Communications
Minutes:
Joint Health and Overview Select Committee
The Chairman reported that he had attended a meeting on 28th November, 2014. There were major concerns from the attendees, some of which had been involved from the beginning, around the failure of NHS England to consult until the standards for Coronary Heart Disease had been accepted. They had been told that until the conditions were accepted, there would be no serious debate or consultation. This was creating a great deal of frustration.
They were also conscious that they had 4 surgeons at Leeds but not the workloads. It was a balance of retaining 4 surgeons/workload against a succession plan given the speciality/experience of the surgeons.
Information Packs
It was noted that a separate pack had been produced containing items for information. Should any Member have any issues to raise on the items contained therein they should be raised under Communications.
Access to GPs Review
The Overview and Scrutiny Management Board had requested a special Health Select Commission meeting to discuss the response due to a lack of detail with how some of the recommendations would be actioned even though they had been accepted.
A special meeting had been arranged on 15th January, 2015, at 9.30 a.m. to which the Clinical Quality Commission, Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS England had been invited.
Meeting with Rotherham Foundation Trust
The last meeting had been held on 24th November the notes of which were not available as yet. At the January meeting the Trust would give an update on both their action plan and the Quality Account. They were applying to Monitor for the enforcement regarding governance to be lifted.
Seminar
A seminar was to be held on 9th December at 9.00 a.m. on the Care Act.
It was noted that Speak-Up had produced an easy read booklet on the Act.
Care Home Pilot – Waste Medicine Management
Discussions had taken place with Shona McFarlane, Director of Health and Wellbeing.
Medication in care homes was a complex matter delivered in partnership between the resident, their GP, the pharmacist and the care home. Most care homes operated a monitored dosage system or systems determined by the operating company many of which were national organisations. In setting up a contract, the Council required the home to operate a safe system of ensuring that residents received their medication correctly but the Council could not determine which specific system was used.
The key issue when delivering medication in residential care was safety and most homes found that a monitored dosage system resulted in a reduction in errors. The safety of the systems was not matched by flexibility and should someone not take their medication, or prescription change, the pre-filled cartridges were returned to the pharmacist to be destroyed which could result in wastage.
There were times when the prescription was completed incorrectly or the pharmacist did not complete the order correctly which could also result in waste when the homes had to send back the medication. ... view the full minutes text for item 58
Communications
Minutes:
(1) A meeting had been held on 7th August with Chris Edwards (Rotherham CCG) and the Chair and Vice to discuss establishing closer links between the Select Commission and the CCG, particularly with regard to sharing information about future plans and consultation on proposed service changes. This meeting was very useful and Councillor Steele gave thanks and appreciation to Chris.
It was agreed that a similar approach be taken with the CCG as with the Foundation Trust with quarterly briefings held with Chief Executive, Chair and Vice with notes from the meeting shared with the Select Commission.
(2) An All Members Seminar will be held on 19th December, 2014, giving an update on the Care Act (2014). Final regulations and guidance are due to be published in October.
(3) The 2014 health profiles had been published and the profile for Rotherham may be found via the following link:
http://www.apho.org.uk/resource/item.aspx?RID=142148
(4) A 2GP Cabinet response was to be considered by Cabinet on 24th September and to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board in October.
(5) Revised guidance for the Better Care Fund had been issued with all Health and Wellbeing Boards asked to resubmit updated plans by 19th September. The plans should also include a commentary on their forecast for reductions in emergency admissions.
(6) There was to be a new task force for Mental Health Services, co-chaired by NHS England and DoH, for children which would consider how the commissioning and delivery of the Services could be improved. The task force would look into the role of the voluntary sector and how to help young people online.
(7) The Joint Health and Overview Scrutiny Commission would meet later in September to discuss the third and final report regarding the temporary closure of the children’s heart surgery unit in Leeds in 2013.
NHSE consultation relating to the new Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) Review was likely to run from September-November. The JHOSC would meet with regard to this.
(8) There were to be changed to the Friends and Family test. Trusts would be required to collect free text comments from patients and demographic variables alongside test data. Also data must be collected from all inpatient services, including day cases. The data would also be published in a form that was easier to understand and would include levels of participation as well as results. From December the test would be extended to GP services, from January 2015 to Mental Health and Community Services, and from April to Dental Practices and Patient Transport Services.
The Chairman reported that Councillor Hoddinott would no longer be Vice-Chair of the Select Commission and wished her well in her new role as Deputy Leader.