Agenda and minutes

To confirm the minutes from meeting of 13 September 2017.

The minutes of the meeting from 13 September and 31 October 2017 were agreed by the Members present and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Cllrs Brown and Timmis, as well as E Glatter.

To receive any declarations of interest

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered -

(i)            must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent

and, if the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest, or a personal interest which is also prejudicial

(ii)           may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter (and must withdraw to the public seating area) unless they have been granted a dispensation.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Members’ Register of Interests, or is not the subject of a pending notification, must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal and prejudicial interests are defined in Part 2 of the Code of Conduct For Members

[If a member is in any doubt as to whether they have an interest which should be declared they should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer before the start of the meeting]

Cllr England declared an interest, noting he was part of a steering group for group called the ‘Herts Valley Hospital’. He said that the aim of this group was to bring a new hospital to a greenfield site in the Herts Valley; this site had yet to be agreed.  Cllr W Wyatt-Lowe also declared that he was a Trustee with Age UK Dacorum. 

An opportunity for members of the public to make statements or ask questions in accordance with the rules as to public participation

Cllr Taylor noted that the Committee members had received a response from E Glatter on behalf of Dacorum Hospital Action Group (DHAG) in relation to the Dacorum Local Plan consultation. H Brown confirmed that she had not seen this response; Cllr Taylor confirmed that he would email a copy to H Brown, via Member Support. Cllr Guest re-iterated and confirmed that the Committee had noted the response of DHAG

The Committee noted that the outstanding action point in respect of Iain MacBeath and DToC’s. Cllr Taylor asked that this item be chased for the next meeting. R Twidle confirmed this, and also highlighted that I MacBeath was due to attend the next meeting of 7 March 2018.

Action Point: R Twidle to contact I MacBeath regarding DToC’S Action Point.

Cllr Guest highlighted the letter from M Graver, contained within the agenda pack, inviting the Committee to tour the new Marlowes Health & Well Being centre, which was due to open in May 2018. Within his letter, M Graver had invited the Committee to visit the centre before the next Committee of 7 March 2018.  After discussion, the Committee agreed that a visit of the centre would be most beneficial when it was ‘up and running’, rather than before it had opened. The Committee considered that this would give staff and visitors the opportunity to get used to their new surroundings, and so would be a more accurate picture of the service it was providing to the community. Cllr Guest asked R Twidle to return to M Graver confirming this,

Action Point: R Twidle to advise M Graver that, instead of a pre -opening tour in March 2018, the Committee would like to visit The Marlowes Health & Well Being Centre once it has opened for a period of time.

Cllr Guest introduced the item; she asked the committee members if they had any issues, or wished to highlight any issues on behalf of other Councillors.

Cllr Hicks did not wish to add anything aside from highlighting that the doctor’s surgery in Tring, which he had previously expressed concerns about, was to remain open for at least three years, possibly five.

Cllr Birnie noted that it was likely that the Community Centre (CC) in Bennett’s End would be getting a defibrillator. Cllr Guest and Cllr W Wyatt-Lowe also noted this was also in addition to the defibrillators at Warner’s End and Adeyfield CC’s.

Cllr Guest introduced B Russell, the Dacorum project manager on the item. B Russell then gave a presentation to the Committee, based on the information contained within pg 16 of the agenda pack. He said that the three year project had been a fantastic success, and highlighted that 90% of the activities launched as part of the project remained self-sustainable. He confirmed that in view of this success, DBC intended to apply for a further grant from Sport England, as well as working with other local authorities. He also noted that the project was awarded ‘Community Project of the Year 2016’ at the Herts Sports Partnership Awards, as well as silver award for the national marketing campaign.

Following on from this, B Russell introduced the Sports and Physical Activity Strategy; the purpose of this was to demonstrate DBC’s commitment to delivering high quality sporting provision to all. Again, he provided a presentation based on the key information set out in pg 17 of the agenda pack. B Russell invited questions from the Committee.

Cllr Birnie asked about the decision not to award Sportspace the leisure centre contract; what would be the impact upon this strategy? B Russell said that it would have no impact as DBC would be working with the leisure operator as a key partner, irrespective of who it was. Cllr Hicks highlighted that Sportspace still administered the XC and Little Hay Golf Course, therefore they would still remain a stakeholder. B Russell agreed with this point. 

Cllr England asked about the cycle paths, in particular the gaps in the network. B Russell that this would be considered as part of the action plan with members of the project board which would include members of Hertfordshire County Council (HCC). He acknowledged that Dacorum’s cycle infrastructure was relatively poor, but noted that Dacorum had a number of very wide pathways, which presented an opportunity to amend these to cycle paths.

Cllr England also asked about the consultation with stakeholders; how wide would this go? B Russell said they conducted focus groups with residents, as well as a more in depth consultation with key partners such as hospital, Sport England, Public Health, HCC as well as sporting clubs. Cllr Guest confirmed that it would be helpful for the Committee to receive feedback via email regarding the strategy. Cllr Guest also added her personal support of the strategy, endorsing the significant positive effects of exercise.

Following Cllr Birnie’s question, B Russell confirmed a numbers of ways this project had been communicated, including flyers, social media, on the screens in Hemel town centre as well as Community Centre’s. In addition to this, Cllr Birnie also suggested Radio Dacorum as another way of publicising activities.

Cllr Guest highlighted that 2018 was the year of Physical Activity; she said she would email B Russell, Cllr Neil Harden (PH Holder for Residents and Corporate Services) and County Cllr Richard Roberts (Executive Member for Public Health & Protection) to discuss the best way to promote  ...  view the full minutes text for item 61.

Helen Brown and David Evans to provide an update since the last meeting, including a further update on the Hemel UCC (following presentation of 13 September 2017). 

H Brown and D Evans confirmed that the item would be a combined update; this was because of the amount of interplay and overplay between the work of both stakeholders.

H Brown confirmed that the presentation would focus on the following matters:

•       Hemel Hempstead and Dacorum Project Group – Strategic Outline Case (SOC) for redevelopment of Hemel Hempstead General Hospital (HHGH). (H Brown)

•       Main acute redevelopment strategic outline case (E Moors & F Banks)

•       Urgent Care Strategy, opening hours for Hemel UTC and West Herts Medical Centre contract (I Armitage & D Evans)

H Brown, E Moors & F Banks provided the Committee with a detailed presentation based on the information set out in pg 2 – 7 of the presentation slides  (Appendix A). D Evans also gave the perspective on slide 7 of presentation from the HVCCG’s point of view.

Cllr Taylor asked H Brown and D Evans for clarification regarding the presentation pack, in particular, what they would like DBC to do with this information; did they wanted the packs handed back, or were they content for it to be shared with the public? H Brown said that while she was not unhappy for it to be shared, it should be made clear that this was very much a ‘work in progress” and so should be treated in this spirit. Cllr Guest re-iterated this point to K Minier, saying that he should treat this document as such when sharing with the other members of DHAG. She also noted that this document should be recorded as ‘draft’ within the minutes.

Cllr Birnie observed that the proposals sounded very useful, particular the cross-working between specialisms and sites; however he thought that the IT would need to be improved in order to facilitate this. E Moors agreed, saying that the way the Trust wished to deliver care in the future was very reliant on it. She said that technology had significantly moved on, and was able to support care in the community. Cllr Birnie re-iterated his point, saying that IT would need to support Specialist with emails, accessing patient records, etc.

Cllr Birnie also noted the comments about specialism on different sites; he asked whether investment in one site could leave others under-resourced.  Cllr Birnie cited the example of the MRI scanner being moved from HHGH to St Albans City Hospital (SACH). F Banks accepted that this may be a possibility, but emphasised that that in the case of the MRI scanner, it would be located where it was most needed for diagnosis. H Brown added that MRI was expensive equipment, that was difficult to staff. It could not be sustained on three sites, and was absolutely necessary to be placed at SACH, in order to support the planned surgical model for the cancer services. However, H Brown added that a local MRI would still be available to Dacorum residents (albeit not a same day service), through different routes. She emphasised the need to think of HHGH and SACH as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 62.

Cllr W Wyatt-Lowe to provide an update since the last meeting, including an update on the outcome of County Council Audit regarding the recruitment of Homecare workers in Hertfordshire.

Cllr Guest introduced Cllr W Wyatt-Lowe, the Committee representative on this item. He provided an overview of this item, and confirmed that he would submit a more report to the Committee regarding the item (see Appendix B).

Cllr Birnie to provide an update.

Cllr Guest introduced Cllr Birnie, the Committee representative on this item. He provided a detailed update to the Committee regarding the item. He also confirmed that he would provide this update as a report to the Committee (see Appendix C).

K Minier asked if the forthcoming CQC inspectorate report was discussed; Cllr Birnie essentially said that very little had been said, given that it had yet to be published.

As the matter of street triage had also been raised within Cllr W Wyatt-Lowe’s update, he & Cllr Birnie discussed the impact that this had had within the community, particularly on supporting those with mental health needs.

Cllr Guest to provide an update.

As representative of the item, Cllr Guest introduced the detailed report (contained in item 12 of the agenda pack) to the Committee regarding this matter.

OS/066/17       WORK PROGRAMME 2016/17

Cllr Guest requested that The Marlowes Health & Well-Being item be deferred from the March 2018 meeting to a future meeting.

The date of the next meeting is on 7 March 2018.

The meeting ended at 10:33pm