Agenda item

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting (14 March 2023). 

107.1        Attention was drawn to the report from the Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, circulated separately, which gave an update on matters considered at the meeting held on 14 March 2023.

107.2        The Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee advised that a report was provided on the out of hours service which looked at the response to 111 calls which should be answered within 30 seconds.  There had been a lot of questions about the fact that the Care Quality Commission’s annual report had identified that the service needed improvement for the fifth year.  In response, the Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board had reported that new ways of working had shown improved outcomes with more of the identified issues being addressed e.g. emergency department discharges, ambulances and staffing.  The second report received by the Committee was in respect of the Winter Sustainability and Surge Management Plan 2022/23 Review which was undertaken each year to show how additional demand would be managed; this year there had been an increase in respiratory disorders as well as flu and COVID.  The majority of action plan items had been delivered upon and the key areas of focus were set out at Page No. 5 of the papers.  The Committee had also received an update on the temporary changes to maternity services where it was noted there were currently 25 vacancies and it was intended to maintain the temporary closures until there was a stable workforce to avoid a yo-yo effect of units being reopened and then having to be closed again due to a dip in staff numbers.

107.3         In response to a query regarding Tewkesbury Hospital being used as a 10 bed short stay hospital, Members were advised this was for the purpose of assessing and providing support services required to keep patients at home without the need for an acute hospital admission.  The remaining 10 beds had been used for rehabilitation.  A Member indicated that it was an ongoing frustration for the residents of Tewkesbury that a new hospital had been built with 20 beds – reduced from 48 – which were intended for the people of Tewkesbury and yet those people could not get access to them.  The Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee understood this concern and noted that it was not a community hospital in the way that it used to be; community hospitals tended to be for specific uses and Tewkesbury Hospital was for the elderly and frail.  Another Member noted that a key area of focus for the winter management plan was for acute hospitals to have a discharge area that could hold up to 27 patients waiting to go home in order to free up beds earlier and he asked if there were any plans to increase the discharge areas in Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.  The Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee advised that this had not been mentioned but the discharge area seemed to be working so she felt it was likely to be retained.  In response to a query as to whether there was any indication why there were staff shortages within the out of hours service, the Council’s representative advised that recruitment was difficult so new approaches were being taken including running recruitment days rather than one on one interviews and looking at creating specialities within the NHS to try to counteract newly qualified doctors moving to areas such as Bristol and Birmingham which were large teaching hospitals with more opportunities for career development.

107.4         The Chair thanked the Council’s representative for the interesting and helpful update and it was

RESOLVED          That the Gloucestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee update be NOTED.