Agenda and minutes

No apologies were received.

At this point Members must declare whether they have a disclosable pecuniary interest, or other interest, in any of the items on the agenda, unless it is already entered in the register of members’ interests or is a “pending notification “ that has been disclosed to the Solicitor to the Council.

Members must also declare if they are subject to their party group whip in relation to any items under consideration.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 July 2012, were approved as a true and accurate record.

The report was presented at the request of the commission who were interested in the provision of adult home care support in rural areas and whether rural areas received the same level of care as urban areas.

The following key points were highlighted:

• DEFRA Health statistics (June 2012) indicated that life expectancy in rural areas was higher than urban areas and that years of life lost to cancer, stroke and heart disease were lower, however people in rural areas were at more risk of isolation, support services were often based in urban centres and transport costs to access services could be higher
• Peterborough’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment showed that around 20,123 (12%) of Peterborough’s residents lived in a rural area
•  There were areas within the Unitary Authority Boundary classified with high and low levels of deprivation
• The total cost of homecare purchased by Peterborough City Council from Independent providers for 2011/2012 was £16.1 million
• From April to July 2012 there were 127 people (10%) living in a rural area and receiving home care support from a total of 1271
• The cost of purchasing home care support made up 10% (£14,900 per week) of total home care spend (£147,000 per week) which when compared to the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment population data it appeared proportionally less homecare was purchased for rural areas.
• The Adult Social Care Strategic Commissioning Team had been consulting with providers on possible ways to improve how support was provided for people living in rural areas. People who lived in rural areas and carers would be consulted on proposed changes
• The issues associated with providing support in rural areas, following further consultation, would be included in the planned review and structure of the Independent Living Support Services framework. Consulting on and co-producing a solution for people who used services and who lived in a rural area would be an essential part of this development framework
• In order to monitor homecare delivery for all service users, the council would be requiring all homecare providers to use Electronic Homecare Monitoring Systems from 1 October 2012. This would provide accurate information on whether homecare was delivered as commissioned by the council and would immediately highlight and evidence if calls were not delivered or were being cut short.

The Commission were asked to note and comment on the contents of the report.

Comments and questions were raised around the following areas:

• Members commented that they were happy with the Homecare monitoring systems. The Assistant Director of Adult Social Care Commissioning advised members that the Homecare Monitoring System would be in place from 1 October 2012 and it would be able to monitor the amount of time that carers were with people that required care. The device would only monitor the time the carer clocks in and out, therefore the quality of care would need to be monitored by receiving feedback from users of the device.
• Members queried paragraph 5.4 of the report and why providers were allowed to refuse to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The report was presented to the Commission at the request of the Chairman who expressed concern that there were few GP Practices and Pharmaceutical Services within rural areas which would in turn make it difficult for elderly and disabled people to access these services. The report was written by Peter Wightman, Interim Director of Primary care who was unable to attend the meeting therefore the report was presented by Jessica Bawden, Director of Communications, Membership & Engagement (designate).

The Commission were asked to note the current provision and current transition in NHS organisations.

Comments and questions were raised around the following areas:

• Members were concerned that the report was very brief and did not indicate whether the Primary Care and pharmaceutical services were adequate in rural areas, also it did not mention transport for people in rural areas to enable them to access these services. The Director of Communications, Membership and Engagement (designate) advised the Commission that the request was to report on the situation as it stood now. There had only been five complaints in the last year received from rural areas all of which were resolved easily.
• Members commented on paragraph 4.2 of the report where it stated ‘Practices operate geographic catchment areas to ensure practical distances for home visiting’ GP’s in Peterborough all operated this way. The issue that the current government was bringing forward was that the people should be given a choice, although giving choice in rural areas was not as simple due to distances but to what extent did the people have a choice. The Director of Communications, Membership and Engagement (designate) advised members that this depended on the list size of the practices and whether people were able to use the service efficiently, therefore there was an element of choice.
• Members commented that many GP practices operated poorly on geographic catchment areas regarding opening hours and certain times appointments can be made. They queried whether having catchment areas was for an element of convenience. The Director of Communications, Membership and Engagement (designate) advised members that GP’s were not allowed to choose which patients they had. There had been some difficulty with being flexible with patient lists within the city due to building size and capacity but there was no issue with this in rural areas.
• Members queried whether the Ailsworth Surgery and Newborough surgery were going to close. The Director of Communications, Membership and Engagement (designate) confirmed that the Ailsworth practice was not going to close they were looking for a GP to take over the practice when Dr Laliwala retired. The Newborough surgery was also going to remain in practice.
• Members queried whether Parnwell practice was going to be taken on by the Ailsworth practice. The Director of Communications, Membership and Engagement (designate) was not sure and advised the Commission that she would check and report back.
• Councillor Sanders left the meeting at this point.
• Members queried whether the patient numbers for the Ailsworth practice were up to date. The Director of Communications,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The purpose of this report was to propose a series of access audits for rural areas by disabled people living in Peterborough working with Peterborough City Council and the Disability Forum

The key issues were highlighted as follows:

·         The proposal would ensure that the views and experiences of local disabled people were incorporated in to any and all future developments, and provide suggestions for improving existing rural provisions including:

v      Work to date on access audits for the city had been unfunded and provided through the goodwill of untrained volunteers

v      There was no organisation currently providing access audits for Peterborough on a voluntary basis

v      Access audits for projects of this nature by qualified consultants were estimated to cost within the region of £10k

v      The Council’s own access audits would be in the region of £1k - £5k depending on the size and depth of audit required

v      The Council’s findings led them to believe that many professional access audits were carried out without the involvement and inclusion of disabled people

v      Disabled people  living in rural areas would have the opportunity to influence decision making and plans in their neighbourhoods, they would also be able to improve skills, reduce isolation and improve general health and wellbeing

v      This pilot project in rural areas would be a unique example of best practice for involving local disabled people in rural issues related to access and inclusion

v      Older people were now living longer and many of the issues affecting older people in terms of accessibility and ‘getting around’ were the same as those with a physical disability

The next steps were:

·         To seek funding, including applying for external funds to undertake access audits in rural areas

·         To identify priority areas with the Rural North Neighbourhood Committee

·         To identify disabled residents living in rural areas to assist with audits if appropriate

Comments and questions were raised around the following areas:

·         Members were supportive of the work that was being carried out by the Disability Forum for disabled people

·         Members queried whether there was enough funding to change the current situation for disabled people regarding access in rural areas. The Disability Forum Manager advised the Commission that situations would be easy to change if highlighted when projects were developed as there was not always the right amount of consideration for disabled people which led to more money being spent on changing existing provisions for disabled people. This could be resolved easily by consulting organisations such as DIAL and listening to disabled people before proceeding with a development

·         Members suggested drop curbs were considered when doing road repairs, low level post boxes and cash machines, battery car charging points and basic wifi systems. If there was the knowledge that each village had different requirements by conducting an audit on even one village per year then a thorough review of each village could be completed within ten years.

·         Members queried whether there was a designated Disability Compliance Officer to deal with major issues.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The latest version of the Forward Plan, showing details of the key decisions that the Leader of the Council believed the Cabinet or individual Cabinet Members would be making over the next four months, was received.

ACTION AGREED

The Commission requested to find out why there was no legal officer present at the meeting.

Members considered the Committee’s Work Programme for 2012/13 and discussed possible items for inclusion.

ACTION AGREED

The Commission requested that Engaging with Hospitals was added to the work programme.

The Commission requested an update on the progress of the development of the Energy Park.

19 November 2012

19 November 2012