To receive feedback from the last meeting of the Gloucestershire Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

 22.1          Members received an update from Councillor Janet Day, the Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee, on matters discussed at the last meeting of the Panel held on 14 July 2015.

22.2           Councillor Day indicated that the Care Quality Commission Inspection Report of Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust had been presented to the Committee.  The report had provided details of the inspection process and the outcomes from the inspection which covered Cheltenham General Hospital, Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and Stroud Maternity Hospital. The overall rating for the Trust was “requires improvement”, however, it was at the higher end of that scale and none of the services were considered to be in any danger of slipping into “inadequate” and it did not mean that the hospitals were unsafe in any way.  The Trust would be submitting its action plan in response to the inspection report and progress would be monitored by the Committee. 

22.3           The Committee had also considered the Gloucestershire Safeguarding Adults Annual Report 2014/15.  The Board was now on the same statutory footing as the Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children Board following the enactment of the Care Act in May 2015.  Members had been pleased to note the establishment of the Fire Safety Development Group in late 2014 in response to six fire deaths.  The Group aimed to reduce the risk of harm to adults who had care and support needs, living in their own homes or in residential care. 

22.4           The Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group Performance Report showed an improvement in dementia diagnosis and the finance and efficiency rating had moved from amber to green.  Members had continued to raise concern regarding cancer waiting times and more details would be provided at the next meeting in terms of what was being done to improve that position.  An action plan had been developed to address the immediate concerns regarding the District Nursing function within the Integrated Care Teams across Gloucestershire and to improve resilience.  One key factor was the national shortage of senior grade nurses.  Members also raised concern regarding the performance of the NHS 111 service against targets and the Committee agreed that it would be helpful to invite the providers, Care UK, to a future meeting.

22.5           In terms of the Adult Social Care and Public Health Performance Report, direct payments and reassessments continued to miss targets and Members had been concerned that the uptake of health checks had not improved.  Drug and alcohol targets were also a concern and would be discussed at the next planning meeting.  The Committee had welcomed the Healthwatch Gloucestershire patient and public feedback report and it was suggested that elected Members could play a role in promoting Healthwatch within their divisions.  The Committee had also been pleased to note the Cirencester Hospital Development Plan and had requested clear and consistent communication on what was happening at the hospital to ensure that people did not misinterpret the planned changes.  Members had congratulated Officers on the Medical Journal award which had been received in recognition of the work of the Disability Quality Assurance Team and its partners.  They had also been pleased to note the development of the App to assist people with disabilities in finding employment.  The full Minutes of the meeting would be available on the Gloucestershire County Council website.

22.6           The Chairman thanked the Council’s representative for her presentation and indicated that the update would be circulated to Members via email following the meeting.  It was

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