Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

Apologies were received from Louise Bates, Healthwatch.

Cllr Matthews attended virtually forgoing any voting rights.

Cllr Slade left the meeting at 6:50pm.

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.

None.

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 Joe Salmon declared a personal interest as an employee of Dorset Healthcare and Cllr Hazel Allen declared a personal interest as an employee of University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust.

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting held on 2 December 2024.

The minutes of the meeting held on 2 December 2024 were confirmed as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

To check on any outstanding actions.

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 on this occasion.

To receive a presentation on the transformation of UHD Hospitals

The Chief of Strategy and Transformation, University Hospitals Dorset, provided a presentation on the Transformation of UHD Hospitals, a copy of which was circulated to each Member with the Report pack.

The Committee discussed the presentation, including:

• In response to a query regarding monitoring the progress of the ambitions detailed in the presentation, the Committee was advised that further information on this could be brought back at a later date. ACTION.
• In response to a query about the lack of mention of Christchurch in the presentation, the Committee was reassured that Christchurch hospital remained central to the chain of services provided but, as some major changes had already happened there, there would be less change at that site over the next couple of years that required reporting on.
• In response to a query regarding increasing overall bed capacity and A&E provision, the Committee was advised that the significant changes within the pathways of care would lead to a large increase in the provision of same day emergency care, which would positively impact on the number of patients who could be treated and discharged in an expediated timescale to enable patients to return home on the same day.  The impact of this change meant that whilst bed numbers would remain similar, the quality of provision was planned to be higher with more single rooms available.
• The Portfolio Holder for Wellbeing enquired about the planned communications with public about the upcoming changes and the benefit of them and was advised that for non urgent medical issues, the public should use the 111 service to signpost them to the correct treatment or hospital and in urgent situations, ambulance staff would know where to take patients to.  It was also advised of the ability to book timeslots to be seen in hospital and how this was being expanded to online booking.
• The Director of Adult Social Care requested an offer for Committee Members to have a tour of the facilities and advised she could be the point of contact to make arrangements.  ACTION.

The Chair concluded the item by thanking the Chief of Strategy and Transformation for his presentation.

The report provides an overview of the progress with disaggregating the shared public health service and establishment of two separate public health teams by 1 April 2025 which was considered by Cabinet on 5 February 2025.

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 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book. 

The report provided an overview of the progress with disaggregating the shared public health service and establishment of two separate public health teams by 1 April 2025 which was considered by Cabinet on 5 February 2025.

The Committee discussed the presentation, including:

• In response to a query regarding staffing, the Committee was advised that it was a complex process of disaggregation and was provided details of the current position.
• In response to a query regarding adult weight management contracts and the success rates, the Committee was advised that the contracts were a small part of the Livewell Dorset pathway and data was only collected over the whole pathway and not just those contracts, making tracking success of that element alone not possible.
• In response to the treating tobacco dependency detailed, the Committee was advised that vaping was considered an appropriate nicotine alternative for those wishing to stop smoking however, it was not advised for those who were not previously smokers.

The Chair thanked the Director of Public Health for presenting this item.

To provide background information on the development and consultation of the new Adult Social Care Strategy 2025-28.

The Head of Transformation & Integrationpresented 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 purpose of the report was to provide background information on the development and consultation of the new Adult Social Care Strategy 2025-28.

Adult Social Care (ASC) required a clear public facing strategy that encompassed our vision and ambitions for the next 4 years. Having consulted within the Directorate and completed a public consultation, reassurance was felt that this was the right strategic approach for ASC.

The Committee discussed the report, including:

• In response to a query about delivery plans and how progress could be monitored, the Committee was advised that progress updates could be provided through the Transformation work reporting.
• In response to a query about what provision was available for those who were not considered safe in their homes, the Committee was advised of the process which would be followed in this situation and the work which was being commenced to enable early intervention and the benefits of that were highlighted.  There was an acknowledgement that not everyone had access to technology and the ways Adult Social Care tried to ensure information was available to all was highlighted.  The need to ensure the strategy was shared with hard-to-reach people was highlighted by a Committee Member.
• In response to a query regarding how targets would be monitored and the benefits of linking activity and financial data, the Committee was advised that there was some work ongoing as part of the transformation programme to link financial data to performance and whilst monitoring of performance indicators was not currently included, they could be added if desired.
• The Director of Adult Social Care advised that links to that information could be included in the strategy and details of the Performance Quality and Improvement Board were shared which monitored all areas of Adult Social Care.
• In response to a query regarding the strength-based approach using the three conversations, the Committee was advised of the progress of implementation and that feedback from staff and residents had been positive. The Director of Adult Social Care advised they would welcome bringing staff to the Committee to feedback on how the approach was working in practice.

Following discussions, Cllr Salmon proposed the following recommendation which was agreed by the Committee:

The Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee RECOMMEND to Cabinet:

• the inclusion of some clear targets ideally linked to the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF) within the Adult Social Care Strategy; and
• the inclusion of an overview of how to better integrate performance and activity data with finance data in the Adult Social Care Strategy.

The Fulfilled Lives Transformation Programme in Adult Social Care comprises of four interdependent projects:

1.    How We Work

2.    Self-Directed Support

3.    Short-Term Support

4.    Support at Home

The How We Work and Self-Directed Support projects are the most advanced, with Short-Term Support and Support at Home having now commenced the ‘delivery stage’ of the programme.

A Fulfilled Lives Programme progress report was presented at Cabinet on 15 January 2025.

This paper provides a further update about:

1.    the Self-Directed Support project, and

2.     Benefits tracking, including links to the Future Care (Urgent and Emergency Care) Programme.

The Head of Service/Programme Lead and Director of Adult Social Care 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 Fulfilled Lives Transformation Programme in Adult Social Care comprised of four interdependent projects:

1.    How We Work

2.    Self-Directed Support

3.    Short-Term Support

4.    Support at Home

The How We Work and Self-Directed Support projects were the most advanced, with Short-Term Support and Support at Home having now commenced the ‘delivery stage’ of the programme.

A Fulfilled Lives Programme progress report was presented at Cabinet on 15 January 2025.

The report provided a further update about:

1.    the Self-Directed Support project, and

2.     Benefits tracking, including links to the Future Care (Urgent and Emergency Care) Programme.

The Committee discussed the report, including:

·       In response to a query regarding Community Micro Enterprises (CMEs) raising their charges and the impact that has, the Committee was advised if recipients of the service made the Council aware, then the cost could be reviewed and changed as necessary.

·       In response to an offer for the Programme Director of Future Care to present to the Committee, the Chair agreed this would be a worthwhile exercise to reassure the Committee that health partners and adult social care were successfully aligning and ensuring no duplication.  ACTION.

·       In response to a query regarding how the Committee can monitor and review progress, the Committee was advised of the planned progress over the next six months including accrediting Individual Service Fund (ISF) providers and the continued work with the CMEs was detailed.  The Committee was advised an update could be given to the Committee in six months. ACTION.

·       In response to a query regarding trusted reviewers, the Committee was advised that they had been engaged through the Community Action Network (CAN) to have conversations with people who accessed day services to help shape the day services strategy and identify any gaps which could be filled by CMEs.

·       In response to a query regarding CMEs and safeguarding, the Committee was advised that Adult Social Care (ASC) had commissioned community catalysts to support an accreditation process for those providers which included DBS checks and ensuring they met the required standard for accreditation.

·       There was some further discussion regarding signposting to services including through the Council and CAN and it was highlighted that providers were profit making organisations but due to the small size of CMEs, overheads were normally smaller.

·       In response to a query, the Committee was given information about how ASC dealt with queries and the difference between self-funders or whether the Council would carry out an assessment and provide financial support and services.

·       The Portfolio Holder for Wellbeing highlighted the importance of having a quality assurance process for the day opportunity providers to provide a good monitoring and oversight of the market.

RESOLVED that the Committee receive an update on progress in 6 months.

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

The Portfolio Holder for Wellbeing provided a verbal update which included:

• Details of the interview process and appointment of the new Director of Public Health and Communities
• Details of interviews and appointments of new Senior Management for Tricuro
• The impending departure of the Corporate Director of Wellbeing and the implications.
• Work on the areas which had been presented this evening around the Adult Social Care (ASC) Strategy, ASC Transformation, the Future Care work with Newton, Public Health Disaggregation, Day Opportunity Strategy and preparing for the CQC Inspection.

The Chair thanked the Portfolio Holder for his update.

The Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Committee is asked to consider and identify work priorities for publication in a Work Plan.

The Committee was asked to consider and identify work priorities for publication in a Work Plan.  The Chair highlighted the need to include the items discussed at the meeting.

The Chair highlighted Appendix E to the Report, where the Overview and Scrutiny Board had requested the Committee be asked to monitor the proposed increase of block booked beds for long-term care and that an update on progress against this be provided at an appropriate time.

The Chair closed the meeting by extending the Committees thanks and appreciation for the Corporate Director of Wellbeing’s work within the Council and support to the Committee.

The Work Plan was noted.