Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 7 August 2014

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 7 August 2014 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 delcarations of interest

To provide an opportunity for Members to declare the existence of a party whip in relation to any item on the Agenda

There were no declarations of party whip

A total period of 15 minutes is allocated for members of the public to make a statement(s) on any matter that falls within the remit of the Committee.

Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes, but the Chairman will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned, where there are a number of speakers.

Note: in order for officers to undertake and background research, it would be helpful if members of the public notified the Scrutiny Officer listed at the foot of the Agenda at least one working day before the meeting with brief details of the matter to be covered.

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

To examine the Adult Social Care Commissioning Strategy and make comments on proposals to be submitted to Cabinet for consideration.

Brenda Smith, Director of Adult Social Care and Independent Living, presented the draft Adult Social Care Commissioning Strategy to enable the Committee to submit comments and recommendations to Cabinet and Officers.

During the presentation the following points were made:

·         The purpose of the strategy was to map the current situation regarding the needs in the Borough, the support available and where the gaps in support were, as well as to identify priority areas of joint commissioning with health services, public health, children’s services and housing.

·         The strategy was guided by national policy and legislation but was also developed using a wide range of intelligence gathered from customers through surveys and engagement events.

·         Two of the key strategic outcomes were to enable people to live at home as independently as possible and to enable carers of people to live well and be supported to fulfil their caring role.

·         The strategy outlined the specific commissioning intentions for 2014/15 for all adults, for frail older people, for older people living with dementia, for people with learning disabilities, mental health issues, physical or sensory disabilities and for carers.

The Committee asked questions and the following points arose:

·         Members were keen to see the delivery plan for the strategy; which was expected to be finalised once the strategy was approved.

·         Concern was expressed that work had not taken place yet, almost mid way through the municipal year because the strategy was still to be approved. Assurance was given that activity had always been taking place but an overarching strategy, which would catalogue what the Council was doing, had not yet been put in place.

·         The strategy covered a three year period and would be continually refreshed and the action plan for delivery was always being updated. An up to date plan could be made available for members to see.

·         The integration agenda brought about by national changes to health services and the imminent changes expected resulting from the Care Bill meant that strategies had to be rethought.

·         Community groups needed to be empowered to contribute to providing services and support. Many groups were lacking young people as members which meant older members were not being replaced creating an unsustainable situation.

·         Future services needed to be flexible to peoples need and provide personalised care. Greater support would also be needed for carers as more people were encouraged to stay in their own homes the burden and reliance on carers would increase.

·         Members were concerned that some groups, such as young carers, were not mentioned in the strategy. It was explained that there were separate strategies for a variety of groups, such as young carers, rather than linking them into one strategy because delivery of outcomes for each groups required different approaches.

·         It was suggested that the strategy document did not contain enough detail about what would be done and that the document should be written in plain English to help people understand it. It was explained that the strategy focused on high level outcomes and intentions  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

To review winter planning during 2013 and consider the multi-agency Winter Wellbeing activities planned for 2014.

The Committee received three reports, one from each of the Council, the Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group and the South Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group on winter planning and the multi agency approach to winter wellbeing.

Dr Heather Grimbaldeston, Director of Public Health, presented the Council’s report on Winter Wellbeing and Winter Planning.

Jacki Wilkes, Head of Clinical Developments and Health Outcomes, presented Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group’s report on Operational Resilience: planning process and assurance 2014-2015.

Sue Milne presented South Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group’s report on Preparing for Winter in the Health Service.

During the discussion the following points were made:

·         The winter planning activity was an excellent example of partnership working between the three organisations.

·         Cheshire East had people in fuel poverty right across the Borough in affluent as well as deprived areas. The age of housing stock and social isolation were factors that contributed to excess winter deaths.

·         The take up of the free flu vaccination needed to be increased, particularly for elderly people. Information about issues that occurred over cold winter months and the support that was available over winter needed to be shared with residents. One initiative taking place was that ANSA, the Council’s waste collection company, was putting leaflets on bins.

·         The Fire Service had access to useful information on vulnerable people through its work on checking homes for fire safety. It could have been possible for the three partners to tap into this information and target vulnerable people.

·         Appendix Two of the Council’s report listed all the services that were provided by the Council to support winter wellbeing. It was suggested that all Councillors should receive an information pack about all the services that the Council provided so that they could inform residents about what was available.

RESOLVED – That the reports be noted.

To review the current Work Programme

The Committee considered the work programme. The following items were discussed:

·         Integrated Care briefing – to be received in October 2014

·         Health and Wellbeing Board Performance Review – to be considered in November 2014

·         Health Impact Assessments – date to be confirmed

·         Impact of Social Landlords on Health and Wellbeing – to be considered in November

RESOLVED – That the Work Programme be updated as discussed.