Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 10 January 2013 be approved as a correct record.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest

There were no declarations of Party Whip

There were no members of the public present who wished to speak

Wayne Connor-Scahill from the Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CWP) presented a report on consultation responses to proposals for a redesign of the Community Mental Health Service. The report contained a summary of themes identified from responses and how the CWP would address the concerns raised by service users and carers.

Members of the Committee asked questions and the following points arose:

·         It was important to ensure that terminology used in consultations was easy for service users to understand and that the use of acronyms needed to be limited. It was suggested that this would help to improve responses to consultation.       

·         The Committee wanted to know what changes were going to be made to proposals as a result of the consultation. CWP would report this information at a future meeting.  

·         CWP’s Stepped Approach to Recovery (StAR) model included an emphasis on exposing service users to normal ways of life and encouraging those users without occupations to contribute to the community through volunteer work. Contribution to society was considered a key aspect of helping people in their recovery from mental illness.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the report be noted.   

(b)  That the Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust be requested to attend a meeting in October 2013 to present a report on the performance of its new arrangements for the Community Mental Health Service.

Guy Kilminster informed the Committee that the latest version of the terms of reference for the Health and Wellbeing Board had been approved by Council on 19 July 2012. The terms of reference were scheduled to be reviewed following receipt of overdue regulatory guidance from Government before the Board’s commencement on 1 April 2013. In the interim, Cabinet endorsed the current terms of reference. The guidance was expected to be published sometime between June and July 2013. The Committee wished to be consulted on potential changes to the terms of reference as a consequence of the regulatory guidance.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the terms of reference for the Health and Wellbeing Board be noted.

(b)  That the Committee be notified of any potential modifications to the terms of reference for the Health and Wellbeing Board as a result of regulatory guidance to offer advice to Cabinet before it makes recommendations on changes to the terms of reference.

The Chairman informed the Committee that the work programme needed to be redesigned and the number of items for consideration reduced to make it more manageable. This would be done by the Chairman and Vice Chairman with help of the Scrutiny team before the next meeting. The Committee was asked to make any suggestions for items to be included within the new work programme. Cllr Shirley Jones, Chairman of the Dementia Task and Finish Group, suggested that the Group’s Final Report needed to be approved by the Committee, before being presented to the Cabinet, as it had been commissioned by the Adult Social Care and Health Scrutiny Committee which no longer existed.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the Chairman and Vice Chairman review the Committee’s Work Programme.

(b)  That the Dementia Task and Finish Group’s final report be added to the agenda for the next meeting for approval prior to it being presented to Cabinet.

The Chairman informed the Committee that the forward plan should no longer be an item for consideration by the Committee as the Committee was responsible for retrospective scrutiny of decisions made previously. If a member of the Committee wished to raise an item on the Forward Plan with the Committee they would do so by informing the Scrutiny Officers.

RESOLVED – That the forward plan no longer be a standard item on the Committee Agenda.

Councillor Gardiner provided information on behalf of the Portfolio Holder to update the Committee.

·         The South Cheshire and the Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Groups had both been authorised. This meant that the CCGs were considered robust and able to start administering their new commissioning roles as from 1st April 2013.

·         Alison Tonge had been appointed by the Department of Health as the Cheshire, Wirral & Warrington representative for the National Commissioning Board. She automatically had an associate membership of each Health and Wellbeing Board in the area.

·         The Health & Adult Social Care PDG were exploring housing options for older people and children & adults with disabilities.