Agenda and minutes

Items
No. Item

30.

Apologies for Absence

31.

Declarations of Interest, if any

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest made.

32.

Minutes of the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Panel held on 2nd February 2023 pdf icon PDF 140 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 2nd February 2023, be agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

33.

Public Statements

[A period not exceeding 20 minutes for

Statements from up to 5 members of the public on

matters within the Panel’s remit, proposing action(s)

which may be considered or contribute towards the

future development of the Panel’s work programme].

 

Minutes:

There were no public statements.

34.

Substantial Variation - Bentley and Rossington Community Hubs - Integrated Care Board (ICB) pdf icon PDF 2 MB

Minutes:

The Deputy Director of Transformation, Integrated Care Board (ICB), presented a report relating to the outcome of the public consultation on the new health centres / community hubs at Bentley and Rossington.  The Panel was requested to confirm that it was satisfied that the ICB had met its statutory duties in relation to public involvement and consultation in accordance with the NHS Act.

 

The Chair of the Panel thanked the Deputy Director for early involvement with the proposals and the following questions and queries were addressed:-

 

Following a request from the Chair it was clarified that £57.5m had been secured by the South Yorkshire ICB for primary care estates.  £15.5m was dedicated to 4 schemes in Doncaster, two of which would be used for new building in Bentley and Rossington,  This proposed that the Bentley Surgery on Bentley High Street and Ransome Practice at the Bentley Health Centre would be moving to the new build site where the library was once to be sited.  The branch GP sites at Woodlands and Sprotbrough would remain and not affected.  In Rossington the West End Clinic and Rossington practice would move further up West End Lane to the edge of the new housing estate.  It was confirmed there would be no closure of GP practices.

 

Easy read consultation document – In response to concern expressed with regard to this material, it was explained that the proposed document was considered and advised on by Mencap.  The ICB explained that it relied on the GP practices to liaise with all patients and comments received from the different groups were combined. 

 

In the next phase of development a lot of addition work would be undertaken with patients with regard to how the building will look, feel and navigated to ensure the design was suitable for all people with a disability.  It was noted that the building had been sized for all eventualities and wayfinding workshops would be offered to patient groups.  It was explained that the Panel’s comments, particularly relating to photo stories to communicate and access for people who could find entering such a large building difficult, would be taken on board moving forward.

 

The Panel noted that the consultation had primarily addressed the siting of the building and there was much more work to be undertaken with regard to how the practices run and welcomed the discussion at this meeting.

 

Pharmacy Location – It was noted that there were two pharmacies to the Bentley site within walking distance and an internet based pharmacy was within 500 meters walk of the Rossington site.  It was explained that discussions were currently ongoing with Weldricks Chemist for a possible community pharmacy.

With regard to internet based pharmacies, concern was expressed that not everyone had access to or was comfortable with using online facilities.  In response, it was explained that the ICB was aware of digital exclusion within Doncaster and work was currently being undertaken to increase and encourage online use.  Capacity was also being increased for people  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

35.

Health Protection Assurance Annual Report for 2022/23 pdf icon PDF 2 MB

Minutes:

The Consultant in Public Health provided a presentation to accompany the report focusing on key areas of health protection, as follows:

 

A        Emergency preparedness, resilience and response;

B        Infection prevention and control;

C        Air quality;

D        Sexual health;

E        Substance misuse; and

F        Immunisation and screening programme.

 

It was stressed that there had been a continued response to the health protection challenges presented by Covid-19 however it had moved from core response to pre-pandemic levels of emergency planning, resilience and response.

 

The Panel thanked the officers for providing the information and discussed the following issues.

 

Bowel programme screening in learning disabilities – the Panel appreciated the work undertaken, including adapting the services for people with sensory issues, making the process much easier with good results. It was stressed that the NHS always sought ways to make reasonable adjustments when patients felt they were unable to seek assistance from neighbours or family. The Panel noted that an audit tool was used to measure access to all health screening programmes.

 

With regard to cervical screening work had been undertaken by Cancer Champions in GP practices to address low uptake with work also addressing lower performing GP practices. It was report that a patient survey was currently being developed seeking what would encourage people to attend a screening appointment.

 

Covid Fund – A Member outlined that whilst Covid was not as much as an issue as it has been in the last 3 years, but provided us with a new illness to which hospitals and everyone has to deal with, moving forward. In response to the Member’s concern with regard to cutting the Covid Fund, it was explained that the temporary fund had been established to respond to the outbreak in different settings and the key challenge was to absorb continued support within the existing budget.

 

With regard to resources, mainly the large number of people who helped with the response had trained “on the job” and that expertise could be lost for any future pandemic. The Public Health role had reverted back to its pre-pandemic assurance role, it had resources across the system but it’s capacity was limited whilst responding as best it could with all roles across NHS being moulded differently, particularly bearing in mind support for long Covid.

 

It was noted that in  Doncaster had chosen to continue to fund an Infection Prevention Control service to promote prevention against Covid and other respiratory conditions. The wider work that Environmental Health undertook to support safe food preparation and storage with premises, was noted.

 

The biggest lesson learnt was, a system approach being required to respond to any health threats, with a sustainable model of community infection prevention developed which would help with responding to any new health threat, for example, Avian Flu, that has recently been experienced.

 

A Member thanked the officers for reassurance and highlighted that Covid had shown how fragile life was, stressing not, but when the next health threat would arise.

 

MRSA – with regard to the zero  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

36.

Overview and Scrutiny Work Plan and Council's Forward Plan of Key Decisions pdf icon PDF 638 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Senior Governance Officer introduced the report and requested Members give consideration to items they may wish to add to the 2023/24 Scrutiny work plan.  Members highlited the following areas:

 

Housing – across all scrutiny areas details of which would need to be agreed by OSMC and take into account all scrutiny work plans;

Dentistry;

Speech and language therapy;

Annual health checks for people with learning difficulties;  and

Consultations - Dementia and Autism (Adults).

 

RESOLVED:  That the report and discussion, be noted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SIGNED                     ___________________

                                    CHAIR

 

 

 

DATED:                     ____________________