Agenda and minutes
Venue: MP702, 7th Floor, Town Hall, Mulberry Place, 5 Clove Crescent, London, E14 2BG
Contact: Elizabeth Dowuona, Democratic Services
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APOLOGIES
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Maium Miah, Abdul Asad, Dave Chesterton and Councillor Craig Aston (for whom Councillor Peter Golds deputised) and Jane Milligan, NHS Tower Hamlets CCG.
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DECLARATIONS OF DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS PDF 71 KB To note any declarations of interest made by Members, including those restricting Members from voting on the questions detailed in Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act, 1992. See attached note from the Monitoring Officer.
Minutes: There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests.
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MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING(S) PDF 149 KB To confirm as a correct record the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the Health Scrutiny Panel held on 15 July 2015.
Minutes: That the minutes of the Health Scrutiny Panel held on 15 July 2015 be approved as a correct record of the proceedings subject to Jane Milligan, Sam Everington, Somen Banerjee being added to the list of Members Present.
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REPORTS FOR CONSIDERATION |
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Membership of the Inner North East London Standing Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee - 2015/2016 Municipal Year To note the membership of the Inner North East London Standing Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the duration of the 2015/2016 municipal year.
Minutes: It was noted that the membership to the INEL JHOSC remained for 2 years, however with the change of administration Councillor Asma Begum and Councillor David Edgar, the previous members were now Cabinet lead members and as such were no longer eligible to attend.
It was also noted that the selection of the members of the committee INEL JHOSC was a matter falling within the remit of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Unfortunately due to an oversight the matter was not considered by the Overview and Scrutiny at its last meeting on 15 September 2015 and now scheduled for the meeting in 5 October 2015.
Councillor Amina Ali , Councillor Shahed Ali and Councillor Dave Chesterton have been drawn from the membership of the Health Scrutiny Panel to represent the authority on the Inner North East London Standing Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (INEL SJHOSC).
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee was due to confirm the membership on 5 October 2015.
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Health Scrutiny Panel - Work Programme 2015/2016 Municipal Year PDF 61 KB To consider the Work Programme of the Health Scrutiny Panel for the 2015/2016 Municipal Year. Additional documents: Minutes: Afazul Hoque introduced the report.
Members considered the work programme and made a number comments on its contents. The following were noted: · That the items suggested on the work programme required scheduling; · That with respect to the Challenge & Review Session, officers were looking to scheduling a one off meeting focussing on a particular evidence based issue in order to provide an opportunity for Members to consider the issue in greater detail; · Localism – That this could b referred to as Primary Care Strategy and invite the CCG; · That with respect to the Tower Hamlets Health Pound, it was to look at proposed sources of funding and the criteria for procuring health services , the creation for local jobs; · That the role of housing providers was an important issue and its consideration could take the form of an event forum bringing together health and housing partners; · That the topic on CCG Re-commissioning of Community Health Services had been delayed for a coupled of months and that it was proposed to submit a report in February 2016; · That officers be asked to consider which sessions or meetings could be held outside the Town Hall for example on hospital premises to enable members to have a practical knowledge and understanding of the culture and the way hospitals run; · That a visit to a maternity unit, a visit to the Royal London could be a good way of learning about hospitals; · That members would welcome a visit to an Accident and Emergency on a Friday night;
RESOLVED –
(i) That the comments on the work programme be noted. (ii) That the work programme be reviewed by officers in the light of the comments made by Members of the Health Scrutiny Panel.
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Barts Health Trust - Feedback on inspection and development of improvement plan PDF 1 MB Minutes: Karen Breen, Lucie Butler and Simon Harrod from Barts Health Trust were in attendance to present their report. They reported that following the poor rating of the services provided by Barts Health NHS Trust as inadequate, the inspection of the trust’s three main hospitals in London the Trust was placed under Special Measures. The presentation provided an overview of the CQC inspection of Barts Health, with a specific focus on the Royal London Hospital. It summarises the areas of good practice and areas that required improvement, and also looked at the improvement plan that Barts Health had developed to address immediate concerns and CQC compliance actions. The CQC had identified 65 areas where the Trust must make improvements. The areas of concern included the following: · There was an issue with safety and quality of services. Across the trust there it was found that there was too little attention paid to safety, with failures in incident reporting and auditing. Bed occupancy was so high that patients were not always cared for on appropriate wards, and the high occupancy was affecting the flow of patients through the hospitals. · Some patients faced delays of more than 18 weeks from referral to treatment and some patients had their surgery cancelled on several occasions. There were unacceptably long waiting times and often, operations were cancelled. · Leadership issues found at Whipps Cross were replicated at the other hospitals. There was a lack of engagement with the staff, low morale, high levels of stress and confusion among the workforce about who was in charge. Inspectors had also identified a culture of bullying and harassment. · There were failures in dealing with and learning from complaints. · The Trust’s directors didn’t seem to have confidence in their own data – a basic requirement in assessing their performance. · Staffing levels in some areas were significantly below recommended levels and did not provide consistently safe care. · Although many individual services required improvement, examples of good services were found at both Royal London Hospital and Newham University Hospital. There was a very committed workforce who although felt undervalued by the Trust leadership, they were valued by their patients and colleagues, and their local managers. · The inspectors concluded that the trust lacked strategy and vision.
The Royal London hospital however was rated Good for Critical Care with patients positive about the treatment received.
It was noted that the Improvement Plan was not just a response to the CQC; it also included the actions that staff felt were necessary to provide the local communities with safe, effective, compassionate and high quality care.
The initial focus had been on addressing the CQC compliance actions and immediate concerns. Whilst continuing to support on-going actions, improvement approaches, there was also a focus on developing detailed milestone plans, resourcing plans and improvement routes to ensure objectives were met and achieved a safe, effective, compassionate and high quality care.
Officers from the hospital reported on the progress of the CQC compliance actions and immediate concerns. They were noted as follows: ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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Presentation on CQC Inspection of Royal London Hospital PDF 67 KB The attached presentation gives an overview of the CQC inspection of Barts Health, with a specific focus on the Royal London Hospital. It summarises the areas of good practice and areas that require improvement, and also looks at the improvement plan that Barts Health have developed to address immediate concerns and CQC compliance actions.
Additional documents: |
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Unpaid Carers Scrutiny Report PDF 58 KB The report summarises findings from the scrutiny challenge session carried out assessing services for unpaid carers in the borough. The report puts forward a number of recommendations to be put before the Health Scrutiny Panel for their consideration, and referral on to Cabinet for agreement.
Additional documents: Minutes: The report was introduced by Tahir Alam, Strategy Policy and Performance. The report outlined the findings from a scrutiny challenge session held on Wednesday 13th May 2015 at the Tower Hamlets Carers Centre. The challenge session focused on a number ofkey questions relevant to the changes being proposed by the the Care Act 2014.
The Care Act 2014 consolidated all previous legislations around carers, support services and social care into one overarching statute. It was noted that the Act placed a statutory duty on all local authorities, with major implications for adult social care and support providers, the people who used services and their carers.
It was noted that the new changes came into force in April 2015. The most important changes were the way in which local authorities should carry out carers assessments and needs assessments, and how local authorities should determine who was eligible for support. The provision of effective and relevant support to carers was a key mechanism to ensure that carers were able to continue in their caring role. This included improving the quality of life of carers by allowing them to have a life outside of their caring role, enabling them to achieve their education and employment ambitions and support them to remain mentally and physically healthy.
It was noted that the Council had developed a new Local Carers Plan to meet the requirements of the changes brought in by the Care Act 2014. This was an initial one year plan until the implication of the Care Act in meeting the needs of carers more effectively were fully understood.
The Carers Plan included a focus on the following: · Early Intervention and support · Information and advice · Prevention · Urgent response · Carer assessment · Cared-for assessment · Support planning and personal budgets
Arising from the impact of the Care Act, the Council considered that it was necessary to provide its carers’ service which achieved an appropriate balance of specialist and community services.
The Director of Public Health undertook to raise the issue of the Carer’s Plan at the Council’s Corporate Management Team to investigate the possibility of additional support for the proposals in the report. It was agreed that officers produce an action plan within six to eight weeks for the proposed Carers Plan.
Action By: Somen Banerjee, Director of Public Health Tahir Alam, Strategy Policy and Performance
Members highlighted the high level of unpaid carers caring for family members, in difficult circumstances and often unaware of the support that the Council, local health and third sector providers could offer them to support them and enable them to continue in their role caring role. It was noted, following discussion, that support could be accessed across a range of Council services such as Ideas Stores, GP Practices etc.
It was agreed that an additional recommendation be included in the resolution that welfare advisers could be stationed at a range of Council services such as Ideas Stores, GP Practices to identify carers and assist them with accessing ... view the full minutes text for item 7.1 |
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ANY OTHER BUSINESS WHICH THE CHAIR CONSIDERS TO BE URGENT Minutes: There were no such items.
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EXCUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC
Minutes: The Chair Moved and it was: -
Resolved:
That in accordance with the provisions of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985, the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting for the consideration of the Section Two business on the grounds that it contained information defined as exempt or confidential in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government, Act 1972.
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Exempt Minutes of the Confidential Part of the Meeting held on 15 July 2015 To approve the exempt minutes of the meeting held on 15 July 2015 as a correct record of those proceedings
Minutes: The Chair Moved and it was:-
RESOLVED
That the restricted minutes of the meeting of the Health Scrutiny Panel held on 15th July, 2015 be approved as a correct record of the proceedings.
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ANY OTHER EXEMPT/CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS THAT THE CHAIR CONSIDERS TO BE URGENT |