Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 2 April 2015

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 2 April 2015 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

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 consider a progress report on the progress of a review of General Practice in the Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group area.

Fleur Blakeman, Strategy and Transformation Director at Eastern Cheshire CCG, provided an overview of a review being undertaken by the CCG in collaboration with NHS England of General Practice. The purpose of the review was to gain a better understanding of the services being provided above the General Practice contracted core services. It was explained that the findings of the review would be used to generate new service specifications for General Practice in Eastern Cheshire to meet the ambitions and outcomes of the Caring Together programme.

The initial phase of the review was due to be completed by 31 July 2015 with proposals for a Caring Together service specification for the delivery of services to be developed to reduce variation in services and improve patient outcomes and experiences. The Committee was requested to consider what level of consultation with it or the public would be required as a result of the proposed changes.

Members asked questions about the review and the following points arose:

·         Councillors often spoke to members of the public about inability to get an appointment with their GP however members of the public not fulfilling their appointments was also an issue.

·         Public expectation and demand of GP services was high and efforts were being made to change public perception at when and under what circumstances they needed to see a GP or when other services/treatments were more appropriate.

·         Services considered as part of the review, provided outside of core services (e.g. obesity clinics), would be targeted at local areas based on needs assessments.

·         GP practices would be given direction by the CCG in relation to the desired outcomes for patients however freedom and flexibility in how GPs operated and achieved outcomes would be given.

·         Implementation of proposals was planned to begin in October 2015 and completed in April 2016. This included recruitment and training of any new staff that would be required.

·         Any proposed changes to GP services would impact on children therefore the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee should be kept informed during the process.

Firm proposals for changes to services would be available in approximately two weeks and would be shared with the Committee to establish the level of impact and therefore the level of consultation required. The Cheshire East Health Overview and Scrutiny Protocol between the Committee and health service commissioners (including the CCG) would be referred to when establishing the required level of consultation.

RESOLVED

(a)  That the Committee: receive the proposals for change from the General Practice Review once they are available, and consult the Cheshire East Health Overview and Scrutiny Protocol in agreeing the required level of consultation with Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group.

(b)  That the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee be kept informed about the consultation and proposals during the process.

To consider a briefing on the commissioning of community based co-ordinated care services as part of the Caring Together Programme

Fleur Blakeman, Strategy and Transformation Director at Eastern Cheshire CCG, and Brenda Smith, Director of Adult Social Care and Independent Living, provided an overview of Community Based Co-ordinated Care Services (CBCC).

The CBCC services were the first services being commissioned jointly by Eastern Cheshire CCG and the Council as part of the Caring Together (CT) programme. The outcome based service specification was due to be signed off during the summer 2015 with implementation commencing in October 2015. The Committee was requested to consider what level of consultation would be required prior to proposals being formally implemented.

The new service involved new integrated teams made up of staff from the various health and social care service providers. The purpose of the integrated teams was to better meet the needs of service users by working together across services, ensuring there were no gaps in service or duplication. The development of the service model had been heavily influenced by patient reps and service users and there would continue to be involved on a monitoring group.

Some of the changes to services would involve a change in location for were services were delivered from however were services users accessed services would mostly be in the same place (e.g. at home). Consultation with Trade Unions was taking place and staff engagement would happen when needed.

RESOLVED

(a)  That the Committee give consideration to the level of consultation required based on proposals for change to services once the service specification is received and report requirements to the Strategy and Transformation Director.

(b)  That the Committee give consideration to its role in the overseeing the implementation of new service delivery arrangements once the service specification is received and report suggestions to the Strategy and Transformation Director.

To consider a report on the review of adult social care charging policy and submit comments.

Alison McCudden, Service Manager for Social Care Business Support, provided an overview of the proposed changes to the Adult Social Care Charging Policy which were due to be approved by Cabinet on 21 July 2015.

The Council was required to review its charging policies for adult social care on a periodic basis and the introduction of the Care Act 2014 had also placed new duties on the Council which necessitated some changes to the existing policy. During the review of the policy consultation events took place and the responses had been collated and considered.

The purpose of the new policy was to ensure that charges for social care were fair, consistent and compliant with the Care Act. Charges were designed to ensure that people were not paying more than it costs to provide a service. Service users would also be given a financial assessment to ensure that no one would be expected to pay more than they could afford.

In March 2015 the Committee had submitted two task and finish group reports to Cabinet on Carers and on Assistive Technology. Some of the recommendations from the reports had been adopted as part of the new charging policy.

RESOLVED

(a)  That the report, proposals for changes to the Adult Social Care Charging Policy and the public consultation on proposed changes be noted.

(b)  That the Committee is please to note that recommendations from the Committee’s task groups on Carers and on Assistive Technology have been taken into account in the proposals.

(c)  That the Committee requests to be consulted on charging proposals for Level 2 and Level 3 of telecare service once they have been developed.

To discuss the Committee’s potential future work programme for 2015/16

The Committee discussed the development on its annual work programme. It was suggested that an additional meeting of the Committee to consider possible items to be included in the Committee work programme for 2015/16 should be arrange. Members of the Committee were encouraged to consider what items might be suitable for the work programme and to bring their ideas to the work programming meeting.

It was suggested that members of the Council who were not on the Committee may also like to contribute to the development of the work programme; it was agreed that councillors who were not on the Committee would be informed of the date of the meeting to enable them to attend.

The Chairman explained that the Committee had been requested to host a meeting for all members on the Dementia Reablement Service and training to become a Dementia Friend.

RESOLVED

(a)  That an additional meeting of the Committee be arranged to hold a work programme development session and that the meeting be open to all members of the Council to attend.

(b)  That the Scrutiny Officer and Chairman be requested set up a meeting for all members on Dementia Reablement and becoming dementia friends.