The Chair welcomed everybody to the meeting and referred to the retirement of John Webb who had now left the Authority after 6 years service with Wirral, 3 as a Head of Service and 3 as a Director. She expressed her sadness at his departure, thanked him for his dedicated service to the Authority and wished him well for the future.

The Chair agreed to consideration of this item as a matter of urgent business.

Sue Lowe expressed concerns that following the retirement of John Webb a temporary appointment had been made to fill the post of Director of Adult Social Services when what was needed was to start the process immediately to make a permanent appointment.

The Chair commented that she had herself expressed similar views at the meeting of the Employment and Appointments Committee on 26 October, 2010 which had agreed to support a rigorous appointments process being embarked upon.

The Interim Director of Adult Social Services assured the Committee that although he had been appointed as an Interim Director he would not be acting in a caretaker capacity and he was in post to do the job until a permanent appointment was made. He informed the Committee that he would bring a report back to the next meeting with a full account of where the Department needed to be to address the considerable challenges facing the Council with the services it provided to adults.

Members are asked to consider whether they have personal or prejudicial interests in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state what they are.

Members are reminded that they should also declare, pursuant to paragraph 18 of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules, whether they are subject to a party whip in connection with any item(s) to be considered and, if so, to declare it and state the nature of the whipping arrangement.

Members were asked to consider whether they had a personal or prejudicial interest in any matters to be considered at the meeting and, if so, to declare them and state what they were. Members were reminded that they should also declare, pursuant to paragraph 18 of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules, whether they were subject to a party whip in connection with any matter to be considered and, if so, to declare it and state the nature of the whipping arrangement.

No such declarations were made.

To receive the minutes of the Health and Well Being Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 9 September, 2010.

Members were requested to receive the minutes of the meeting of the Health and Well Being Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 9 September, 2010.

In respect of minute 13 ‘Chair’s Opening Remarks’ the Chair referred to the need for a replacement co-opted Carers’ representative and it was agreed that Voluntary and Community Action Wirral be approached to nominate a replacement.

In respect of minute 18 ‘Care Quality Commission Inspection Report’, Councillor Brighouse referred to the membership of the working group which should read, Councillor Ann Bridson (Chair of the group) and Councillors Tony Smith and Geoffrey Watt.

In respect of the attendance, Diane Hill referred to the fact that Audrey Meacock was present at the meeting as the LINks representative.

Resolved – That subject to the above amendments, the minutes be approved as a correct record.

The Interim Director of Adult Social Services presented a report which summarised the actions which had been completed from the Discharge Turnaround Team report which was commissioned in January 2010 by the Chief Officers of NHS Wirral, Wirral University Teaching Hospital Foundation Trust and the Department of Adult Social Services. The report gave details of the implementation of Social Care Pathways to support the Primary Care Assessment Unit (PCAU), improved information for carers, capacity management and the integration of care at home.

Sandra Wall referred to the latest issue of ‘Which’ magazine and an article on hospital discharges, in which Wirral had received some praise for its approach to hospital discharges, following the scrutiny review, the findings of which had been published with the agenda for the former Social Care, Health and Inclusion Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 25 March, 2009 (minute 76 refers).

Dr Shyamal Mukherjee, Medical Director for the Wallasey Locality and Tina Long, Director of Nursing and Midwifery, Wirral University Teaching Hospital, NHS Foundation Trust responded to comments from Members explaining the work of the PCAU, how the issues of carers and confidentiality were being addressed and that Community Matrons were measuring the numbers being kept out of hospital due to integrated care at home. Monitoring also took place of those who had been in hospital for longer than 14 days.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

The Director of Public Health submitted a report on the NHS Wirral Alcohol Programme which aimed to address alcohol-related harm, improve access to alcohol treatment services and reduce alcohol-related admissions.

The programme sought to achieve the National Indicator to decrease the rate of alcohol related hospital admissions per 100,000 of the adult population by delivering the following initiatives:

·  Delivering developments in primary care screening and brief intervention

·  Increasing capacity in specialist alcohol treatment programmes

·  Increasing the capacity of community-based detoxification services (to help prevent re-admission)

·  Improve crisis management responses

·  Increase capacity in aftercare services

·  Provide interventions in the criminal justice services

·  Increase the provision of information and awareness raising

The report included comparative data with neighbouring authorities and figures showing that the rate of admissions was slowing down.

Responding to comments from Members both the Director and Dr Mukherjee stated that there was no doubt of the health effects of hazardous and dependent alcohol use leading to gastro-intestinal diseases, liver disease, cancer and cardio-vascular disease. They emphasised the need to make people aware of the dangers of alcohol abuse and of initiatives to reduce alcohol dependence.

The Chair suggested that a follow up report could be brought to the March meeting of the Committee.

Resolved – That the report be noted and a further report be brought to the March, 2011 meeting of this Committee.

The Chair informed the Committee that Karen Prior from Voluntary and Community Action Wirral had sent her apologies as she was unwell and unable to attend the meeting.

The Committee received a quarterly report from Voluntary and Community Action Wirral (VCAW) on the ‘Home from Hospital’ service which during the months of July to September, 2010 had received 163 referrals. These had resulted in 430 contacts, a contact being a home visit and a check that the client was alright.

The Committee expressed its congratulations to VCAW for this valuable service and the Chair requested information on the possible capacity to extend the service further and of how much awareness there was of the service.

Resolved – That the report be noted and the information on the service be requested from VCAW.

The Director of Public Health submitted a report on the social marketing campaign, ‘Quit Stop Wirral’ which, in addition to the Stop Smoking Service, targeted smokers from deprived areas and those with routine and manual occupations who would not normally engage with NHS services. She gave details of the campaign which had so far engaged with 2389 people, 60% of whom were from areas of deprivation and responded to comments from Members.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

The Interim Director of Adult Social Services submitted a report updating the Committee on progress to develop new outcome based contracts for personal support as part of the transformation of adult social services. These contracts covered Residential and Nursing Home Care, Supported Living and Personal Support provided to people in their own homes.

The report focused on the changes to the existing service specifications in the context of managing the market and the broader transformation agenda for Adult Social Services. The proposed changes were considered essential to improve safeguarding, value for money and offering more choices for people to enable them to take control over their lives. The aim was to have the new contracts in place by 1 April 2011.

The Director responded to comments from Members, in particular with regard to one of the current financial pressures being faced by the Council of the increasing number of older people who were previously self-funded and entered residential or nursing home care without a statutory assessment. The Council had no option but to offer financial support to these people when their resources ran out. The new contract would aim to limit this financial risk to the Council by encouraging providers to be assured private payers had sufficient funds to pay for their care for as long as they were likely to need it.

Resolved - That the Committee note the progress in developing the new contracts for Residential and Nursing Home Care and Personal Support in people’s own homes.

The Quarter 2 Performance Report on activities relevant to Health and Well Being Overview and Scrutiny Committee is available to view in the web library and a presentation will be made by the Director of Adult Social Services.

Mike Fowler, Head of Service (Finance and Performance) gave a presentation on the progress made against the indicators for 2010/2011 in the second quarter and key projects which were relevant to the Health and Well-Being Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

He referred to those performance indicators which had exceeded or met their target and expanded on those performance issues which weren’t achieving on target, and the corrective action being taken to address them, these included:

·  Support through the NHS Stop Smoking Services

·  Early access for women to maternity services

·  People supported with Assistive Technology

·  Safeguarding alerts dealt with in 24 hours

·  Safeguarding incidents closed within 28 days

In respect of the financial position Mike Fowler outlined the key financial pressures and the budget efficiencies and actions in place to reduce the projected overspend.

Responding to Members’ comments Mike Fowler explained that it was expected that the number of supported placements of people going into residential care would reduce as more people were supported at home and interventions were shifted into intervention and intermediate care.

Resolved – That the presentation be noted.

The following minute, 28 (Consultation Task Forces) has been referred by the Scrutiny Programme Board to all themed overview and scrutiny committees for consideration:

“As an item of urgent business, the Chair referred to the four Task Forces, which had been set up to assist the Council in formulating a consultation document with a view to achieving budgetary savings. He proposed that the Scrutiny Programme Board should receive a detailed overview report upon the background to the task forces, the cost of them to the Council and upon the process that was followed in the selection and appointment of the Task Force members, together with any register or declaration of interests that may have been completed by Task Force members.

Members expressed the view that it may be more appropriate for such information as falls within their remit to be requested by the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

Resolved – That the matters referred to by the Chair in relation to the Task Forces be referred to each of the themed Overview and Scrutiny Committees and they be requested to seek information in relation to those issues which fall within their remit.”

The Committee considered the following minute, 28 (Consultation Task Forces) which had been referred by the Scrutiny Programme Board on 20 September, 2010 to all themed overview and scrutiny committees for consideration:

“As an item of urgent business, the Chair referred to the four Task Forces, which had been set up to assist the Council in formulating a consultation document with a view to achieving budgetary savings. He proposed that the Scrutiny Programme Board should receive a detailed overview report upon the background to the task forces, the cost of them to the Council and upon the process that was followed in the selection and appointment of the Task Force members, together with any register or declaration of interests that may have been completed by Task Force members.

Members expressed the view that it may be more appropriate for such information as falls within their remit to be requested by the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

Resolved – That the matters referred to by the Chair in relation to the Task Forces be referred to each of the themed Overview and Scrutiny Committees and they be requested to seek information in relation to those issues which fall within their remit.”

The Chair commented that she would have preferred to have seen a report on this matter at this meeting but she had asked the Interim Director of Adult Social Services to submit a report to the January meeting of this Committee.

Resolved – That the minute of the Scrutiny Report Programme Board be noted and the Interim Director of Adult Social Services submit a report on the matter to the January meeting of this Committee.

The Committee received an update on its work programme, which included the proposed outline meeting schedule for the current municipal year. The Chair referred to the report on Homelessness and Health which would now be brought to the January meeting.

In addition to items already on the programme, the following items were added:

·  A report on the impact of the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review and funding allocation for Wirral’s Adult Social Services (January meeting).

·  A report on the number of applications for severance / EVR and how it would affect the Department (January meeting).

·  Follow up report on alcohol related hospital admissions (March meeting).

The Chair referred to the CQC Working Group which would report back to the Committee in January and also that the Domestic Violence Panel had held its first meeting and would be meeting again at the end of November.

Resolved – That the report and additions to the work programme be noted.

The Forward Plan for the period November 2010 to February 2011 has now been published on the Council’s intranet/website. Members are invited to review the Plan prior to the meeting in order for the Committee to consider, having regard to the Committee’s work programme, whether scrutiny should take place of any items contained within the Plan and, if so, how it could be done within relevant timescales and resources.

The Committee had been invited to review the Forward Plan prior to the meeting in order for it to consider, having regard to the Committee’s work programme, whether scrutiny should take place of any items contained within the Plan and, if so, how it could be done within relevant timescales and resources.

Resolved – That the forward plan be noted.