Agenda and minutes

Apologies from absence were presented on behalf of District Councillors Eammon Higgins (Hyndburn), Colin Hartley (Lancaster), Mick Titherington (South Ribble) and Shirley Green (Fylde).

County Councillor Ron Shewan attending in place of County Councillor Niki Penney, County Councillor Kim Snape in place of County Councillor Bev Murray, District Councillor Amanda Robertson in place of Councillor Barbara Ashworth and District Councillor Gareth Dowling in place of Councillor Gail Hodson.

The following speakers were welcomed to the Health Scrutiny Committee meeting:

·  Karen Partington, Chief Executive, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust

·  Professor Mark Pugh, Medical Director, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust

·  Andy Curran, Consultant in Emergency Medicine, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust

·  Karen Swindley, Director of Workforce and Education, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust

·  Helen Curtis, Head of Quality and Performance, Chorley South Ribble and Greater Preston Clinical Commissioning Group

·  Clare Platt, Head of Service Health, Equity, Welfare and Partnerships, Lancashire County 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.

There were no declarations of interest at this time.

Resolved: Minutes from the meeting held on 18 October 2016 be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

Karen Partington, Professor Mark Pugh, Andy Curran and Karen Swindley from Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust (LTHT) and Helen Curtis from Chorley South Ribble and Greater Preston Clinical Commissioning Group provided a presentation (appended to the minutes) to the Committee on the Emergency Care Update.

The presentation provided a response to the recommendations contained within the 'Emergency Care Crisis – Chorley' scrutiny review report and included an update on the progress on the Chorley Emergency Department mobilisation plan.

It was confirmed that the issues concerning Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments has been mirrored nationally with increasing attendance and deteriorating performance levels.  Added to this was the difficulties to discharge patients for a number of reasons although it was reported that LTHT were working with partners to assist with this.  In addition, a programme was reported to be in place to identify other support services to assist with alleviating the numbers of patients attending A&E.

It was highlighted that although a number of CV's were received since April for the required middle grade doctor vacancies, a large number of these did not meet the required criteria.  In addition, although 12 job offers were made, none were accepted, largely due to doctors accepting job offers elsewhere (mainly in the south of England).

Members were assured that NHS Improvement provided assistance with the concerns raised around the inconsistencies in the application of the agency cap across hospitals.

It was confirmed that the Urgent Care Centre will be mobilised on the 18 January 2017.

Members of the Committee were invited to comment and raise questions and a summary of the discussion is set out below:

It was confirmed that applications were regularly received from all over the world and from doctors who have never worked in the UK before or worked in the NHS.  Many were applying for large number of posts across the UK.  Further to this, members were informed that a large number of applicants were required to pass the English language test. It was reported that support is given to applicants through the international recruitment process and that the language skills element is part of this scheme.

It was agreed that there was a need to ensure Lancashire is recognised as attractive place to work and this is currently being addressed with various partners.  It was confirmed that a great deal of information at a local level was being providing to overseas applicants but the feedback received indicated that pressure was from the applicant's families to move south.

It was reported that there has been no current impact in Lancashire post Brexit but were looking ahead for any future implications particularly around international recruitment.

Members questioned the confidence in staffing numbers being available for January 2017 opening and it was reported that the Urgent Care Centre would be run by Go To Doc which is a not for profit organisation who will provide their own staff.  This would release the staff currently providing this service to support the 12 hour  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Presented by: Clare Platt, Head of Service Health, Equity, Welfare and Partnerships

Clare Platt, Head of Service Health, Equity, Welfare and Partnerships was welcomed to the meeting to discuss the report circulated on the current health and wellbeing partnership arrangements and the proposals for the future relationship with the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB).  The report outlined information on work being undertaken to move to a new model of health and wellbeing board governance in the form of a single Pan Lancashire HWB with five local area partnerships.

The proposals were anticipated to be finalised, for agreement with the three current statutory HWB authorities ahead of implementation in spring 2017.

Members of the Committee were invited to comment and raise questions and a summary of the discussion is set out below:

It was confirmed that the Fire and Rescue Authority had been included in the draft proposals to be represented on the Pan Lancashire Board.

Members were advised that the proposal going forward for the partnerships would be more standardised and would include a core group whilst ensuring a need for flexibility at a local level.  In addition the voluntary, community and faith sector has been recommended to be included in the membership.

Members commented on the need for equity across all of the HWB partnerships in Lancashire.  Further to this, it was agreed that it would be helpful to share any action plans from the partnerships with members.

Resolved: That the report and comments be noted.

Presented by: CC Steve Holgate

A request was made to members for a review to be undertaken to look at how the information from the Health Scrutiny Committee Steering Group is to be presented for future meetings.

Resolved: That a review be undertaken and reported back to the Committee

The Committee were presented with the workplan for both the Health Scrutiny Committee and its Steering Group, including current Task Group reviews.

Resolved: That the report be noted.

The Committee's attention was drawn to forthcoming decisions and decisions recently made by 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.

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.

There were no items of urgent business.

The next meeting of the Health Scrutiny Committee will be held on Tuesday 10 January at 10.30am, Cabinet Room C, County Hall, Preston.

The next meeting of the Health Scrutiny Committee will be held on Tuesday 10 January 2017 at 10.30am in Cabinet Room C, County Hall, Preston.