Agenda and minutes

To consider and approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 25 January 2024 as a true and correct record of the proceedings.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2024 be approved as a true and correct record of the proceedings.

To receive declarations of interest from Members in respect of items listed on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive questions relating to items of business on the agenda from members of the public or press who are present at the meeting.

There were no questions from members of the public or press.

To consider whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of any part of the agenda.

There were no items of business on the agenda that required the exclusion of the press and public from the meeting.

To consider an update on Maternity Services provided at the Rotherham Hospital Foundation Trust (TRFT).

The Chair explained that she had requested that scrutiny of this area of maternity services be added to the commission’s work programme. She welcomed Sarah Petty, Head of Nursing and Midwifery, Family Health Division and Michael Wright, Deputy Chief Executive to the meeting.

The Head of Nursing and Midwifery, Family Health Division introduced the report and gave a presentation which focused on the Rotherham LMNS 3 Year Delivery Plan Assurance Visit. An overview of continuity of carer and where Rotherham maternity services were with that. It was implemented following better births and was target driven up until 2022. The targets were achieved in Rotherham and there were three continuity teams but following the maternity service reviews in East Kent, the Ockenden review there was quite an impact regarding safe staffing. In September 2022, Ruth May published guidance regarding that to ensure maternity units were safely staffed.

The community midwifery service had been reconfigured into four teams with eight midwives. The teams were linked to postcodes and included a buddy midwife. The teams are now providing antenatal and postnatal continuity. Once the service reconfiguration had been conducted it was a unanimous vote by staff and supported women who used the service. She was pleased to report that the midwives were feeling much happier and more settled with the new model. It was also showing that women were getting more continuity of care with this model.

The next steps in following the three-year delivery plan were that they were considering how they could provide enhanced continuity of care for the most vulnerable. They were looking at their outcome data to help inform that.

There was discussion at last year’s meeting following the Healthwatch report regarding antenatal classes and the report detailed an update on that area. The service had conducted a lot of work on antenatal class provision. Classes were provided, twice a month, at the Place Hub, which included partners. They were looking for the provision of classes for the Slovak communities and were looking at further engagement local communities through REMA and Clifton Partnership.

They were also looking at how they could provide enhanced support for families using the Solihull approach. This was a theoretical approach to behaviour change and women’s and partners emotional experience through pregnancy and birth can be supported. She was pleased to report that the work being undertaken with the Rotherham hubs in terms of parental education.

Section three of the report provided an overview of their key performance indicators (KPI’s) and performance remained consistent. They booked between 220 to 280 per month and had more bookings than births. A key KPI indicator was to ensure they were offering and inviting women to book in early in pregnancy. The target for this was below ten weeks and this was an area of challenge for most organisations, and they were performing at around 76% for that, however they were achieving against the below thirteen-week target.

They had made some significant improvement in their smoking at the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

To consider the Health Select Commission’s work programme for 2023-2024.

The Chair noted that the following topics would be submitted as potential items for scrutiny within the new municipal year:

·       Review into Menopause, Sexual and Reproductive Health.

·       The Social Prescribing workshop.

This will enable the Commission to establish the scope for each of those topics understanding how they fit into the wider health and social care provision within Rotherham.

The Chair highlighted that the Suicide Prevention workshop was scheduled for Thursday 14 March from 2pm at the Town Hall.

The Governance Manager noted the report for the Scrutiny Review Recommendations: Improving Oral Health in Rotherham was nearing completion and would be circulated to the Commission once completed.

Resolved: That the Health Select Commission:

1.     Noted the outline work programme.

2.     Agreed that the Governance Manager be authorised to make changes to the work programme in consultation with the Chair/Vice Chair and reporting any such changes back at the next meeting for endorsement.

To consider any item(s) which the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency.

There was no urgent business to be considered.

The next meeting of the Health Select Commission will be held on Thursday 27 June 2024 (TBC) commencing at 5pm in Rotherham Town Hall.

Resolved: That the Health Select Commission noted that the next meeting would take place on the Thursday 27 June 2024 commencing at 5pm in Rotherham Town Hall.