Agenda item

(A period not exceeding 15 minutes for questions from members of the public.)

Mr Doug Wright referred to the Transformation Update on the Board’s agenda and commented on a range of issues including:-

·         the need to make up the identified shortfall of £571m regionally, and £139.5m in the case of Doncaster;

·         the appointment of strategic partner EY to help shape and co-produce the Place Plan;

·         the appropriateness of using joint venture companies in the public sector as an alternative service delivery model; and

·         the need for improved communication and engagement to increase public awareness of the STP proposals.

Mr Wright concluded by asking when the public would be able to see details of the business case supporting the adults, health and wellbeing transformation programme, which had identified potential net savings of £14.6m.

In reply, Patrick Birch, Programme Manager, explained that information on the Business Case had been included in the report considered by the Cabinet at its meeting in November 2016.  The detailed proposals in terms of investments into services and financial benefits delivered by the programme had been incorporated into the Council’s budget.  Patrick then summarised the key components of the new Transformation Programme, which included:

·         Community Led Support;

·         Redesigning the end to end care management pathway for local people;

·         Transforming Commissioning (including the use of assistive technology to avoid premature admittance to residential care); and

·         Identifying alternative service delivery models to look at ways of doing things differently.

Jackie Pederson, Chief Officer of DCCG, added that Doncaster Council’s Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel had yesterday received a presentation on the new model of intermediate care, which was aimed at providing a short burst of extra care and rehabilitation outside hospital to help people recover and regain their independence as quickly as possible, following an illness or a fall.  She explained that this was a good example of how the different organisations were working together.

Mr Wright was informed that Debbie Hilditch, representing Healthwatch Doncaster at today’s meeting, would feed back his comments regarding the STP for the purposes of the consultation exercise.

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In referring to the Black and Minority Ethnic Health Needs Assessment (BME HNA), Mr Tim Brown stated that he had been calling for this for over 13 years.  He expressed the opinion that the content of the latest version was lacking in certain areas, such as on mental health issues and stated that, in his view, the statutory providers were failing to monitor BME outcomes and experiences.  Mr Brown stated that his family had contributed to the NHS for over 200 years, and yet BME needs were still being ignored.  He concluded by stressing that officers needed to be mindful of the requirements laid down in the Public Sector Equality Duty and NHS Constitution in their activities.

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Mr Arnold Ntiege also referred to the BME HNA and stressed that all that was being requested by the BME communities was wide and meaningful engagement.  He also felt that further information was needed on where data was being captured from and whether this included BME communities, citing as an example the data used to inform the work on the new Intermediate Care Model.

Having thanked Messrs Brown and Ntiege, the Chair confirmed that their comments would be taken into account when the Board considered the BME HNA later on the agenda.