The Chair welcomed the members of the Board, officers and those watching the webcast to the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from:

Abel Adegoke   Chair of the Primary Care Council

Dave Bradburn   Director of Public Health, Wirral Council (Elspeth Anwar substituting)

Councillor Kieran Murphy   (Councillor Ewan Tomeny substituting)

Karen Prior  Healthwatch Wirral

Paul Satoor  CEO, Wirral Council

Tim Welch  Cheshire and Wirral Partnership (Andy Styring substituting)

PRESENT

Simon Banks   Chair and Place Director, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside

Elspeth Anwar  Assistant Director, Public Health Consultant, Wirral Council

Graham Hodkinson  Director of Adults, Health and Strategic Commissioning, Wirral Council

Janelle Holmes  Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Karen Howell  Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

Ali Hughes  Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

Carol Johnson-Eyre  Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise Sector

Dr David Jones  Primary Care

Councillor Julie McManus  Wirral Council

Martin McDowell  Associate Director of Finance & Performance, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside

Councillor Simon Mountney  Wirral Council

Councillor Ewan Tomeny  Wirral Council

Andy Styring  Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Matthew Swanborough  Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Simone White  Director of Children, Family and Education, Wirral Council

Dr Stephen Wright  Primary Care

Vicki Shaw  Head of Law and Governance, Wirral Council

Mike Jones  Secretary

Members are asked to consider whether they have any relevant interest in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state the nature of the interest.

The Chair asked for members to declare any interests in any items on the agenda. No interests were declared.

To approve the accuracy on the minutes of the meeting held on 22 June 2023.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 22 June 2023 be approved as a correct record.

The Chair reported that no public questions, statements or petitions had been received.

The Place Director presented the report of the Associate Director of Quality and Safety on Behalf of Wirral Partners which identified key issues relating to Quality and Safety through the Wirral Quality and Performance Group and other relevant sources. In addition to identifying key issues, the report highlighted where appropriate the actions that had taken place and the timescale of completion. Issues included the Care and Quality Commission inspection and the C-Difficile review.

Members asked for more detail on some points.

Resolved – That the areas of concern contained within the report, and the actions that are being taken be noted.

Alison Hughes Director of Corporate Affairs, Wirral Community Health & Care NHS Foundation Trust presented the report of the Place Director NHS Cheshire and Merseyside. Under the leadership of the Place Director, the Place Governance Group, including senior governance representation from provider organisations, had completed a review of current governance arrangements at Wirral Place including a refresh of the Terms of Reference of the Wirral Place Based Partnership Board and the creation of a Governance Manual for future use by all established fora. The report summarised the action taken to date, a proposed future governance workplan and included the draft Wirral Place Governance Manual for approval. It was noted that Sub-Groups would be reviewed in September and that the agenda for this meeting would be revised to better reflect the NHS style.

Resolved – That the Wirral Place Governance Manual attached to the report be approved and the further workplan be noted to ensure arrangements are fit for purpose including a refresh and review of the Terms of Reference for the sub-groups supporting and reporting to the Wirral Place Based Partnership Board.

The Place Director (Wirral), NHS Cheshire And Merseyside presented this report which was a highlight report from the Strategy and Transformation Group.

Members questioned the progress on the neighbourhood programme.

Resolved – That the work of the Strategy and Transformation Group be noted and updates be received as a standing agenda item with a view to a specific report to a future meeting on the neighbourhood programme.

The Associate Director of Finance (Wirral Place), NHS Cheshire and Merseyside presented his report which represented the key issues from the Finance, Investment and Resource Group.

Members offered additional representation and contacts for the groups affected.

Resolved – That the content of the report from the Finance, Investment and Resources Group be noted.

The report and appendix may not be suitable to view for people with disabilities, users of assistive technology or mobile phone devices.?Please contact james.barclay1@nhsif you would like this document in an accessible format. 

The CEO for Wirral University Teaching Hospital presented this report which reported the positive progress on the Unscheduled Care Improvement Programme which aimed to improve urgent and emergency care services in Wirral. This included a sustained reduction in the No Criteria to Reside (NCTR) numbers where the Wirral system had been a national & regional outlier for a significant period but had been reduced from 217 in May to 136 in July. There had also been improvements in the length of Stay of stay KPI’s for stays of both 14 & 21 days.

Resolved – That the update be noted.

The Associate Director of Finance, Cheshire & Merseyside Integrated Care Board – Wirral Place, introduced his report which provided a summary of the proposed Pooled Fund budget for the financial year 2023/24 and the financial risk exposure of each partner organisation. The report also provided an update on the preparation of the framework partnership agreement under section 75 of the National Health Services Act 2006 relating to the commissioning of health and social care services, which would be subject to approval and final sign off by Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Adult Social Care Committee.

Members queried some of the figures in the report for clarification.

The Place Director provided an update on the extension of the contract intermediate care beds at Clatterbridge which had been recommended by the Joint Strategic Commissioning Board on 22 June 2023. The recommendation was presented on 27 June 2023 to the NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board’s Finance, Investment and Resources Committee. The contract had been due to cease in September 2023 and had been extended to Sep 2024 with a break clause at 22 months (1st July 2025).

Resolved – That

1) support for the proposed place pooled fund budget for 2023/24 be confirmed.

2) it be noted that Primary Care (GP Delegated Commissioning) elements of the pooled budget are supported by ring-fencing arrangements and may be subject to an increase in the budget allocation.

3) support be confirmed for the place-based commissioning vision if there are additional budgets that should be included within pooling arrangements either immediately or during 2023/24.

4) the proposed risk share arrangements be supported and it be noted that shared risk arrangements are limited to the Better Care Fund (BCF) only.

The Head of Legal Services introduced the report of the Director of Law and Governance which detailed the annual work programme of items for consideration by the Wirral Place Based Partnership Board.

Amendments to the Programme were proposed.

Resolved - That the work programme be noted, subject to:

(1)  the reports on Care Market Sufficiency, Transfer of Care Hubs and Virtual Wards being covered in the Unscheduled Care programme standing report so being removed as separate items.

(2)  Tom Knight from NHS Cheshire and Merseyside coming to the November meeting to present a report on dentistry.

(3)  Primary Care Networks being reported on in October concerning what they are, what they do, how they are organised and what are their funding streams.

(4)  the social care self assessment, taken in preparation for the Care Quality Commission inspection, being presented to the Board.