to delegate to the Lead Officer, in consultation with the Chair and Vice Chair, the preparation of a new work programme which better reflects the panel’s place in the new health system, ensuring that joint working between health and social care services and commissioning for prevention is adequately scrutinised.

56.

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 Chair’s urgent business.