Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from Councillor Nash, Councillor Sharp and Councillor Fazal.  Councillor Dobbs attended as substitute for Councillor Nash, and Councillor Harrington attended as substitute for Councillor Sharp.  Apologies had also been received from Diana Millard, PPI Forum representative.

At this point Members must declare whether they have an interest, whether personal or prejudicial, in any of the items on the agenda. Members must also declare if they are subject to their party group whip in relation to any items under consideration.

There were no declarations.

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 January 2010 were approved.

The decision notice for each decision will bear the date on which it is published and will specify that the decision may then be implemented on the expiry of 3 working days after the publication of the decision (not including the date of publication), unless a request for call-in of the decision is received from any two Members of a Scrutiny Committee or Scrutiny Commissions..  If a request for call-in of a decision is received, implementation of the decision remains suspended for consideration by the relevant Scrutiny Committee or Commission.

There were no call in requests to consider.

To receive an update on the status of the NHS Peterborough Recovery Plan

The Chairman informed the Commission that despite several requests, no officer of NHS Peterborough was in attendance at the evening to present the item.  A statement had been received from Ms Sheila Bremnar Interim Chief Executive, NHS Peterborough, and was read to the Commission by the Chairman.

In the statement, the Interim Chief Executive explained that:

§         the financial recovery plan focussed on:

-          avoiding admissions to hospital and the use of A&E

-          reducing the costs of continuing care services for people with very specialist needs; and

-          not committing any further expenditure unless necessary for patient/client safety or to meet contractual obligations

§         the PCT’s board would be considering the future detailed financial plans at its meeting at the end of March and it would then be possible to present the detail of the plans to the Scrutiny Commission for Health Issues.

The Executive Director Adult Social Care informed the Commission that she had met with the Interim Chief Executive and passed on apologies that no meeting had taken place regarding this item.  The Executive Director reiterated that the Interim Chief Executive was committed and keen to meet to discuss the recovery plans with the Commission.

Observations and questions were raised and responses given including:

§         The matter was of extreme importance and NHS officers are urged to attend a meeting with the Commission.

§         The statement of the Interim Chief Executive was poorly worded, and possibly should have been ‘avoiding unnecessary admissions…’ instead of ‘avoiding admissions…’.  This linked in with the promotion of the Choose Well Campaign which sought to raise awareness of health services so that people went to the right service instead of automatically choosing to attend A&E.

§         Reducing the costs of continuing care services for people with very specialist needs would not mean a reduction in services, but renegotiating contracts with service providers.  Those people currently receiving care and those identified as eligible to receive it would do so.

§         The opportunity to realise savings by shared back office services should be investigated further.  NHS Peterborough and Peterborough City Council were already sharing communications functions.

§         While a version of the financial recovery plan would be made available to the public, it is acknowledged that there are some commercially sensitive aspects and would remain exempt.

ACTION AGREED

The Commission agreed to hold an extraordinary meeting on Friday, 26 March 2010, or as soon as practicable, for the purpose of considering the recovery plan and require the NHS Peterborough Interim Chief Executive and the Interim Finance Director to attend to answer questions.  The Chairman of the NHS Peterborough Board and other board members are also invited to attend.

To consider and comment on the proposed Adult Drug Treatment Plan 2010/2011

The Safer Peterborough Partnership (SPP) is required by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) to complete an annual Adult Drug Treatment Plan. The Plan is completed to a nationally set template and outlines how the Partnership will provide appropriate treatment services for adult drug users in Peterborough, setting objectives and targets, and outlining the resources allocated to meet these. Sign off and submission of the Plan is required by the NTA before central funding is released to partnerships.

The Commission is requested to consider and comment on the proposed plan which is for submission to the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, and make any relevant recommendations to the Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, Housing and Community Development.

Observations and questions were raised and responses given including:

§         An in depth service review has be undertaken last autumn to assess how access to services may be improved.

§         There are currently no waiting lists for either the open access or criminal justice services.

§         The increase in steroid use is linked with specific communities and is noticed through the needle exchange programme.  Work is being done to understand how to target this group.  It was noted that steroid use was not a major problem in the city.

§         The local drug service user group SUGA had made an invaluable contribution and officers were very impressed with the work of the group.  SUGA’s work is also recognised as good practice at a regional level.

ACTION AGREED

The Commission noted the report.

To receive an update on progress and key achievements on the objectives within the Annual Accountability Agreement 2007/08 and performance against other social care targets

The report reviewed and noted the quarter 3 position on adult social care targets as attached to the report, and reviewed areas of identified risk and considered proposed remedial actions.

The key outcomes and targets for delivery for adult social care are agreed annually between the Council and the PCT and incorporated into the Annual Accountability Agreement. The report sought to provide assurance of progress against these outcomes and targets.

Observations and questions were raised and responses given including:

• The objective rated as red, ‘continue to develop commissioning plans for physical disability and sensory needs’ had not been progressed within 2009-10 due to capacity issues and was to be built into the next year’s operational plan and annual accountability agreement.  Officers explained that the services are in place and there is no impact on service users as a result of this project being rolled forward.
• The gaps in data received from the Mental Health Trust (MHT) were as a result of new measures to report against, and the software being used by the MHT was not designed to report on these measures.  A new system was to be in place from July 2010 and while this would not capture all the data required, it would be greatly improved.  Manual data collection would be continued where required to meet these needs.
• A lot of good work was being done with regard to long term and acute mental health services, and much of this was reported up the health line not the social care line.

ACTION AGREED

The Commission noted the report.

To consider and comment on the quarterly report and identify any areas of concern

The Scrutiny Commission was requested to note and comment on the quarterly report on adult safeguarding.

Observations and questions were raised and responses given including:

• The unusual drop in referrals over the December period would be monitored.  Referrals had settled at approximately 30-35 per month.
• The safeguarding board had received in depth information with regard to alerts from minority groups, as the numbers had seemed quite low, however it is believed that the numbers are roughly what would be expected.  This will be looked at every six months due to the low numbers.
• No multiple alerts had been received, which is very pleasing and is thought to be due to successful training and an increase in awareness.

ACTION AGREED

The Commission noted the report.

Update on progress

The Safe Sharps Disposal Pilot will place special bins for injecting equipment and other sharp implements in public spaces to reduce the risk of injury and potential transmission of blood borne viruses to members of the public.

The Neighbourhood Manager informed the Commission that all the sharps bins had now been installed and that  project would now be handed over to the Community Safety & Substance Misuse team to promote of the use of the bins and undertake the usage monitoring.

Observations and questions were raised and responses given including:

• Data on the bin usage would be collected on a monthly basis, and the bins could be relocated if necessary.
• The exact locations of the bins would be made known to service users and while other members of the community could utilise them, their use was primarily aimed at drug users on the street.
• The bins met national safety requirements and other authorities had not experienced any issues with tampering.

ACTION AGREED

1. That the Neighbourhood Manager is to provide information to the Commission on how the pilot will be evaluated.
2. That the Commission will receive a report showing a comparison of figures between sharps litter collected on streets by the City Services team and sharps litter deposited in the bins.

To consider the latest version of the Forward Plan

The Commission received the Council’s Forward Plan which outlined forthcoming Executive Decisions for the period March to June 2010.