Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

Apologies were received from Councillors Michelle Dower and Sara Armstrong. Councillor Chris Matthews joined online this evening 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.

Councillor Alasdair Keddie substituted for Councillor Sara Armstrong on this occasion.

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 Hazel Allen declared a personal interest as she works with the Health Bus for the Environment and Place Overview and Scrutiny Recommendation regarding the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy.

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting held on 1 December 2025.

The Committee confirmed the Minutes of the meeting held on 1 December 2025 as an accurate record.

For the Committee to note the latest updates to the Recommendation Tracker and consider any outstanding actions.

The Scrutiny Officer introduced the recommendation tracker, outlining its purpose as an audit trail of recommendations, responses, and implementation progress. The Committee noted the latest updates to the Recommendation Tracker and considered any outstanding actions.

The Committee was encouraged to invite officers or members every six months to provide an update on an item from the Recommendation Tracker.

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 midday on Tuesday 24 February (3 clear working days before the meeting).

The deadline for the submission of a statement is midday on Friday 27 February (the working day before the meeting).

The deadline for the submission of a petition is Friday 13 February (10 working days before the meeting).

There were no public issues on this occasion.

Focusing on outcomes for people, this report sets out an analysis of the benefits delivered so far by the FutureCare Programme against the targets set in the FutureCare Diagnostic. 

Fewer people are being admitted into hospital beds, more people are receiving care at home and the length of time people are spending in intermediate care beds has reduced by an average of 5.5 days. 

However, more work is still required to deliver all of the benefits anticipated in the FutureCare Diagnostic and in particular to reduce the length of time people spend in UHD hospitals waiting to be discharged with a short-term care package.

Recognising that there are still 5 months remaining to deliver the first phase of the programme (anticipated completion: June 2026), there is still confidence that anticipated benefits will be delivered.

Positively, since the December update to the Committee, despite the impact of seasonal pressures on overall programme benefits, the cumulative benefits delivered to BCP have moved from a negative position of -£32,000 in October to a positive position of £55,000 at the beginning of February. 

There is also increasing confidence that the anticipated benefits in 2026/27 for BCP Council will be greater than forecast, though some of these are being offset by increasing demand pressures across the wider ASC budget.

The Programme Director – FutureCare Programme from Newton Impact 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.

It was highlighted that while it focused on outcomes for people, the report set out an analysis of the benefits delivered so far by the FutureCare Programme against the targets set in the FutureCare Diagnostic. 

The report noted that fewer people were being admitted into hospital beds, more people were receiving care at home and the length of time people were spending in intermediate care beds had reduced by an average of 5.5 days. 

However, it was reported that more work was still required to deliver all of the benefits anticipated in the FutureCare Diagnostic and in particular to reduce the length of time people spend in UHD hospitals waiting to be discharged with a short-term care package.

Recognising that there were still 5 months remaining to deliver the first phase of the programme (anticipated completion: June 2026), there was still confidence that anticipated benefits would be delivered.

Positively, since the December update to the Committee, despite the impact of seasonal pressures on overall programme benefits, the cumulative benefits delivered to BCP had moved from a negative position of -£32,000 in October to a positive position of £55,000 at the beginning of February. 

There was also increasing confidence that the anticipated benefits in 2026/27 for BCP Council would be greater than forecast, though some of these were being offset by increasing demand pressures across the wider ASC budget.

The Committee considered the report, including:

• The programme continued to reduce hospital admissions and reduce length of stay in intermediate care beds, although challenges remained around patients with no criteria to reside.
• Discharge delays were attributed to limited availability of commissioned care packages and discharge planning beginning too late in the acute sector. Early discharge planning was highlighted as an area requiring continued improvement.
• Members queried whether additional steps would be taken to reduce average delays from medical fit to discharge; it was confirmed that system partners were already undertaking targeted work.
• The programme’s financial contribution from BCP Council (£912,000 due from January 2026) had been agreed previously and was included within the Medium Term Financial Plan.

RESOLVED that the Committee recognise the progress that continues to be made in delivering positive outcomes for Dorset residents and in achieving operational benefits for the Dorset health and care system.

Voting: Nem. Con

To receive a presentation from UHD regarding ‘Developing our clinical strategy 2025-2035’

The Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer for University Hospitals Dorset (UHD) gave a presentation regarding ‘Developing out clinical strategy 2025-2035’ and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'B' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The presentation included:

• Emerging themes aligned with the NHS 10?year plan: prevention, digital transformation, and care closer to home.
• Positive engagement with recent patient and public regarding NHS service expectations. Further consultation would take place once emerging themes become visible from the clinical engagement exercise.
• Major hospital developments include Poole Hospital becoming the UK’s largest planned care hospital by 2027 and Royal Bournemouth Hospital becoming the county’s emergency care centre in 2026, improving capacity and patient flow.
• Key organisational priorities for 2026–27 included outpatients transformation, fundamentals of care, digital roll?out (HealthSet), and workforce optimisation, supporting delivery of the Patient First strategy.

The Committee discussed the presentation, including:

• Members queried when the public would experience service improvements, including digital access and strengthened community-based care. UHD advised that major digital improvements were expected by 2028 through a single patient portal.

• Concerns were raised about staff wellbeing, workload and recruitment. UHD confirmed staffing pressures remained, but recruitment and retention had improved.
• Members questioned how integrated care between primary and secondary services would be achieved; UHD highlighted progress on shared care records and neighbourhood team development. Additionally, ambient voice technology was promised to improve efficiency for GPs for patient appointments. 

It was REVOLVED that the Committeenote the update from University Hospitals Dorset.

Voting: Nem Con

     In July 2024, BCP Cabinet and Full Council agree to support a four-year transformation programme called Fulfilled Lives, approving a total investment of £2.9m spanning the first three years.

     The programme is made up of four inter-dependent projects:

·       How We Work

·       Short-Term Support

·       Self-Directed Support

·       Support At Home

     The programme entered its delivery phase in January 2025 and progress reports were presented to Committee in January, March, July and September.

     This report provides a further update for the programme overall to reflect the achievements to date, the current challenges, and the next steps to be taken over the following six months.

The Head of Service/Programme Lead for the Fulfilled Lives Transformation Programme presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member a copy of which appears as Appendix 'C' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

In July 2024, BCP Cabinet and Full Council agreed to support a four-year transformation programme called Fulfilled Lives, approving a total investment of £2.9m spanning the first three years.

The programme was made up of four inter-dependent projects:

·        How We Work

·        Short-Term Support

·        Self-Directed Support

·        Support At Home

The programme entered its delivery phase in January 2025 and progress reports were presented to Committee in January, March, July and September.

The report provided a further update for the programme overall to reflect the achievements to date, the current challenges, and the next steps to be taken over the following six months.

The Committee considered the report, including:

• Implementation of the Three Conversations model across all operational teams, with associated Mosaic system changes.
• Improvements within the Adult Social Care Hub, including new telephony and safeguarding triage processes.
• Positive outcomes from the community?based reablement pilot, with reduced long?term service requirements.
• Progress on self?directed support, individual service funds (ISFs) and the development of community micro?enterprises.
• Members queried the pace of ISF uptake; officers confirmed provider capacity challenges but anticipated expansion following the new framework tender.
• Members highlighted the importance of investment in early intervention, preventative work and reablement.
• The Committee discussed the management of complex needs and the role of multidisciplinary approaches, including work with probation and drug and alcohol teams.

RESOLVED that the Committee note the current work-in-progress with the Adult Social Care Fulfilled Lives Programme. 

Voting: Nem Con

To consider the Committee’s Work Plan.

The Scrutiny Specialist introduced the item and the Committee was asked to consider and identify work priorities for publication in a Work Plan. A copy of the tracker appears as Appendix ‘D’ in these Minutes.

The Committee considered:

• Members were reminded to complete the work planning prioritisation tool by the end of the week.
• The Committee agreed to include Health and Social Care for People Experiencing Homelessness as a future scrutiny item, following a recommendation from Environment & Place Overview and Scrutiny.
• The Committee supported the establishment of a joint working group with Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny for Children’s Wellbeing Strategy.

RESOLVED that the Committee:

• Review, update and confirm the Work Plan by using the survey tool.
• Accept the Environment & Place Overview and Scrutiny recommendation to consider the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy in the Committee’s work planning. 
• Establish a joint working group for Children’s Wellbeing Strategy.

Voting: Nem Con

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

The Portfolio Holder delivered a verbal update on:

• Current consultations on the Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2026–2031 and the Learning Disability Big Plan.
• Engagement with the new Integrated Care Board (ICB) cluster and the need to maintain strong BCP representation.
• CQC engagement undertaken in December.
• Workforce developments across public health.

Updates on Adult Social Care transformation, voluntary sector engagement and preparation for the new place?based partnership arrangements.

This was considered by Cabinet on 17 December 2025 and is being shared to all Overview and Scrutiny Committees for information.

This report has been circulated to Members for information only and a copy of it appears as Appendix ‘E’ in these Minutes.

BCP Council adopted ‘A shared vision for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole 2024-28’ in May 2024. The shared vision is the corporate strategy which sets out the council’s vision, priorities and ambitions as well as the principles which underpin the way the council works as it develops and delivers its services. Incorporated in the vision is a set of measures of progress for achieving the vision, priorities and ambitions. This is the performance monitoring report for Quarter Two 25-26, presenting an update on the progress measures. The council’s delivery against its priorities and ambitions can also be monitored through the performance dashboard which is available on the council’s website providing up-to-date real time information on the progress measures.