Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Priory House, Monks Walk, Shefford

Contact: Paula Everitt  0300 300 4196

Items
No. Item

144.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 77 KB

 

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Social Care Health and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 28 January 2019 and to note actions taken since that meeting.

 

Minutes:

 

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting of the Social Care Health and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 28 January 2019 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

 

145.

Members' Interests

To receive from Members any declarations of interest and of any political whip in relation to any agenda item.

Minutes:

 

None.

 

 

146.

Chairman's Announcements and Communications

To receive any announcements from the Chairman and any matters of communication.

Minutes:

 

The Chairman provided a synopsis of the work of the SCHH OSC Committee over the past four years.  Thanks were extended to the many partners that had attended and contributed to the committee’s work, the general and more specialist areas of work it had influenced and some of its many achievements that included:-

  • Improved older people’s accommodation provision
  • Transitional accommodation provided for the homeless
  • Enquiry into the Integration of Health and Social Care that led to the provision of Health hubs
  • The excellent working relations developed with BCCG, Healthwatch and other partners.

 

The Chairman thanked Executive Members, the Director and her team, the Scrutiny Policy Advisor and the Committee for their support, professionalism and their respected views during his term as Chairman.

 

147.

Petitions

To receive petitions from members of the public in accordance with the Public Participation Procedure as set out in Part 4G of the Constitution.

Minutes:

 

None.

 

 

148.

Questions, Statements or Deputations

To receive any questions, statements or deputations from members of the public in accordance with the Public Participation Procedure as set out in Part 4G of the Constitution.

Minutes:

 

None.

 

149.

Call-In

To consider any decision of the Executive referred to this Committee for review in accordance with Part 4D of the Constitution. 

Minutes:

 

None.

 

150.

Requested Items

To consider any items referred to the Committee at the request of a Member in accordance with Part 4D of the Constitution.

Minutes:

 

None.

 

151.

Executive Member Update

To receive a brief verbal update from the Executive Member for Social Care, Health and Housing.

Minutes:

 

The Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Housing Operations advised that two ‘ground breaking’ events had taken place to mark the start of:-

·         Brewers Hill Road Development with Aldwyck and Catalyst Housing Associations that would consist of 61 mixed tenure homes. 

·         Houghton Regis Central independent living scheme for people aged 55 and over. It would include 168 one and two bedroom apartments for rent, shared ownership and outright purchase.

 

The Deputy Member for Health informed Members that the new Government funding to schools generally referred to as ‘sugar tax funding’ had been allocated.  An evaluation of the projects would be undertaken and reported back to Members in 2020.

 

The Executive Member for Health reminded Members that a Central Bedfordshire toolkit would be provided to schools to help with child wellbeing in line with the annual SHUE report. Members were urged to encourage their local schools to take part in the survey. 

 

The Committee were also advised that the current apprentice in the Stop Smoking service had won the top national apprentice award recently.

 

The Executive Member for Assets and Housing Delivery had attended a MANOP workshop on the proposed affordable extra care scheme at Steppingley Road, Flitwick.

 

The Committee were informed that progress had been made to create the Housing Development Company by early Autumn.

 

Each Executive Member wished to record their thanks and compliments to the Chairman for his valuable input and professionalism and that of the Committee.

 

152.

East of England Ambulance Service Trust - Performance Update pdf icon PDF 3 MB

 

To receive a verbal update on the performance of the East of England Ambulance Services Trust.

 

Minutes:

The Sector Head of Service Delivery at the East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST) introduced a presentation that set out current key performance on response and hospital turnaround time measures.  The data provided response times for the BCCG area and did not include measures by hospital or the BLMK STP footprint, although residents were taken to other hospitals including Milton Keynes and North East Hertfordshire (The Lister).

The key issues highlighted were:-

·         An increase in handover times at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital.  EEAST was working jointly with the Trust to improve the handover process.

·         Along with partners the Trust had continued to evolve multi-disciplinary services.  New initiatives were under discussion with Fire and Police authorities and the Trust was keen to ensure there was collaborative working.

·         Non-Emergency Passenger Transport Services (NEPTS) performance had improved; however, the Trust had not been able to fill current vacancies and had sub-contracted to the Private Ambulance Service.  There was a drive to recruit for this service locally and across the board.

In response to a question, the Sector Head advised whilst there was a vacancy pressure for NEPTS, the budget overall was not under pressure in Bedfordshire. 

The Sector Head advised the helicopter response service was run by a charity and the volume of use was very small.  Response times data was included in the general response data.

RECOMMENDED The Committee:-

·         Welcomes those areas where the service is meeting and exceeding targets.

·         Welcomes work done to improve the non-emergency patient transport service but notes there are still some recruitment challenges.

·         Reminds the Service that this Council is responsible for the residents of Central Bedfordshire so its interest is primarily in respect of these residents.

 

153.

Winter Pressures - Update pdf icon PDF 179 KB

 

To provide the Committee with an update on how the Bedfordshire health and social care system was managed during the 2019/19 winter period.

 

Minutes:

The Unplanned Care Commissioner and Assistant Director Unplanned Care, BCCG, introduced a report that set out how the Bedfordshire health and social care system was managed during the 2018/19 winter period.  It was reported that the system had experienced pressures throughout the winter, however, there had been an improvement on the previous year.  The Operational Pressures Escalation Levels (OPEL) framework had helped to improve coordination of pressures on the system.

 

The Commissioner advised that Hospital Ambulance Liaison Officers (HALO) had been appointed to Bedford and The Lister hospitals.  This initiative had ensured the clinical safety of patients had been maintained and the BCCG had facilitated a system-wide response, within 24 hours.

 

In light of the report, Members of the Committee discussed the following in summary:-

·         That given the mild winter, pressures remained on the care system, not only during the winter but all year round.  In response, the Assistant Director advised that due to the ageing population and population growth of the region, there was a surge in demand for care need throughout the year.

·         Confirmation that the Integrated Health and Care Hubs were integral to the BCCG’s plans.

·         Whether data was collected on the top six reasons for admissions to hospital to inform preventative pathways for residents.  The CCG confirmed this information was recorded and analysed and included respiratory, cardio and gastro problems.  Other data collected included the time of day residents are admitted, the hospital, age of the resident and where additional support services were required. 

 

The BCCG continued to advise and educate residents on the correct pathway of care for their particular need.

 

RECOMMENDED the Committee:-

·         Requests a report back to its November meeting on the result of the 2018/19 winter review and any steps to be taken and lessons learned looking forward to winter and beyond 2019/20.

·         Would like to be better informed as to why residents find themselves in hospital, at the Urgent Treatment Centre, and emphasised the need to further educate the public as to the right service to use.

 

154.

Monitoring people from hospital to home pdf icon PDF 5 MB

 

To receive a presentation on how we are responding and meeting the challenge of reducing delayed transfer of care and length of stay.

 

Minutes:

The Associate Director, Integrated Operations, introduced a presentation that set out how officers monitored residents’ move from hospital to home and how the data informed multidisciplinary teams to deliver the right support.

 

The Tracker had been heralded as a good practice model and officers worked closely with NHS colleagues on the information provided. Data on readmissions was in the early stages of development but it was recognised the tracker had the potential to be used for this purpose and therefore to inform how health and social care work differently to reduce the number of readmissions.

The BCCG were also looking at systems to provide information on demand within the system, and this includes a NHS database called SHREWD (Single Health Resilience Early Warning Database). It was anticipated the systems utilised will be complimentary to one another.

 

The tracker was an initiative from Central Bedfordshire council in response to its population being served primarily from 7 main hospitals and it was therefore imperative we had a system which enabled us to monitor the flow of people. In addition, it informed how officers worked to ensure people were appropriately supported.

 

Clarification was also requested as to whether prevention efforts should be concentrated on older single home occupiers who were more likely to be in most need of NHS, Community Health and Social Care services.  The Associate Director would investigate and respond accordingly.

 

RECOMMENDED The Committee:-

·         Welcomes a Central Bedfordshire focus and the work done to follow people’s journeys into, through and out of hospital.

·         Would like to see information about any re-admissions, given a successful discharge would not usually result in such, either to the original hospital or to another.

 

155.

Referral from Corporate Resources OSC on SCHH Fees and Charges

 

To discuss the concerns of Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee  Members regarding those fees and charges for services at Day Care Centres over the inflation rate and where subsidies would be stopped.

 

https://centralbeds.moderngov.co.uk/documents/g5687/Public%20reports%20pack%20Thursday%2031-Jan-2019%2010.00%20CORPORATE%20RESOURCES%20OVERVIEW%20SCRUTINY%20COMMITTEE.pdf?T=10

 

Minutes:

 

NOTED the referral from Corporate Resources that would be investigated by the Executive Member and Director of Social Care Health and Housing and a response provided in due course.

 

156.

Work Programme 2018/19 and Executive Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 63 KB

 

The report provides Members with details of the currently drafted Committee work programme and the latest Executive Forward Plan.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the current Work Programme and Executive Forward Plan. The Work Programme was approved subject to the addition of a BCCG Winter Planning item in November 2019.

157.

Housing Demand presentation pdf icon PDF 585 KB

 

The purpose of the report is to:

·         enable the Committee to understand housing demand at a very local (settlement) level across Central Bedfordshire;

·         review actions being taken to actively manage demand pressures; and

·         provide opportunity for OSC to develop policy in this area.

 

Minutes:

 

The Assistant Director Housing introduced a presentation that explained the detailed analysis to be used to develop a Housing Demand policy for the next five to ten years.  The analysis included those areas where residents wished to live and this information would dovetail into the Housing Enabling Strategy to be considered by Members.  With the need required predominantly in the south of Central Bedfordshire, the intelligence captured was fundamental to ensure the right housing and tenure was provided.

 

In response to a question as to whether the planning process would deliver the right homes, the Assistant Director advised this information would be set out in the Housing Enabling Strategy and the Development Company had an important role to play to deliver the homes. 

 

On the matter of affordability of housing, the Assistant Director advised that officers continued to collaborate with Housing Associations to deliver affordable homes.  The hope was the Development Company would also deliver properties for those residents that sat between ‘in social need’ and able to afford their own homes.

 

RECOMMENDED The Committee:-

1.    Welcomed the detailed analysis and noted the pressures on different types of accommodation needed for individuals, families and those of different ages as well as noting the different tenures available which needed to suit those seeking accommodation.

2.    Take account of the paper ‘Managing Housing Demand in Central Bedfordshire’ by the Assistant Director Housing and the report from the Tenant Scrutiny Panel on Homelessness and

3.    Makes suggestions for areas of research which the Central Bedfordshire Housing Development Company may need to consider and to agree the work streams for Members to join as appropriate.

·         Determine a view on house design to meet the different needs of our residents.

·         Advise on the mix of houses and tenures on new estates.

·         To recognise where there are backlogs of accommodation and bring forward plans how to alleviate such.

·         To take a view on balancing provision for the elderly and homes for first time buyers.

·         To take a view on the balance of homes offered on social and affordable rents.

·         To better understand the interaction between health issues and housing need.

·         To further understand the role of Housing Associations in delivering our housing need.

·         Where housing supply will come from in order to meet housing demand.