Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Hazel Allen and Louise Bates.  Cllr Jackie Edwards attending virtually forgoing any voting rights.

To receive information on any changes in the membership of the Committee.

Note – When a member of a Committee is unable to attend a meeting of a Committee or Sub-Committee, the relevant Political Group Leader (or their nominated representative) may, by notice to the Monitoring Officer (or their nominated representative) prior to the meeting, appoint a substitute member from within the same Political Group. The contact details on the front of this agenda should be used for notifications.

Cllr Karen Rampton substituted for Cllr Hazel Allen.

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

Cllr Sharon Carr-Brown declared a personal interest as her husband was a non-executive director on Integrated Care Board for the Dorset area and as a support worker for an autistic man who was in receipt of direct payments from BCP Council, Cllr Joe Salmon declared a personal interest as an employee of Dorset Healthcare and a member of Unison, Cllr Chris Matthew declared an interest as his wife worked for the Alzheimer’s Society and Cllr Lesley Dedman declared an interest as a Board Member of Age Concern Christchurch UK and a Board Member of Christchurch Housing Association.

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting held on 27 November 2023.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 27 November 2023 were confirmed as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

To consider the Committee’s action sheet.

The action sheet was noted.

To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution. Further information on the requirements for submitting these is available to view at the following link:-

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/documents/s2305/Public%20Items%20-%20Meeting%20Procedure%20Rules.pdf 

The deadline for the submission of public questions is 3 clear working days before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a statement is midday the working day before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a petition is 10 working days before the meeting.

There were no public issues received on this occasion.

To provide an update on the current status of the Day Opportunities Strategy Project.

The Commissioning Manager – Day Opportunities presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The Committee received an update on the current status of the Day Opportunities Strategy Project.

The Committee discussed the report and comments were made, including:

• In response to a query regarding the person’s journey, the Committee was advised impact statements had been collected as part of the consultation, in addition to specifically engaging with all the services and individuals about their needs and wishes and the impact any changes on services would have.
• In response to a query regarding heat mapping service users and the service provision, the Committee was advised of the analysis work detailed in the data and needs analysis report and the results that had shown.
• In response to a concern regarding the proposals and lack of consultation, particularly with People First, the Committee was advised of upcoming coproduction meeting planned for 24 January 2024, with any feedback from that being collated as part of the consultation. 
• It was highlighted that the proposals were financially driven and that it had been made clear that individual assessments of the eight provisions would be undertaken with individual decisions regarding their future.
• In response to a concern that the consultation link was not working for some of the time, it was clarified that the link to the easy read elements was working however a request for that to be more prominent on the page resulted in the new link not working for a couple of days.
• A Committee Member expressed concern over the proposed closure of the specialist dementia unit, Moordown plus and the potential negative impact that could have on its clients.
• In response to a concern about communications in the consultation and the difference between what the consultation asked with the two proposals, instead of each service being considered individually, the Committee was advised that the strategy was very clear that day service buildings were required, however more of the available budget needed to be balanced to offer more community provision offering a greater choice of service to clients.  It was noted that buildings would be community hubs and could potentially be used by community groups to maximise use.
• In response to a concern regarding requiring micro providers to follow a standard of operation, the Committee was advised that the standards of Day Opportunities would be coproduced.  It was highlighted that day service provision had no regulating body and it was hoped that these standards would ensure an appropriate level of service was provided across the day opportunities services to provide positive outcomes for clients.
• It was confirmed that the reference in the report to Highcliffe Plus referred to the provision at Christchurch Connect and the Committee was advised of the discussions around the building which previously hosted Highcliffe Plus.

It was Proposed and Seconded to add a c) to the recommendation as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

The report is to update Committee members on the progress on the BCP Carers Strategy, 1 year on from its approval.

The Strategic Commissioning Manager for Prevention and Wellbeing and Head of Service, Access and Carers presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'B' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The report was to update Committee members on the progress on the BCP Carers Strategy, one year on from its approval.

The Committee discussed the report and comments were made, including:

• In response to a query regarding the Annual Carers Survey, the Key Performance Indicators and any trends which could be demonstrated, the Committee was advised that broadly speaking, performance measure fell into two categories, those that measured process or outputs and those that considered outcomes for carers. The Committee was advised of how this information was collected, used, and reported.
• The Committee was advised that the service had a good understanding of its demographic data including age, gender, and disability type.
• The Committee was advised that the measure of process or outputs was achieved using the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF) and was the principal set of nationally reported data.  It was noted the last ASCOF carer survey was in 2022 which provided comparable data in terms of BCP’s performance to nearest neighbours, a regional Southwest, and all-England level.  The Committee was advised that a link to the ASCOF survey results could be circulated to the Committee for their information.  ACTION.
• In response to a query about trends, the Committee was advised that the service would normally consider the latest survey results against the last one for any noticeable changes and the potential problems with considering historical data from the legacy Councils was highlighted.
• In response to a concern regarding carers which lived in Poole accessing a resource centre in Boscombe, the Committee was advised of plans to have carer sessions in the Poole Library Hub.
• In response to a query regarding the RAG rating and implementation plan and the two red actions relating to short breaks and respite and improving access in the community, the Committee was advised why they were currently red and what was being done to address the issues.

RECOMMENDED that the Committee note and scrutinise the contents of the report.

This briefing is to help Committee inform its future work programme. Especially how health and care services respond to reducing inequalities in health.

Health inequalities are avoidable and unjust differences in health between groups of people. They are unjust because they don’t happen by chance. This means we can change them. There may be specific causes, such as lack of access to services, or timely diagnosis of disease. Or wider social factors such as income, education, housing or environmental factors.

BCP council has a statutory duty to assess and respond to health inequalities. So do our NHS organisations and partners in the integrated care system.

This paper gives an overview of what we know about health inequalities in BCP Council. It considers different approaches to how to reduce them. It takes stock of local progress, and it highlights areas that Committee may wish to review in the future.

The Director of Public Health presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'C' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The purpose of the report was to enable Members to understand the main inequalities arising in health and social care and to be able to ask strategic questions of ICS partners to assess progress in reducing them.

The briefing was to help Committee inform its future work programme, especially how health and care services respond to reducing inequalities in health.

Health inequalities were avoidable and unjust differences in health between groups of people. They were unjust because they don’t happen by chance. This meant we can change them. There may be specific causes, such as lack of access to services, or timely diagnosis of disease. Or wider social factors such as income, education, housing or environmental factors.

BCP council had a statutory duty to assess and respond to health inequalities. So do our NHS organisations and partners in the integrated care system.

The paper gave an overview of what was known about health inequalities in BCP Council. It considered different approaches to how to reduce them. It took stock of local progress, and it highlighted areas that Committee may wish to review in the future.

The Committee discussed the report and comments were made, including:

• The Chair thanked the Director of Public Health for the presentation and stressed the importance of integration between the partners and for the Committee to have increased awareness of the work of the BCP Health and Wellbeing Board.
• There was some Committee discussion over how any scrutiny could be carried out and how positive measurable outcomes could be identified.

·       In response to queries regarding the report, the Director of Public Health advised the Committee to be careful not to make assumptions about associations between poor health outcomes and geographical location. In some cases geographic areas where housing was cheaper would be more likely to have people living there with conditions that would make it less likely for them to be able to work – hence the association with poorer health. In response to a query, the Director clarified that this was not in attempt to oversimplify, but was helpful when considering what contributes to areas with higher deprivation scores.

·       In response to a comment regarding free will and vaccinations, the Committee was advised of the importance to understand why some people chose to not take up vaccinations offered and the possible reasons for that were highlighted.

• In response to queries regarding the projected data around childhood obesity and NHS Dorset’s aim to prevent 55,000 children from becoming obese by 2040, the Committee was advised of the link between areas of deprivation and obesity in children and how the figure of 55,000 was reached.  The Director of Public Health advised he would check with NHS Dorset for clarity over how that figure was reached.  ACTION.
• In response to a query, the Committee  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

The Health & Adult Social Care (HASC) O&S Committee agreed to establish a data working group which would investigate the data needs of the committee and how these may be met.

The working group met on 11 December to agree the detailed scope.  The scope is now being reported to the HASC O&S Committee for approval.

The Democratic and Overview and Scrutiny Officer presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'D' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The Health & Adult Social Care (HASC) O&S Committee agreed to establish a data working group which would investigate the data needs of the committee and how these may be met.

The working group met on 11 December to agree the detailed scope.  The scope is now being reported to the HASC O&S Committee for approval.

Cllr Salmon apologised that he was unable to attend the first meeting of the group.

RESOLVED that:

a.    The lead member and officer for the group as Cllr Patrick Canavan and the Corporate Director for Wellbeing.

b.    Key lines of enquiry as detailed at Paragraph 11 a-h of the report.

c.    Timescale of meetings as set out at Paragraph 20 on the report.

4. Measures of effectiveness as set out at Paragraph 24 of the report.

To receive a verbal update from the Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing.

The Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing provided a verbal update as follows:

• That there had been a lot of discussions regarding the budget, and he had attended drop in sessions to hear the views of local residents.
• Chairing the Health and Wellbeing Board including a development session which invited other relevant stakeholders.
• An assurance visit from Office for Health Improvement and Disparities to review Public Health services which had been a positive experience.
• A Care Quality Commission inspection of the Shared Lives Service.
• The closure of a care home group, including one in Broadstone and dealing with the relocation of the residents to other provisions.

The Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Committee is asked to consider and identify work priorities for publication in a Forward Plan.

A copy of the Forward Plan which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'E' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Committee was asked to consider and identify work priorities for publication in a Forward Plan.

The Committee considered the items currently listed for March and agreed to put the Home First integrated hospital discharge programme to the Committee in May and agreed to have an update regarding Tricuro at a later date.

There was some discussion around the Right Care, Right Person and it was felt that this could be dealt with as a briefing session outside of Committee time and could possibly be arranged to be heard at the same time as the to be rearranged briefing regarding the work of the Integrated Care Board.  Democratic Services to see if this was possible.  ACTION.

There was some discussion around scrutiny of the Adult Social Care budget for 24/25 and how the Committee could feed into that discussion before the Council budget setting meeting on 20 February 2024.  The Clerk advised she would look at timescales and email the Committee with an appropriate mechanism for feeding any views into the budget setting.  ACTION.

The Chair advised that, due to the large amount of items the Committee needed to consider, he had requested the Clerk send round some information only items via email with a request for any queries to be asked of Officers via email.  It was noted that the Clerk had sent round the Dorset ICS Winter Plan and an update to Guidance from the Department of Health and Social Care regarding scrutiny of Health Services for consideration by the Committee.

To note the last meeting of the 2023/24 Municipal year will be:

·       Monday 4 March 2024 at 6pm – venue to be confirmed.

The date of the last meeting of the 23/24 Municipal year was noted.