Agenda and minutes

County Councillors Jean Parr and Jayne Rear replaced County Councillors Margaret Pattison and Peter Steen respectively; and Councillor Jean Cronshaw replaced Councillor Hasina Khan.

Apologies were received from District Councillors Roy Leeming, Preston City Council and Paul Cotterill. Apologies were also received from Dr Sakthi Karunanithi, Director of Public Health, 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.

County Councillor Lizzi Collinge disclosed a non-pecuniary interest as her post was funded by Lancashire Care Foundation Trust and her husband worked for NHS England.

Members enquired if the letter had been sent to the Secretary State for Health and the Chairs of Health Education England and Health Education North West inviting appropriate representatives to attend a future meeting of the Committee to address the inequity of funding for medical under-graduate and post-graduate training in Lancashire and South Cumbria. They were informed the letter was being sent out later that day.

Resolved: That the minutes from the meeting held on 19 September 2017 be confirmed as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

There was no update for the Committee.

The Chair welcomed Peter Mulcahy QAM, Head of the Paramedic Emergency Service, from the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) who gave a presentation highlighting the pressures they would face and the preparations they had made in readiness for the forthcoming winter season.

It was reported that winter planning was a Department of Health directive which commenced during the summer months. NWAS was also accountable to the commissioners – Blackpool Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). Some of the preparations not referenced in the PowerPoint slides included:

·  From the 1st December 2017, a command structure (senior managers) in place both in and out of hours;

·  Liaison officers based in hospitals to ensure smooth handover of patients;

·  St John's Ambulance and other third party providers in place to support;

·  The fleet service having their own plan for maintaining emergency vehicles; and

·  Audit teams in place to monitor 999 calls.

On 999 calls, it was reported that patients with mental health problems were known to take up considerable time with call handlers. It was acknowledged that NWAS was not the expert on mental health and was working with Lancashire Care Foundation Trust (LCFT) to employ appropriately trained people to work in call centres to field these calls.

The Committee was also informed that Hazardous Area Response Teams (HART) from Manchester and Liverpool would be called upon to support the rest of the NWAS region.

Each year NWAS developed a Strategic Winter Capacity Plan for its entire region and a Local Winter Plan for each area including Lancashire and Cumbria. Planning would be continuous up to and throughout the winter season with regular meetings to ensure that focus was maintained. NWAS covered the five counties of Lancashire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire. The benefit of having a plan that covered five counties was that resources from one county could be used in another.

Some paramedics were placed in the Emergency Control Centre as support call takers to advise on the most appropriate treatment. The Police would also work in the control room on key dates.

Regarding their communications strategy, NWAS would be supporting the national Stay Well This Winter campaign providing information locally and assisting partner organisations in spreading the messages.

The Committee was informed that over the festive period during 2016/17, emergency calls had increased by 24% with approximately 180 calls received per hour over New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Over the December period NWAS had dealt with on average 150 calls per hour. The Committee expressed concern at the amount of resources used during this period and that the main cause of this increase related to incidents involving alcohol.  Communication from NWAS and NHS partners would focus on this aspect in the run up to the Christmas period. It was suggested that the County Council's Communications Team assist the implementation of the NWAS communication strategy. Members were also reminded of the benefits in utilising social media to help spread the message.

In terms of winter planning for care homes, it was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Committee received a report detailing matters presented and considered by the Health Scrutiny Steering Group at its meetings held on 27 September and 11 October 2017.

It was noted that a report setting out proposals for a revised purpose of the Steering Group would be presented to the Committee for consideration at its next scheduled meeting on 12 December 2017.

Resolved: That the report of the Steering Group be received.

The Work Plans for both the Health Scrutiny Committee and its Steering Group were presented to the Committee. The topics included were identified at the work planning workshop held on 20 June 2017.

It was reported that the Steering Group had recommended that a report from Lancashire Care Foundation Trust on improvements to mental health services in Lancashire be referred to the Committee for consideration at its meeting scheduled for 12 December 2017.

Resolved: That;

  I.  The report be noted; and

  II.  The recommendations made by the Steering Group at its meeting held on 27 September 2017 to refer the report on improvements to mental health services in Lancashire for consideration by the Committee at its next scheduled meeting on 12 December 2017 be accepted. 

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 is currently scheduled to be held on Tuesday 12 December 2017 at 10.30am at County Hall, Preston.

The next meeting of the Health Scrutiny Committee will take place on Tuesday 12 December at 10.30am in Cabinet Room C (The Duke of Lancaster Room) at the County Hall, Preston.