Agenda and draft minutes

It was proposed by Councillor W Wyatt-Lowe and seconded by Councillor Brown that Councillor Guest be made Chairman.

It was proposed by Councillor Guest and seconded by Brown that Councillor Taylor be made Vice - Chairman.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 9 March 2016.

The minutes of the meeting on 9 March 2016 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 Maddern and Tony Gallagher.  

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 Hicks made reference to the closure of the Tring Clinic and the retirement of one of the doctors Dr Hall-Jones. He highlighted the concerns of the residents in that due to the closure, it will be more difficult for the elderly and too long of a walk for them to travel to alternative surgeries. He added the additional problems of the surgeries being over crowded with no parking on site for patients.

Dr Trevor Fernandes gave a brief update to Members. He said that it was unfortunate that Dr Jones gave short notice for his retirement however they have put an interim in place for this replacement. The decision will be made in a weeks time with NHS England and Herts Valley Co Commissioning Services. He said that the consultation process had been received but he wasn’t sure of the outcome but he had heard that it was more favourable to keep separate surgeries.

Councillor Hicks mentioned that residents had said that the consultation had been poorly run.

B Harris asked where the patients have gone now that this surgery has been closed.

Dr Fernandes explained that between 600-700 patients had come off the list.

Councillor Hicks said that most of the residents had gone to Chapel Street Surgery.

Councillor Timmis referred to the closure of Markyate Surgery and that the process was still ongoing with no further updates given. She mentioned that she had no taken the matter to the Chief Executive of Dacorum to try to get things sorted. Councillor Timmis added that the meeting that was subsequently set up with NHS England and Dacorum Borough Council, has had no purpose.

Dr Fernandes said that since the last meeting he has had no involvement in the meeting and had nothing to update.

Councillor Timmis said that the CCQ had no involvement ither and felt that there was not enough support for the residents of Markyate.

B Harris asked Councillor Timmis if she had written to NHS England for a response.

Councillor Timmis added that numerous contact had been made vis e mails, letter etc. However she had no correspondence after the first meeting took place. She said that the residents of Markyate are very angry as nothing has been achieved since the initial point of contact.

The Chair suggested that as nothing had been actioned since the first point of contact, that the Health in Dacorum Committee would send a letter to NHS England for a response.

Action

L Collins to draft a letter to NHS England to obtain a response for the Committee and Residents of Markyate.

Ben Russell, Get, Set, Go Dacorum Project Manager introduced himself to the Members of the Committee as this was his first time attending. He went through the red indicators on the report and explained them to the Committee.

1.     Back to football – He mentioned that the delivery was on 20^th April which is why there was a lack of KPI.

2.     Xtreme skates – He said that they misjudged this activity as 14 plus age range were not that interested in skating as they had originally anticipated.

3.     Adventure Playground – Budgets were set too high so they were not agreed by the deliverer.

4.     Box Clever – Charity based, approached to work with Dacorum.

5.     Mini Olympics – Took place a few weeks ago and was very successful. Over 100 people took part even though the weather was not great. Great support from one of the local Councillors, Councillor Brown as she attended the event. Celebrations took place to celebrate the Queens 90^th birthday. All of the community joined in which is why it was so successful.

Councillor Timmis said that she had recently attended a meeting which indicated an alarming finding. The data suggested that the children in Dacorum were amongst the highest figures reported for having the most obese children in primary school. She asked if there would be a funding or sports programme that could be offered to schools and communities to help reduce these statistics and the wellbeing of the children of Dacorum.

B Russell replied that in Year 3 of their programme they will be looking at introducing some activities to help eliminate these alarming figures of obesity in young children. Their key priorities will be to start in the smaller villages such as Bovingdon offering dance classes for children to get involved in and exercise. This is all written into their Year 3 delivery plan.

Councillor W Wyatt-Lowe asked what changes follow September 2017.

B Russell explained that the role is covered by funding. It is likely that a bid will be made as Sports Leisure service is coming to an end and they will be looking at Dacorum as a whole and the strengths and weaknesses in the borough. He added that the results from the consultations will provide more answers.

Councillor Taylor added that he was familiar with the activity Rush Judo and said that he was proud that this group was community led with all little contributions making a difference.

Dr Fernandes said that the Rush Judo & GSGD initiatives activity had produced some excellent work and it fit within the figures on the health profile. He added that there was a high number of adults that were obese as well as children. He said that he was pleased to see work being carried out to address these issues.

Dr Trevor Fernandes to provide Members with a Herts Valleys Clinical Conditioning Update since the last meeting held on 8 March 2016.

Dr Fernandes informed the Committee that they did not appoint an Account Officer. There is currently an interim in place and they will be looking for a permanent officer in the autumn time.

·        All 3 CCGs working together to agree a plan.

·        2 Acute hospitals – Princess Alexandra and Watford – being restructured and will be competing for the pot of money. It is important for the acute plan in order to stand a good chance to recover this money.

·        Dacorum Hub – Provides for the patients of Dacorum. Updates will be held at the café event. There are 4 options to be approved on the meeting on 18^th July and over the next 3 months a decision will be made.

B Harris asked if the Northumberland model was being used for comparisons.

Dr Fernandes said that yes they are and it will be rolled out nationally. He said that the hub will provide a range of services under one roof offering lots of care in one place.

Councillor Timmis asked if this was the vision the NHS had.

Dr Fernandes said that its not set in stone as to what will be decided. There will be a variety of services offered which will improve the accessibility for the elderly.

B Harris said that she felt concerned at the HCCG and people being cared for at home. They will need 24 hours observation which they will not receive at home. She asked if the 24 hour rapid service would be available.

Dr Fernandes said that nothing is set in stone, there may be potential problems with staffing and costs etc.

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

Councillor W Wyatt – Lowe gave Members an update and mentioned that over the last 7 years, Hertfordshire NHS have taken 204 million out of the budget. He added that the Public Health review was up to standards and there are significant cuts to be had In the public funding.  100% voting in favour that the Public Health should not be cut.

Health and Wellbeing board & County Council Health Scrutiny report

There has been a refresh of public health strategy

Staggering 2.2 billion on Mental Health costs

Extra training in care homes have claimed to have reduced by 50% in Watford.

Dr Fernandes added that that there will be less pressure on the system. So instead of calling 999, patients can be dealt with by a specialist who can deal with more acute problems.

The Chair suggested that the committee would contact Public Health to have a more engaged approach within the health issues concerned.

There were no questions for the Chairman.

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 14 September 2016.

The date of the next meeting is on Wednesday 14 September 2016.

The Chair offered her apologies for the next Health and Scrutiny meeting on 14^th September 2016 and asked the Vice Chairman Councillor Taylor to Chair the next meeting.

An amendment was made to the regular invitees to change from Steve Baker to Mark Brookes.

To consider passing a resolution in the following terms:

That, under s.100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 Schedule 12A Part 1 as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006 the public be excluded during the item in Part II of the Agenda for this meeting, because it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that if members of the public were present, during this item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information relating to: