Agenda item

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting. 

42.1           Members received an update from Councillor Ron Allen, the Council’s reserve representative on the Gloucestershire Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee, on matters discussed at its last meeting held on 12 September 2017.

42.2           It was noted that Members had received the annual report of the Gloucestershire Safeguarding Adults Board (GSAB) for 2016/17.  Progress was reported in the five main areas: Empowerment; Protection and Prevention; Proportionality; Partnership; and Leadership/Accountability/Governance. In general the path was upward, although it was recognised in the accompanying papers that some elements of risk remained unchanged from the previous report.  The Board worked with more than sixteen partner agencies and timely and adequate sharing of information had long been of questionable quality, both within the county and nationally. The GSAB had taken action to improve transfer of information, particularly with the Police which now had an electronic risk assessment module - the Vulnerability Identification Screening Tool (VIST) - to help in making judgements on risk and share them remotely with the multi-agency safeguarding hub.  Members had been advised that decisions on intervention could be difficult because of the limitations imposed by statute to protect individuals’ privacy; however, there were indications that partner agencies were improving their co-operation in terms of sharing information on vulnerable people and some relevant risks in the GSAB’s register had been satisfactorily removed as a result.

42.3           The Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group had begun to consult residents in the Forest of Dean on a proposal to build a new hospital.  Four options were being presented to the public: firstly, maintaining the two existing community hospitals - the Dilke Memorial in Cinderford and the Lydney and District Hospital; secondly, redeveloping to provide two community hospitals; thirdly, creating a single new community hospital; and, fourthly, closing both existing hospitals and offering home-based services as an alternative.  The Trust’s favoured option was to offer a completely new community hospital, similar to those in other parts of the county, using the capital receipts from the sale of currently used land to support the financing of the new structure.  A number of consultation events had been advertised between 27 September and 5 December 2017 and it was anticipated there would be a lively and emotional response, particularly to the proposal to demolish the Dilke Memorial Hospital. 

42.4           It was noted that Deborah Lee and Peter Lachecki had joined Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in 2016 as Chief Executive and Chair respectively, following a widely reported unexpected and significant deterioration in the Trust’s financial position.  They had presented the key findings and recommendations from a four month independent review of the Trust’s governance between April 2013 and March 2016.  Currently, the Trust remained in the NHS Improvement Financial Special Measures regime as a consequence of apparent failings in governance.  It was noted that the former Chief Executive, Chair, Finance Director and Chair of the Finance and Performance Committee were no longer employed by the Trust and the presentation from the new team leaders was upbeat and positive. Actions had been taken in response to the review’s findings and associated recommendations which were designed to ensure that the failings would not be repeated.

42.5           Gloucestershire’s Director of Public Health had also presented a paper on the coalescence of two services for young people bringing together the health visiting and school nursing services.  In December 2016, Gloucestershire County Council had approved remodelling of the public health nursing service to provide a single service entity for children and families from pre-birth to age 19, with specific support at key development stages.  Public consultation was taking place between 4 September and 19 November 2017 to obtain views on the proposal and specific elements where a service may change.  It was intended that two principles would underlie the new service: public health nursing would be available to every family living in Gloucestershire at any time in a child’s life from birth to age 19 - this would allow the service to identify any support required early on and focus on ensuring that those who needed most help could access specialist support; and improving services based on the best evidence - this might mean adapting to new technologies and online options to offer more choice in how families and children accessed the advice and support they needed.

42.6           The Committee had also received an update on developments in the Sustainability and Transformation Plan.  It was noted that mergers of GP practices were underway in some parts of the county, as requested by NHS England to address current challenges in primary provision.  It was reported that the Chair of the 2gether NHS Foundation Trust - the Mental Health Trust for Gloucestershire and Herefordshire - had announced her retirement from the Trust at the end of the year.  The two Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust acute hospitals had been the subject of an inspection report from the Care Quality Commission in July and the Trust’s overall rating remained at ‘requires improvement’ - no service had been rated as ‘inadequate’.  Reference had again been made to the review of the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and it was noted that it was a very different organisation today compared with a year ago - eight new members had joined the Board, including the new Chair, Chief Executive and Finance Director and the report signalled ‘a significant shift in the culture of the organisation led by the new leadership team’.  95% of the 19 recommendations within the review had been actioned and full implementation of the remaining actions was planned.  It was pleasing to note that cardiology services had been recognised for the quality of teaching for medical staff in training; it was ranked first in the UK for ‘overall satisfaction’ compared to two years ago when it had been ranked thirteenth.

42.7           Councillor Allen went on to advise that, since the meeting it had been announced that Ingrid Barker, Chair of the Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust, had been appointed as the new joint chair to lead the 2gether NHS Foundation Trust and Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust through proposals to join together as a single organisation. She would take up her position in January 2018 to oversee the development of a business case with a view to the formal uniting of the two Trusts from October 2018. A new joint Chief Executive would also be appointed to be in post in January 2018. 

42.8           With regard to the consultation on the hospital for the Forest of Dean, a Member indicated that, if the preferred option was for a new community hospital, it should be borne in mind that Tewkesbury Community Hospital had been built to the same specification as Vale Community Hospital in Dursley in order to make cost savings.

42.9           The Chair thanked the Council’s reserve representative for his update and indicated that it would be circulated to Members following the meeting.  It was

RESOLVED          That the feedback from the last meeting of the Gloucestershire Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee be NOTED.