Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 12 September 2013

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 12 September 2013 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

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 wishing to speak

To consider a progress report on the implementation of North West Ambulance Service’s Communities Strategy.

At its meeting in March 2013 the Committee had examined the Communities Strategy during the consultation phase and had resolved to consider the six month progress report when it became available.

Sarah Smith, from North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), presented a six month progress report on the NWAS Communities Strategy 2013-2015. The Committee had been consulted on the strategy in March 2013 before it had been implemented. The progress report contained a summary of initiatives instigated to achieve the five main aims of the strategy which were:

·         Acting on the views of patients and their communities

·         Providing a seamless service for patients, in partnership with other health and social care bodies

·         Ensuring equality of access to services and valuing diversity

·         Protecting the environment and being a good corporate citizen

·         Promoting healthy and safe lives.

The report stated that positive progress had been made across all aspects of the strategy and there were currently no concerns to indicate that achievement of outcomes by 2015 could not be delivered.

Members asked questions and the following points arose:

·         NWAS’s Community Committee was a sub group of the Council of Governors which held the Board of Directors to account. There were four Governors from each County.

·         To relieve more pressure on A&E departments paramedics were being trained to provide more care to patients at home to reduce hospital admissions.

·         NWAS still used a variety of alternatives to an ambulance to transport some patients including taxi services. There was an opportunity for NWAS to work with the Council’s Community Transport Service to deliver suitable transport options.

·         St John’s Ambulance was commissioned by NWAS to provide support services. St John’s was only used for none urgent calls but volunteers still needed to exercise judgement when considering whether to take patients to hospital or not.

·         Communities were able to assist in reducing pressure on ambulance services by training more people to provide first aid and transport facilities.

·         Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) were responsible for commissioning ambulance services. As individual CCGs covered small areas compared to the area covered by NWAS all the CCGs in Cheshire County had agreed to pool funds to jointly commission their services from NWAS to make the process more efficient.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the report be noted

(b)  That NWAS be requested to provide the performance data on ambulance response times in the Borough

To consider the Annual Report of the Director of Public Health (to be tabled at the meeting).

This will be the first Annual Report since Public Health became part of the Council as a result of the changes brought about by the Health and Social Care Act 2012. The Committee is asked to note the report and submit comments to the Director of Public Health.

Dr Heather Grimbaldeston, Director of Public Health, attended the meeting to publish her independent Annual Report on Public Health. Dr Grimbaldeston presented a summary of the report which focused on premature death rates and how they could be reduced, particularly in relations to the four main killers in Cheshire East: Cancer; Heart disease and stroke; Lung disease; and Liver disease. As the report had been circulated at the meeting the Committee agreed to receive the report at this stage and consider it further at the next meeting.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the report be received and noted.

(b)  That the report be examined by the Committee in detail at the next meeting.

The Committee considered the work programme. It was suggested that the work programme needed updating as it was out of date. It was suggested that the Chairman should develop a new work programme.

RESOLVED – That the Chairman with assistance from the Scrutiny Officer develop a new work programme.