DECISION

1.            To agree, in principle, to accept a novation of the current 0-5 services contract from NHS England to the Council on 1st October 2015.

2.            To authorise the Director of Public Health, after consultation with the Service Head – Legal Services, to agree the terms of the novation on behalf of the Council, subject to due diligence checks.

3.            To authorise the Director of Public Health to agree the amount of funding which the Council will accept to discharge the 0-5 public health functions which will transfer to it from 1st October 2015.

4.            To authorise the Service Head – Legal Services to execute all necessary documentation to give effect to these decisions.

Action by:

INTERIM DIRECTOR, ADULT SERVICES (L. ADDAMS)

(Director of Public Health (S. Banerjee)

(Associate Director, Public Health (E. Trenchard-Mabere)

Councillor Rachael Saunders, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Councillor Amy Whitelock Gibbs, Cabinet Member for Health and Adult’s Services, jointly introduced the report.

They highlighted that, although this specific report was about transferring existing contracts, this would provide the opportunity to explore ways of creating the best integrated children’s services.

The Mayor welcomed the report and agreed on the importance of looking to better integrate services. He noted the questions from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and agreed the recommendations as set out in the report.

RESOLVED

1.            To agree, in principle, to accept a novation of the current 0-5 services contract from NHS England to the Council on 1st October 2015.

2.            To authorise the Director of Public Health, after consultation with the Service Head – Legal Services, to agree the terms of the novation on behalf of the Council, subject to due diligence checks.

3.            To authorise the Director of Public Health to agree the amount of funding which the Council will accept to discharge the 0-5 public health functions which will transfer to it from 1st October 2015.

4.            To authorise the Service Head – Legal Services to execute all necessary documentation to give effect to these decisions.

The Interim Director of Public Health presented the report which informed the Panel of proposals for the transfer of commissioning responsibility for Early Years Public Health Services from NHS England to the local authority and highlighted the following matters reported in the document:

• The transfer would take place on 1 October 2015.
• Early years services were important in terms of the long-term impact on lifelong health and well-being and therefore were critical for the future health and well-being of the community.
• The role of 0-5 years health visitors would increase.  Tower Hamlets had a good allocation of health visiting already and it was anticipated that the health visiting role (which was about supporting families in a holistic way) would incorporate health services delivered in the home environment.
• In the past, because health visitors resources had been lower than they should be, health visitors had had focused on more urgent elements of their role but with the anticipated increasing provision that the transfer would provide, it would be possible to look to fulfil the health visitor role more fully.
• The approach would be to focus resources on the most vulnerable (teenage mothers etc) and in this way to help turn around infant health issues that exist in the borough through better assistance.
• A notional budget of £6.6 million excluding overheads and management costs had been set.  However the Interim Director aimed to that an appropriate level of funding would be released before signing off the transfer.
• Staffing was presently 45 health visitors and the aim was to reach a level of 95 practitioners.  The Interim Director noted that the market for recruitment of this role was competitive and therefore the package needed to be an attractive.
• There were national standards for delivery of health visitor services incorporating; antenatal visits, and health visits at: one month, 6 to 8 weeks, two months, and up to the two-year-old health check.
• The Interim Director noted that there were high levels of childhood obesity in Tower Hamlets and it was intended that the health visitor assessments would help to identify resources to address this situation.
• It was necessary to ensure that the health visitor service integrated with other nursing services in the borough.  To do this, Public Health would engage with the local authority, GPs and other service providers.  The options were to bring health visiting services in-house.
• Options for procurement of the health visiting services were being explored with the Director of Education, Social Care and Well-being taking into account that terms and conditions for a key issue around the transfer of services, recruitment and retention of staff.

Councillor Hassell requested that information on:

• Outcome indicators for early years
• Healthy child review

be circulated to members of the Panel.

In response to Members; questions the following information was provided:

• Funding would be received directly by the local authority therefore the Council would be able to decide how to procure these services either by direct employment or through contracts.  Health visitor funding would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3