Present at the meeting:
- Councillor N D Ash (Chairman)
- Councillor Mrs J M Peet (Vice Chairman)
- Councillor N A Bradbury
- Councillor S Dawber
- Councillot Ms L E Fagan
- Councillor S J Greensmith
- Councillor Mrs J Hurst
- Councillor P A Liptrot
- Councillor K W McManus
- Councillor E Russon
- Councillor K Cunliffe – Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Healthier Communities and Older People
Officers in attendance
- Gary Finch – Principal Officer – Scrutiny
- Joanna Robinson – Senior Solicitor
- Kay Cullen – Trainee Committee Clerk
- Officers presenting reports
- Bernard Walker – Executive Director, Health and Well-being
- Louise Sutton – Service Director – Personalisation and Community Services
- Stuart Cowley – Service Director – Strategy and Commissioning
- Andrew Foster – Chief Executive - Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust
- Dr Kate Fallon - Managing Director – Ashton, Leigh and Wigan Community Healthcare
34 Apologies for absence: Councillors M A Dewhurst, Mrs S Dewhurst, Mrs D Fairhurst, R T Splaine and J Talbot.
35 Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of the Adult Health and Well-being Scrutiny Committee held on 22 September 2009 were approved as a correct record.
36 Whipping Declarations: Government guidance expected Members of the Scrutiny Committee not to act in accordance with party whipping and that, if they did, they were to declare it.
There were no declarations made.
37 Community healthcare: The Managing Director – Ashton, Leigh and Wigan (ALW) Community Healthcare, Dr Kate Fallon, gave a presentation on the reasons why Ashton, Leigh and Wigan Community Healthcare was trying to achieve NHS Foundation Trust status in 2011.
The Managing Director requested the Committee to endorse the application for the ALW Community Healthcare to achieve NHS Foundation Trust status and to write a letter of support to help strengthen the submission.
The Senior Solicitor, Joanna Robinson, gave advice to the Committee, that a supporting letter should not be sent at this stage as this may prejudice any public consultation and as there may be different views or proposals. The Committee would need to hear all view points before making a decision as to whether to send a letter of support.
Members asked a number of questions and commented on various aspects of the report.
Resolved: The Committee:-
(1) thanks the Managing Director for the presentation; and
(2) agrees to defer the letter of support at this stage for the reasons indicated at the meeting.
38 Care Quality Commission – annual health check rating 2008/09: The Chief Executive –Wrighington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust, Andrew Foster, presented a report, which informed Members that the Trust had retained its double good rating. The Trust scored ‘good’ for both the quality of services and the quality of financial management.
Members asked a number of questions and commented on various aspects of the report.
Resolved: The Committee:-
(1) thanks the Chief Executive – Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust for presenting the report; and
(2) requests that he distribute to Members of this Committee the full Care Quality Commission report.
39 Christopher Home plans – update: The Chief Executive – Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust, presented a report, which updated Members on the relocation of the Opthalmology Services and the future plans for the Christopher Home Building.
Members asked a number of questions and commented on various aspects of the report.
Resolved: The Committee thanks the Chief Executive for the update on the Christopher Home plans.
40 Five identified areas for improvement from the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust Annual Report – update: The Chief Executive - Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust, presented a report, which gave Members an update on how the Trust had progressed with the five identified areas for improvement that were highlighted in the Annual Report.
Members gave comments and asked a number of questions, which included the following points:-
- NHS staff should be stopped from travelling to and from work in their uniforms.
- What is ‘cross health economy’ work?
- What is the accident and emergency performance standard?
The Chief Executive, advised Members that there was robust cleaning at the hospital and it scored really high on cleanliness. There was an explicit policy on staff not to travel to and from work in uniforms, unless wearing a coat and if staff did not follow this policy then it would lead to disciplinary action.
The Chief Executive informed Members that improvements were being made through cross health economy work. This was work done between organisations and individuals, which helped support both day to day operational management of service problems, and the development of strategic plans. The accident and emergency standard was to have 98% of the patients treated or referred within four hours.
Resolved: The Committee:
(1) thanks the Chief Executive for presenting the report; and
(2) notes the action being taken against the five areas for improvement.
41 Social Care Transformation Action Plan – update: The Service Director – Personalisation and Community Services, Louise Sutton, presented a report, which outlined the progress that had been made in the implementation of the Transforming Social Care Action Plan.
The Service Director – Personalisation and Community Services, informed Members that detailed milestones for specific projects had not yet been finalised and that the progress would be reported to Members on a regular basis. She also reported that the department was on target to meet the current Association of Directors of Adult Services (ADASS) and the Local Government Association (LGA) milestones.
The Service Director – Personalisation and Community Services, introduced Alan Kendrick and Jim Barton, from the Carers Forum, who gave their views and asked questions on the Social Care Transformation Action Plan.
Members gave comments and asked if people would receive help with their self assessments, if needed. The Service Director – Personalisation and Community Services, informed Members that self assessment was not mandatory but an opportunity for people to tell us their story. As well as self assessments the Department also completed statutory assessments. She informed Members that self assessments came into place in response to people wanting more control and more of a say in what care they needed.
Resolved: The Committee:
(1) thanks the Service Director – Personalisation and Community Services for presenting the report;
(2) thanks the representatives of the Carers Forum, Alan Kendrick and Jim Barton for attending the meeting; and
(3) invites the representatives from the carers forum to the meeting on 16 March 2010, to update them on the concerns which were raised.
42 Adult Services Budget Monitoring Report 2009/10: The Executive Director, Health and Well-being, Bernard Walker, reported to Members, the budget monitoring position for Adult Services after the first six months of 2009/10. The Executive Director made reference to the budgetary issues that would need to be addressed during the year.
The Executive Director advised Members of the significant underlying budgetary pressure of £1.2 million for 2009-10, that related to transition cases from previous and current years. He informed Members that the monitoring position after six months showed a £1,350,000 overspend and that the Adult Services Improvement Plan 2 had been put into place to deliver a reduction in savings of £244,000 in a year plus £235,000 not yet achieved from year one.
The report showed cost pressures associated with care costs which were partially offset by the decreasing impact from continuing care and that the current projected out-turn for the Department was an over-spend of £2.74 million. The Senior Management Team was considering further measures that sought to mitigate the level of the overspend.
Members asked a number of questions and raised concern that the Adult Services budget was not great enough.
Resolved: The Committee thanks the Executive Director for presenting the report and for the additional information.
43 Allocation of resources for personal budgets: The Service Director – Personalisation and Community Services, presented a report, which would also be considered by Cabinet on 17 December 2009. The report informed Members of the progress made on the Resource Allocation System pilot. The report sought Members support on the proposals for the further roll out of personal budgets.
Members asked a number of questions and commented on various aspects of the report.
Resolved: The Committee:-
(1) thanks the Service Director for presenting the report; and
(2) endorses the proposals for the further roll out of Personal Budgets.
44 Adult Safeguarding – update: The Service Director – Personalisation and Community Services, presented a report, which would also be considered by Cabinet on 19 November 2009. The report provided Members with an update on the progress of the Adult Safeguarding Board following the presentation of the Board’s Annual Report in June 2009.
The Service Director – Personalisation and Community Services, informed Members that the Adult Safeguarding Board had made good progress against its identified action plan and that a refreshed business plan and strategic action plan had been produced and would be implemented following the endorsement by the Safeguarding Board in November 2009. The Executive Director, stressed to Members the importance of Adult Safeguarding.
Members asked a number of questions and commented on various aspects of the report.
Resolved: The Committee thanks the Service Director for presenting the report.
45 Learning and Employment Service: The Service Director – Personalisation and Community Services, presented a report, which would also be considered by Cabinet on 19 November 2009. The report updated Members on the introduction of the fee policy for the Learning and Skills Council funded adult learning provision. The report also informed Members of the recent Ofsted Inspection results and the achievements and forward plan for the Learning and Employment Service.
Members asked a number of questions and commented on various aspects of the report.
Resolved: The Committee thanks the Service Director for presenting the report.
46 Care Closer to Home – six monthly update: The Service Director – Personalisation and Community Services, presented a report, which would also be considered by Cabinet on 19 November 2009. The report informed Members of action taken in response to the Health Select Scrutiny Committee’s report on Care Closer to Home.
Members asked if there was still a shortfall in Occupational Health Therapists. The Service Director informed Members that at the moment there was no specific problem with recruiting Occupational Health Therapists.
Resolved: The Committee:-
(1) thanks the Service Director for presenting the report;
(2) request that the Service DIrector update the Committee on the progress of ‘Care Closer to Home’ in six months time; and
(3) requests that the update include the progress made on response 3.2.1 under section - Co-ordination, Collaboration and Communication.
47 Sport, Health & Physical Education (SHAPE) Strategy – annual report 2008/09 (year 2): The Executive Director, presented a report, which would also be considered by Cabinet on 19 November 2009. The report informed Members of the SHAPE Strategy performance for year two of the five-year Strategy.
Members asked a number of questions and commented on various aspects of the report.
Resolved: The Committee:
(1) thanks the Executive Director for the presenting the report; and
(2) notes the progress made on the implementation of the SHAPE Strategy.
48 Performance Monitoring Report – Quarter 2: The Service Director, Strategy and Commissioning, Stuart Cowley, presented a report, which provided Members with the Adult Services performance monitoring position for the second quarter of 2009/10.
The report outlined the overall performance for the second quarter of 2009/10, which showed that for the indicators where targets had been finalised and the quarterly data was available, 67% of the indicators were on target or better than the target.
The Service Director, Strategy and Commissioning, informed Members that remedial action was being taken on those areas where performance was shown to be below target and the areas where concerns had been highlighted. The Senior Management Team would also continue to monitor the position closely.
Members gave comments and asked a number of questions, which included the following points:-
- Has the vacant post for the Reviewing Officer been filled?
- What is the reason why the private Sectors attendance on safeguarding training courses was poor? Was it because they have to pay for the courses?
The Executive Director informed Members that the post for the Reviewing Officer had been filled and that it would be detailed in the next report. He also reported that the private sector was not charged for safeguarding training. If they continue to not attend these courses they would be charged for non attendance.
Resolved: The Committee thanks the Service Director, Strategy and Commissioning for presenting the report.
49 Single Commissioning Agency Joint Shadow Board minutes: The minutes of the meeting of the Single Commissioning Agency – Joint Shadow Board from 1 October 2009 were submitted for information.
Resolved: The Committee notes the minutes now submitted.
Chairman
