Agenda and minutes

            The Minutes of the meeting held on 10^th June 2008 having been printed and circulated were signed as a correct record.

            It was confirmed that no public questions had been received.

            The Board considered the Minutes of the meetings of the Executive Board Sub Committee relevant to the Healthy Halton Policy and Performance Board.

 

            RESOLVED: That the minutes be noted.

(NB: Councillor Lloyd Jones declared a personal interest in the following item due to her husband being a Non-Executive Director of Halton and St Helen’s Primary Care Trust).

            The Board received a presentation from Mr Rice and Dr. Milson of Halton and St Helen’s Primary Care Trust on the progress made in relation to dental services in Halton.

 

            The presentation set out:

 

·     Levels of tooth decay in children across the Country as an indicator of the population as a whole;

·     What was being done to address these levels and the Oral Health Strategy;

·     How the new dental contract operates;

·     The number of enquiries received from Halton residents and their purpose; and

·     That additional dentist visits that had been commissioned to alleviate the lack of availability of dental appointments.

 

The Board outlined a number of issues with the new contract and how it operates, in particular the relationship between dentists and patients, the difference between registration and nominal lists and the trials being undertaken in other parts of the country that may become operational in Halton in the future.

 

In addition Members discussed the difficulty of residents in accessing dental services and that the additional dentist visits would hopefully resolve this issue.

 

RESOLVED: That the presentation be received.

            The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Corporate and Policy which advised on progress towards targets set in the Community Strategy and 2007 Local Area Agreement.

 

            The Council and its partners adopted a revised Community Strategy in April 2006. The Strategy contained targets for its key objectives for the period 2006 to 2011. These targets were subsequently incorporated into the 2007 Local Area Agreement.

 

            The Board was advised of the progress made in 2007/08 and the likelihood of achieving the Local Area Agreements and Community Strategy targets in relation to the remit of the Board.

 

            In particular the Board discussed concerns over how the performance information was collected for each of the targets and how achievability of targets changed over time. The Board requested an update on ‘Ambition for Health’

 

            RESOLVED: That

 

(1)       the progress report be received;

 

(2)       a further report on the areas of concern identified be submitted to a future meeting; and

 

(3)       a further report on the progress of ‘Ambition for Health’ be submitted to a future meeting.

(NB: Councillor Lloyd Jones declared a personal interest in the following item due to her husband being a Non-Executive Director of Halton and St Helen’s Primary Care Trust).

            The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Health and Community on the progress made in relation to recommendations of response of the audit report on Halton Integrated Community Equipment Service.

 

            The audit was conducted between October and June 2007. A report detailing the findings and recommendations was considered by the Business Efficiency Board in June this year. The Business Efficiency Board  recommended ‘consideration be given to a topic group being established in relation to Halton Integrated Community Equipment Service’.

 

            It was noted that this would need to be considered in the context of the Central Government Initiative, Transforming Community Equipment Services, developments within Halton and St Helens PCT and the need to relocate the service from Picow Farm Road to Dewar Court.

 

            The report outlined the work undertaken in transforming Community Equipment services, Halton and St Helens PCT and Picow Farm and the recommendations contained with the audit report and the responses to these.

 

            The Board noted that work was still ongoing so it would be difficult to scrutinise the changes at present.

 

 

            RESOLVED: That

 

(1)       the content of the report be noted; and

 

(2)       a decision on whether to establish a topic group on Halton Integrated Community Equipment Service be deferred until the work programme for 2009/10 is considered.

(NB: Councillor Lloyd Jones declared a personal interest in the following item due to her husband being a Non-Executive Director of Halton and St Helen’s Primary Care Trust).

            The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Health and Community which presented the topic report for the ‘Health of Carers’ work topic.

 

            The Board had selected the topic in July 2007 and a number of methods had been utilised to gather information that could be fed into the review, these methods included carers interviews, desktop research and a number of visits. The use of visits was the main method for gathering relevant information.

 

            A scrutiny team conducted these visits, to GP practices and Carers Centres and consisted of:

 

• A Member of the Board;
• A Carer
• An Executive Board member from Halton Carers Forum; and
• A representative from the Local Authority

 

The Board discussed future of the Widnes Carers Centre, drop in facilities and the need to continue to support carers.

 

RESOLVED: That

 

(1)       the contents of the report be noted; and

 

(2)       the recommendations outlined in Paragraph 6.0 of the topic report.

            The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Health and Community on the final report of the work topic undertaken by the Board between October 2007 and June 2008.

 

            Nine members participated in a small working group working with officers to examine service provision through contracts with three voluntary sector organisations.

 

            The report covers the findings of this work gathered through both desktop exercises and visits to all services.

 

            It was noted that overall the review identified one organisation that was not delivering the contracted service. The other two organisations were generally delivering appropriate support with some areas requiring improvement.

 

            A number of recommendations had been made for the two organisations including updating of service specifications monitoring to give clarity around the service requirements of the contract and improve performance.   In addition, further work would be undertaken to examine the strategic direction of in-house service provision for visual impairment rehabilitation.

 

            Members were further advised that the contract to deliver an information service for disabled people was not being fulfilled and over recent years the Council was meeting the need for such a service through Halton Direct Link and the Contact Centre. Many individuals also had to a wealth of information through the internet. The recommendation relating to this contract was that it be de-commissioned and three months notice had been served to end this contract with Halton Disability Services.

 

            The three services reviewed were given the opportunity to read the draft report and their comments have been incorporated into the final version of the report, however, the recommendations had not been changed as a result of these comments.

 

            RESOLVED: That

 

(1)       the comments made on the findings be noted;

 

(2)       the recommendations of the report set out in Paragraph 7.0 be agreed; and

 

(3)       the Board scrutinise and monitor the Action Plan.

            The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Health and Community which introduced the draft report on the scrutiny review of Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults.

 

            The Safer Halton and Healthy Halton, Policy and Performance Board’s commissioned the report and a joint scrutiny working group was established.

 

            It was noted that the report was commissioned because referrals of alleged abuse of vulnerable adults in the category of “older people” received by Halton Borough Council had risen year on year, with Halton having the highest level of referrals in the North West. The work undertaken was to understand the reasons for this and consider if appropriate procedures were in place to safeguard vulnerable adults.

 

            It was noted that there was a conference on Adaptations being held on 16 October 2008 and that an invite would be circulated to Members in the near future.

 

            RESOLVED: That the scrutiny review and its recommendations set out in paragraph 5.0 of the topic review be agreed.

 

 

            The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Health and Community which identified the implications of the LINks powers for Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

 

            The report set out why LINks were being setup, the key characteristics of Local Involvement Networks (LINks) and the relationship the LINk would have with the Healthy Halton PPB.

 

            It was noted that the report was requesting the Boards approval for the appointment of a LINk representative to be co-opted on the PPB. At present the LINk was still under development, however, once the LINk had been formalised a Member could be nominated.

 

            RESOVLED: That the Executive Board and Full Council be requested to agree the appointment of a LINk representative (name to be confirmed once LINk established), as a non-voting co-optee on the Policy and Performance Board for a period of one year, commencing from the date approval is given.

(NB: Councillor Lloyd Jones declared a personal interest in the following item due to her husband being a Non-Executive Director of Halton and St Helen’s Primary Care Trust).

            The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Health and Community which briefed Members on the policy context for guidance when undertaking major changes to NHS Services.

 

            ‘Changing for the Bettter’ had been produced to provide clear guidance for patients, the public and NHS Staff on the processes underpinning changes to acute NHS Services. Clinicians and staff working in the NHS as well as patient group representatives developed the guidance. It draws heavily on their experiences of major service change, offers a guide for action to all Health services and set out a total of 15 recommendations that would help ensure the process would be more open, transparent and fair.

 

            It was noted that in implementing this guidance, the key to success would be involvement of the public and staff in the planning, development and decisions for service change rather than simply being asked for comments during formal consultation exercises.

 

            In addition the report set out a number of key principles for all major service change, links to Healthy Halton PPB and the LINk, the four broad themes that the proposals came under and the key implications for local government.

 

            RESOLVED: That

 

(1)       the report be noted; and

 

(2)       the implications of the guidance are discussed with Halton and St Helens PCT to ensure they are clear of requirements for early involvement of the Board.

            The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Health and Community which presented the Annual Report of Halton’s Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Partnership Board, for the year 2007/08, and gave a brief on key issues and progression of the agenda for Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults.

 

            RESOLVED: That the Annual Report of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Partnership Board for 2007/8 and current issues be noted.

          The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Corporate and Policy regarding the 1^st quarter monitoring report for the Older People’s and Physical and Sensory Impairment Services, Adults of Working Age and Health and Partnerships.

            The Board expressed its thanks to the Physical and Sensory Disability Team for their hard work.

          RESOLVED: That the 1^st quarter year-end performance monitoring reports be received.