Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were presented on behalf of County Councillor Gina Dowding and District Councillors Colin Hartley (Lancaster), Julie Robinson (Wyre), Mick Titherington (South Ribble), Shirley Green (Fylde) and Asjad Mahmood (Pendle).

District Councillor Gail Hodson was welcomed as a new member of the Committee in place of Cllr Liz Savage (West Lancashire).

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.

County Councillor Collinge declared a non-pecuniary interest in item 4 – Recruitment Issues – Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust, as an employee of Lancashire Care Foundation Trust.

Resolved: The minutes of the Health Scrutiny Committee held on the 26 April 2016 be confirmed and signed by the Chair

Follow on from the temporary closure of Chorley A&E

**Prior to the meeting, a statement from Chorley Borough Council was circulated to all members of the Committee. This statement is appended to these minutes.

At the Health Scrutiny Committee meeting on the 26 April 2016 held to discuss the temporary closure of the Emergency Department at Chorley Hospital, it had been agreed that further scrutiny of the key issues should take place and it in particular that the challenges around recruitment would be discussed in further detail.

The Chair welcomed the following speakers to the meeting to contribute to the discussion:

Professor Jacky Hayden, Dean of Postgraduate Medical Studies, Health Education North West

Lindsay Hoyle, MP for Chorley

Mick Whitley, Managing Director UK, Medacs Healthcare

Kelly Lyon, Medacs Healthcare

Helen Kelly, Medacs Healthcare

Paul Chandler, Acting Regional Director, NHS Improvement

Gaynor Hales, Regional Nurse Director, NHS Improvement

Professor Jacky Hayden, Dean of Postgraduate Medical Studies, provided information to the Committee from Health Education North West. 

Members were advised that Health Education North West was responsible for the training of around 7,500 doctors which took them from their graduation from medical school to their appointment as a consultant or general practitioner.  This involved ensuring they have access to the specific curriculum according to their specialism.

It was reported that the number of higher trainee posts across the North West included seven for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust, all based at Royal Preston, four in East Lancashire, two in Morecambe Bay and three in Blackpool.  It was felt that Lancashire Teaching Hospitals had been allocated a sufficient number of higher trainee posts. 

It was confirmed that Chorley Hospital did not currently meet the criteria set by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine and the General Medical Council to be a training site for trainees in emergency medicine. It was particularly noted that the Chorley site, unlike Royal Preston, did not offer intensive care, trauma or paediatric services, and that these areas of specialism were closely linked with emergency medicine and would generally need to be present on site for a hospital to be recognised as an appropriate location for full training of those higher level trainees. 

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

·  In response to a question around the recognition for higher training at Chorley Hospital, it was confirmed that Lancashire Teaching Hospitals would need to initiate the assessment through a case submission for Chorley Hospital to become a recognised training site which meets the criteria required.  As Chorley Hospital had no urgent trauma, ICU and paediatric services currently, members were advised that it was unlikely to be an appropriate training site. 

·  The demand was not sufficient for the training places currently approved for emergency medicine so there was no case to increase the number of places allocated for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals.

·  Members were informed that surveys were conducted annually by the Deanery with a 99.8% response rate and included yearly or bi-yearly visits to sites.  The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

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 was no urgent business.

The next meeting of the Health Scrutiny Committee will be held on 14^th June 2016 at 10.30am in The Duke of Lancaster Room (Cabinet Room C), County Hall.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on Tuesday 14 June 2016 at 10.30am in the Duke of Lancaster Room (Cabinet Room C), County Hall.