Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were presented on behalf of District Councillors A Mahmood (Pendle Borough Council) and C Hartley (Lancaster City Council), and apologies had been received from Councillor J Robinson (Wyre Borough Council).

Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

None disclosed.

The Minutes of the Health Scrutiny Committee meeting held on the 24 November 2015 were presented and agreed.

Resolved: That the Minutes of the Health Scrutiny Committee held on the 24 November 2015 be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

The report was presented by Charlotte Hammond, Head of Service for Safeguarding, Learning Disabilities and Mental Health.

The report provided a summary and history of the Transforming Care agenda for people with a learning disability or autism and an update of progress. It informed members of Lancashire's inclusion in a National "Fast Track" programme, and its subsequent mainstreaming to form a Transforming Care Partnership, a strategically led, pan Lancashire collaboration of 8 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), 3 local authorities and NHS England specialised commissioners, to plan and implement the transformation needed.

Charlotte Hammond said that the pressure from NHS England to move people quickly from Calderstones into other care settings was a cause of some concern. Calderstones is a facility that provides medium secure, low secure and specialist NHS services to adult men and women with learning disabilities or other developmental disorders who present with extremes of serious challenging or offending behaviour. It was recognised that a new service model needed to be developed, however, a broad range of alternative provision would need to be provided to safely accommodate the 47 Lancashire people currently resident there. Ministry of Justice restrictions would need to be maintained in some cases, and it was most important that people with complex needs were placed in suitable settings which would best support them from the outset and take account of potential risks.

Charlotte explained that funding was also a significant concern given the pressures already facing local authorities. Negotiations were underway regarding the provision of a dowry from the NHS for those people currently resident in Calderstones who would be transferring to the care of the local authority.

Members were invited to make comments and raise questions and a summary of the main points arising from the discussion is set out below:

·  Members were most concerned about the funding of care for those people moving out of Calderstones and also funding of 'new' cases - those people with similar needs, not resident in Calderstones, who would require care in the future. It was explained that care packages for those moving out of Calderstones would vary, with some costing as much as £300,000 per year, but some costing much less. The annual cost was estimated to be £6 million; dowry provision from the NHS had not yet been ratified. There were also issues around changes to housing benefit. It was a very complex funding picture and future commitments were not yet clear.

·  The Committee was informed that a letter had been sent to the Secretary of State for Health expressing concern about the financial impact of the transforming care programme on the County Council. In response the Minister had provided some assurance that, as part of a whole system approach, investment would shift between services. What this would look like in practice was as yet unclear.

·  The Chair assured members that this Committee would liaise closely with the Health and Wellbeing Board in a joint approach.

·  The Chair informed Committee that the Steering Group was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

It was reported that on 26 October the Steering Group had met with Sam Nicol who attended to provide an update on Healthier Lancashire and Gill Brown, Chief Executive of Healthwatch Lancashire. A summary of the meeting was at Appendix A to the report now presented.

On 16 November the Steering Group had met with Councillor Barbara Ashworth and Pat Couch from Rossendale Borough Council who attended to present their draft task group report on ambulance services. They also met Erin Portsmouth and Dr Kumar from Chorley South Ribble and Greater Preston Clinical Commissioning Groups to discuss workforce planning. A summary of the meeting was at Appendix B to the report now presented.

Resolved: That the report be received.

Appendix A to the report now presented set out a draft work plan for both the Health Scrutiny Committee and its Steering Group, including current Task Group reviews.

It was reported that a work shop would be arranged for members, to be held in April 2016, to consider topics for the 2016/17 work plan.

Resolved: That the work plan be noted.

The Committee's attention was drawn to forthcoming decisions and decisions recently made by the Cabinet and individual Cabinet Members in areas relevant to the remit of the committee, in order that this could inform possible future areas of work.

Recent and forthcoming decisions taken by Cabinet Members or the Cabinet can be accessed here:

http://council.lancashire.gov.uk/mgDelegatedDecisions.aspx?bcr=1

Resolved: That the report be received.

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.  Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member’s intention to raise a matter under this heading.

Councillor Roy Leeming of Preston City Council, addressed the Committee at the invitation of the Chair. He reported that Preston City Council had established a task and finish group to investigate infant mortality in its Saint Matthew's ward, which had one of the highest rates of infant mortality in the country.

The Task Group had now established five working groups to focus on:

·  The private rented housing sector

·  Teenage pregnancy

·  Smoking in pregnancy

·  Community midwives

·  Community development

Councillor Leeming invited members to offer any contribution that they thought might be helpful to the study, either directly to him (cllr.r.leeming@preston.gov.uk) or via Craig Sharpe, Chief Environmental Health Officer at Preston City Council viainfo@preston.gov.uk

Resolved: That the request be noted

The next meeting of the Health Scrutiny Committee will be held on Tuesday 15 March 2016 at 10.30am at County Hall, Preston.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on Tuesday 15 March 2016 at 10.30am at County Hall, Preston.