Agenda and draft minutes

It was proposed by Councillor Maddern and seconded by Councillor W Wyatt - Lowe that Councillor McLean be made Vice - Chairman.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 17 June 2015.

Please see the link below:

http://www.dacorum.gov.uk/docs/default-source/council-democracy/health-17-06-15-minutesf18f234551156b7f9bc7ff00000246a4.pdf?sfvrsn=0

The Chairman began the meeting by welcoming all new Members to the committee.

An amendment was made to page 3 of the previous set of minutes. B Harris mentioned that she had concerns for patients with dementia in that if  carers were not receiving correct training, where would  patients with dementia get their motivation from.

B Harris mentioned that Bennetts End Community Centre offers a fantastic service for carers to bring their patients to enjoy a 4 hour break with lunch, games and activities provided. B Harris said that all contact would need to be made with Age UK in order to book. 

The minutes of the meeting on 17 June 2015 were confirmed by the members present and then signed by the chairman.

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillor C Brown, F Guest, T Gallagher (Patients Forum) and T Carter (Chief Nurse & Director of Infection, Prevention and Control).

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]

None

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.

Councillors have been invited to raise any issues within their ward.

Councillor Timmis made reference to the last meeting whereby she mentioned the issues at Markyate Surgery where the S106 agreement deemed by the GP as being unfit for purpose. She queried why this was taking so long and was unhappy with the lack of communication from the NHS, showing little interest and no support to the community.

K Hodge, Herts Valley Commissioning Group informed Members that he was on the board of the CCG and was unaware of the problems raised. He explained that he would pass on her concerns to the team and update Members at a later date.

The Chair asked if Councillor Timmis could update the Committee once she has had an update.

David Radbourne to provide Members with an update on the West Hertfordshire strategic review - your care your future and the proposed next steps

David Radbourne, Programme Director – West Hertfordshire Strategic Review and Keith Hodge, Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group presented the West Hertfordshire Strategic Review.

Councillor Harden arrived at 7.50pm

        Questions and answers

The Chair thanked D Radbourne and K Hodge for their presentation and said that the idea of a Health and Social Care Hub was an excellent idea.

B Harris expressed her concerns on the number of staff that will be required for the hub. She pointed out that there had been no mention of any volunteers being used to help run the hub in Hemel Hempstead. B Harris asked whether it would be possible to go back to having an Urgent Care Centre plus a Rapid Assessment Centre.

K Hodge replied to B Harris and confirmed that it would not be possible to do this.

M Moore wondered if people’s views were being expressed at the consultation, would their different ideas complicate the final version being delivered. And would people in Dacorum be able to suggest ideas that can be bespoke to the needs of Dacorum.

D Radbourne said that West Hertfordshire had a wide plan. Their plan is for all the community to come together and make it a reality. He said that a decision will be made soon however a debate on the acute options will take place very shortly.

K Hodge added that all the local GP’s will meet together to devise a plan that will adhere to how the system will work.

Councillor Maddern made a point that many GP’s are stretched to the limit and asked how this would be managed going forward.

K Hodge replied to Councillor Maddern’s question confirming that GP services are indeed a challenge. He added that more GP’s will need to be recruited in order to relieve the pressure that many of them face at present so that services can improve.

Councillor Hicks asked if the hub would be open 24 hours a day or would it just be open in working hours.

D Radbourne said that this would be a circular debate and decisions on this would be made on 1^st October.

K Hodge added that this will be an issue covering the whole of the geographical patch. The Hub in Hemel Hempstead will be designed in a way that all the community can benefit from.

Action:

1. L Collins to invite D Radbourn and K Hodge back to the meeting on 9^th December 2015.

Resolved

The report was noted.

C Lynch, Community Partnerships Team Leader presented her report to the Committee. She highlighted to Members a few points within the report;

·        The 5 main areas in which the team are looking at; Health inequalities, Child Poverty, Obesity, Rural Exclusion, Access Issues for people with disabilities and Access issues and cultural barriers ethnic minority groups.

·        The Community Partnerships Team will be working with a range of partners.

·        Over 20 activities will be running across Dacorum

·        It is estimated that by the end of year reporting the project will have hit their target of 90-95% at the end of September.

·        The Cycle your family into fitness project will be carried into year 2 of the project. With a KPI of 60 people 1000 attendances. 

·        Projects which have been successful in year one are currently having their Service Level Agreement meetings and will be continued into year 2. A variety of new projects are in the pipeline for Jan 2016.

Questions and answers

The Vice –Chair referred to year 2/3 of the project and asked if there will be a monitoring system in place which might link back to the GP surgeries to see whether it’s having a real effect at reducing obesity amongst individuals visiting GP Surgeries. 

C Lynch explained that Get set, go Dacorum is a preventative project, therefore it offers low cost and entry level activities in neighbourhoods where we know there are high levels of obesity to encourage people to stay active. These is not a weight management programme, however there are weight management programmes commissioned by County Council. There are 2,500 people taking part In this three year project which, by itself would not have a statistically significant change in obesity levels across Dacorum however supporting peope to become more active and lead a leathy lifestyle is part of a longer term preventative approach to reduce obesity levels in future.  The CP team have been attending training sessions commissioned by Public Health at GP surgeries about physical activity to raise awareness among GPs about the activities on offer so they can signpost their patients.

Councillor W Wyatt-Lowe commented that the patient group at Fernville Surgery were now looking to lead a physical activity session and commended the officer for the role that the Get set, go Dacorum project has made in instigated this.

M Moore, Health and Wellbeing Partnership, mentioned that Herts Active Together which is funded by Herts County Council, encouraged the over 65’s in sports such as spinning. He said that he was concerned at how well these activities are being promoted and if there is room for improvement.

C Lynch confirmed that these activities were part of a project funded separately and delivered by the local Sports Trust which would need to ensure greater outreach work is carried out when delivering sessions. The Get set, go Dacorum team have helped to publicise these session at the recent events attended and GP training session but ultimately the responsibility sits with the provider.

Councillor Timmis asked  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

Tracey Carter and Stephanie Johnston to provide Members with the latest developments within Patient Services since the last meeting.

This item will now be referred to the next Health in Dacorum meeting taking place on 9^th December 2015.

Dr Trevor Fernandes to provide Members with a Herts Valleys Clinical Conditioning Update update since the last meeting held on 17 June 2015.

Dr K Hodge, Herts Valley Clinical Commissioning group updated Members on the recent events.

·         Co Commissioning – This stands for the commissioning of primary care services

·         Extension of Watford care contract – designed to help look after patients with long term conditions diabetes, heart disease etc.

·         A range of initiatives to help improve patient flows across the whole of the system.

·         Closely scrutinised by the care services.

·         111 Service – changes – being reviewed on a national level. The procurement contract has been put back to March 2017.

·         Urgent care system – the poor waiting times have now improved over the last 9 months.

·         CQC report due to be released shortly.

The Chair thanked Dr K Hodge for the updates provided.

There were no questions from Members.

Councillor W Wyatt–Lowe to provide Members with an update since the last meeting.

Councillor W Wyatt – Lowe informed Members that plans in place for the government to reduce the amount of funding for Public Health, Hertfordshire will be about £3 million. However it is expected to have some of the billion that has been promised to the NHS going to issues that affect Public Health. However Hertfordshire may not be greatly affected.

The last meeting that took place was in June and covered the topics;

1. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service – This is being reviewed completely for Hertfordshire.
2. Mental Health and the use of websites – “Mind Ed”
3. Lots of other NHS websites that are being approved and promoted for Mental Health Services to set up one to one services with an advisor.
4. The role of Public Health and alcohol licensing where evidence can now be supplied by the director of Public Health to Committees. This can be useful as a source of information in making licensing rules and regulations to use locally.
5. Sexual Health and a 5 year improvement plan.
6. Health child programme
7. Just under 5000 referrals to health weight programmes

Questions and Answers

Councillor Timmis referred to the banning of smoking and said that it would be an example if this was to be implemented in Dacorum. She also pointed out that it may be more effective to have graphic television awareness of diabetes as it might motivate them to do something about their lifestyle.

Councillor W Wyatt-Lowe said that he agreed with Councillor Timmis’ comment and said he will feed her suggestions back.

M Moore added that on the Herts County Council website a new strategy has been implemented to cover 2013-2017 and said that he highly recommended it to Members to have a read.

The Chair welcomed the updates given and said that he found the discussions very useful.

Councillor F Guest was unable to attend the meeting but it was agreed by Members that an update would be provided on events before the date of the next meeting being held on 9^th December 2015.

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 9 December 2015.

The date of the next meeting is on Wednesday 9^th September 2015.

The Chair requested that the “West Herts Strategy Update” be added to the work programme for the next meeting on 9^th December 2015.