Agenda and draft minutes

To confirm the minutes from the previous meeting

The minutes of the meetings held on 20 March and 12 June were agreed and signed by the Chair

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies of absence were received from Councillor Hollinghurst and Kevin Minier.

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]

There were no declarations of interest

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

There was no public participation

D Evans provided the committee with a short overview of primary care. The Clinical Commissioning Group provides an integrated care partnership through a blend of partnerships in order to integrate and work differently. We are moving towards collaboration instead of competition. We will soon be submitting our plan to the Department of Health and Social Care at the end of the month. D Evans said he couldn’t share too many details at this stage but would be happy to share at a future meeting.

Councillor Bhinder asked if D Evans could elaborate on the collaboration proposal.

D Evans said the idea of delivery was to increase outcomes and use as a driver for success. Some services are delivering high quality but others are costing money. The idea is to work towards a control total budget and focus on value for money not income. More collaborative work will help to fix local problems before we use procurement as a default.

Councillor Beauchamp referred to the government plan that the CCG are waiting to be finalised and asked if they had flexibility to adjust.

D Evans said statute hasn’t changed at the moment and the CCG’s responsibilities remain the same. Engagement is the direction of travel and it is difficult at the moment due to the current political climate but we will work within our frameworks in order to be able to action the new plan when it arrives.

L Dalton gave the committee a presentation on primary care.

Councillor England said he was interested in how the Primary Care Networks were formed.

L Dalton said it stems from previous relationships, shared visions and values and geographically.

K Magson added they may have delivered services collectively previously and bigger practices team up with smaller ones to provide support which creates resilience and ability to deliver services.

Councillor England asked if they looked to larger practices to step up and lead these networks.

L Dalton said that they have done that in other areas but it has worked effectively in Dacorum.

Councillor Maddern asked what benefits patients would experience.

L Dalton said the PCN’s provide extra funding for extended opening hours.

Councillor Tindall asked how these PCN’s fit with the Urgent Care Centre.

L Dalton said the Urgent Care Centre operated under a separate contract and is acute focussed.

Councillor Tindall said he was pleased to see that social prescribing appeared in this plan and asked if this would work alongside the current navigators.

D Evans said there are currently seven navigators and funded from the voluntary sectors. Within the PCN’s, the model is to embed these so they benefit from training to work towards their goals. 15 out of 16 have agreed to provide additional services which are boosted by investment.

Councillor Tindall asked how information was shared.

D Evans said they all work within a Herts wide system.

Councillor Bhinder said it was an impressive set up and asked for more examples of what these PCN’s deliver for customers and if  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

L Dalton provided the committee with an update. The surgeries merged in July but it has not been as successful as hoped. It needed a merger with a larger practice and Rothschild surgery came forward and could bring robust business. We are currently in discussions with both parties and a bid will be submitted to NHS England. The new premises at Gossoms End should be available by 2020.

Councillor Stevens said this was new information to him and thought the relocation would be complete by the end of this year.

K Magson said the work will begin by the end of the year but it will take 12 months to complete.

Councillor Guest said the progress of this project should be kept an eye on by the committee and asked the health officers if they could receive another update at the December meeting.

Councillor Stevens asked if there was enough man power for the merger to be successful as there has been previous problems with recruitment.

L Dalton said the Rothschild surgery has a different model for staffing. They train GPs and have good retention of staff and they can share their resources with the Berkhamsted group. She reassured members that a robust plan was in place.

Councillor Durrant referred to the Tring practice going out to tender and asked if GP’s themselves had to put money in.

L Dalton said a bid would have a business team.

Councillor Guest informed the committee that Councillor Bhinder was DBC’s nominated representative on this committee.

E Glatter said there was an error within the minutes that referred to residents being consulted on the hospital redevelopment plans. Engagement is not consultation.

Councillor Guest said the committee would be looking at the West Herts hospital trust in more details at a topic group meeting on 13^th September.

E Glatter said she had been invited to give evidence for five minutes but no one is allowed to mention the options of development. We created a petition that had 1,500 responses and 97% felt they had not been properly informed.

Councillor Guest said she hoped that E Glatter would attend to give evidence and notified the committee that County Councillor Tina Howard was the representative for the Dacorum area on the topic group.

Councillor Maddern said there was a difference between engagement and consultation and felt strongly that Dacorum council need to take up this issue with the health world. She asked if the topic group was open to the public.

Councillor Guest said it was a public meeting but members of the public would not be able to speak.

Councillor Bhinder said he would meet with Councillor Maddern and E Glatter prior to this meeting to form a plan.

Councillor Guest asked him to inform the scrutiny officer at Herts County Council that he was going to attend.

Councillor Johnson asked about the discussion on Mount Vernon hospital mentioned in the report and asked about a timescale for the project.

Councillor Guest said there has been no indication of what the options are.

E Glatter raised the suggestion that Mount Vernon and Watford hospitals could come together on one site to create a ‘super’ hospital.

Councillor Guest said this would be a point to raise at the scrutiny meeting.

Councillor Maddern asked who runs that hospital.

Councillor Guest said that it is run by East and North Herts Trust but managed by Hillingdon.

There were no questions raised

None.

Councillor Guest asked for the action points to be included on December’s agenda and to arrange date for the Health service’s finance team to attend a future meeting.

December – add adult and children’s mental health

December/March – progress on the West Herts Hospital Trust building.