Agenda and minutes

To consider and approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 16 November 2023 as a true and correct record of the proceedings.

The Chair took the opportunity to send special thanks to Katherine Harclerode for her contribution to the Commission as she had now left the authority.

The Chair then welcomed Kym Gleeson, Manager at Rotherham Healthwatch to the meeting along with Barbel Gale, Governance Manager, who would be supporting the Commission for the foreseeable future.

Councillor Hoddinott noted that the previous minutes recorded that the social prescribing workshop and suicide prevention workshop discussed in previous meetings would be arranged for spring 2024 noting this had not been included in the work programme. She asked that this be added to the work programme again and a date to be arranged.

The Chair indicated that the Governance Manager would liaise with herself and the Director of Public Health to determine a suitable time for this to be considered.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 November 2023 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 receive a report on the progress associated with Adult Social Care - Commissioning.

The Chair welcomed the Cabinet Member, Councillor Roche along with Scott Matthewman, Assistant Director Strategic Commissioning, Jacqueline Clark MBA, Head of Prevention and Early Intervention, Strategic Commissioning, and Garry Parvin, Joint Head of Learning Disability, Autism and Transition Commissioning to the meeting.

Councillor Roche introduced the report explaining that the item had been brought forward at the request of the Health Select Commission to provide on update on progress made relating to Adult Social Care contract arrangements, including the introduction of flexible purchasing arrangements, the level, quality and compliance in the care and support market and market shaping undertaken by Adults. A range of services were commissioned, including giving consideration of sustainability for the future for the care market. National and local guidelines were followed when the services were tendered for. It was a very robust process with strict criteria to ensure the best use of public funds. Once a contract was in place, rigorous monitoring was conducted. He clarified that he received monthly reports on how each of the services were performing, detailing any information that he needed to be aware of in the future.

Scott Matthewman, Assistant Director Strategic Commissioning welcomed the opportunity to speak about the progress in terms of Adult Social Care and it is commissioning activities. The presentation would focus on the flexible purchasing system, which was the means of which the Council used for driving up and sustaining quality within the care sector and how the Council could then support the care market to ensure the right care and support was available for Rotherham residents, in terms of their needs now and in the future.  It also provided assurance that the Council through its public funding was receiving the best quality care it could within the financial envelope along with being clear about the requirements the Council set and collaborated with its providers against.

The presentation would cover some elements regarding performance, along with the quality and compliance side of the commissioning cycle and then consider the Care Act responsibilities that the Council had as a local authority to ensure it was looking to shape the market about what the needs were for the residents, making sure there was appropriate care and support along with the sustainability of the market after the challenging times of the last few years with Covid.

He set out some of the key pieces of work conducted over the past few years, in terms of driving up those quality standards within the care market. He clarified that the Council worked closely with the support providers, ensuring it was person centred, that it was focused on the needs of the individual and was about the assets and strength-based approach that was right across health and social care.

In terms of shaping the market moving forward, the Council had implemented a number of dynamic purchasing systems, which were about bringing quality standards, working with the care and support providers to ensure they met the thresholds, the expectations were clearly articulated in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

To receive a verbal update from the TRFT Annual Report Workshop which took place on Wednesday 8 November 2023.

The Chair invited Michael Wright, Deputy CEO, TRFT to provide an update on the workshop held to consider the annual report.

Michael Wright explained the session had been held on 8 November 2023, noting that he was in attendance along with the Chief Nurse and Chief Operating Officer and their Public Health consultant. The session considered the annual report and conducted a deep dive on a number of activities that were of interest, including work carried out on emergency care, a response to recommendations from national reports, their contribution to advancing health equalities, looking at safety, particularly around patients with complex needs, along with information regarding how they worked towards their quantifiable goals and how they monitored them. 

Quite a sizeable portion of the workshop considered their work on emergency care and discussed their lower staff sickness within their colleagues, how they had been successful in recruiting medical colleagues into urgent emergency care. They had received positive feedback from the Care Quality Commission, and it had been recommended to other organisations to come and view what they were doing.

They had seen a massive improvement in engagement with over 80% of colleagues in urgent and emergency care responded to the national staff survey. As a trust they received a 67% response rate with the national comparison of 45%.

They had noted how complaints from patients in urgent emergency care had reduced by 75% over a six-month period last year compared with the year before.

They spoke about how they had recruited a Public Health consultant, which was a joint initiative with the Council collaborating with the Director of Public Health and the value that that individual postholder was adding was significant.

Their work with patients with alcohol, particularly with alcohol issues, in their local outreach team, and how they were avoiding admissions by providing support in the outreach spaces.

They had felt the session was really constructive and were about to respond to questions and discuss some of their initiatives to improve the hospital.

Councillor Griffin recalled the session being extremely helpful and positive and it was very refreshing to see what was happening.

The Chair said she gained a lot from the meeting and discussion. It had been the first time that the Commission had conducted that kind of workshop she felt it would be beneficial to have a report summarising the main points of the session, to aid transparency and to consider if specific topics would be better being considered via the workshop setting or via a formal meeting. These were questions for the future Commission to consider.

Resolved: That the Health Select Commission noted the update.

To consider and endorse an updated outline schedule of scrutiny work for the 2023/24 municipal year.

The Chair confirmed that the Suicide Prevention workshop would be added to work Commission work programme. 

It was noted that the off-Agenda Briefing regarding the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Update had been circulated to Members for comments before Friday 2 February. 

It was noted that an update from Healthwatch Rotherham regarding feedback and inquiries received regarding the Adult Social Care Services had been included on the work programme.  Due to the change of personnel in terms of support for the Commission and Healthwatch, discussions would be held outside of the meeting to determine if this item would progress.

Resolved: That the Health Select Commission:

1.    Noted the outline work programme.

2.    Agreed that a Suicide Prevention workshop would be added to the work programme.

3.    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 7 March 2024 commencing at 5pm in Rotherham Town Hall. 

Resolved: That the Health Select Commission noted that the next meeting would take place on the Thursday 7 March commencing at 5pm in Rotherham Town Hall.