Apologies for absence were received from Councillors P Doughty, G Ellis, Rennie and David Jago, Acting Chief Executive, Wirral University Teaching Hospital.

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

Members are reminded that they should also declare 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 any disclosable pecuniary interests and/or any other relevant interest in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state the nature of the interest.

Members were reminded that they should also declare whether they were 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. The following declarations were made:

To approve the accuracy of the minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 2017.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of the committee held on 28 November 2017, be confirmed as a correct record.

Iain Stewart, Head of Direct Commissioning, NHS Wirral CCG introduced his report that provided an update on the introduction of a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS).  The system had been introduced in June 2017 by the five Cheshire and Wirral CCGs with the aim of coordinating and ensuring consistency in the way in which nursing home and care at home services were procured for patients eligible for Continuing Healthcare funding.

Further to Minute 18, 13 September, 2017 Members had asked for a follow on report, with examples of how the system functions in Practice.  The report informed that since the last report was presented, the OSC Chair, Healthwatch Chief Officer and WUTH Associate Director of Nursing/Patient Experience Lead had visited Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit’s Adam Placement Hub.  This visit had allowed them to see the system first hand, meet the team and ask any questions about its use for Wirral patients.

The report provided a chart of Wirral Patient Packages sourced to date through the DPS and members were informed that the range of providers was growing.

Members asked a number of questions relating to how the system would recognise the Wirral post code, whether patients were given a voice, the number of choices offered to patients and what would happen in the event that a Care Home fell below a quality rating of 80% on the Providers CQC inspection.  The Chair also commented that it would be useful if the Committee could have updated figures on the number of Care Home providers on a regular basis.

Resolved – That;

1  the report and presentation be noted.

2  the Overview and Scrutiny Committee be kept informed of updated figures on the number of Care Home providers on a regular basis.

Julie Webster (Director for Health and Wellbeing) introduced her report and informed that Wirral’s Health & Wellbeing Board was undertaking a Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA), a legal, comprehensive, assessment of the current and future needs of local people for community pharmacy services.

In January 2017, the People Overview & Scrutiny Committee had considered the impacts to Community Pharmacies in the light of funding changes proposed by Government for community pharmacies in 2016/17. At that time members had been made aware of the impending statutory PNA review and the request for them to comment and submit views on the process for developing the PNA for 2018-21. As part of that process a public consultation was required to be held for a period of at least 60 days.  Members were informed that the consultation would close on Monday 5th February and members were asked to consider the draft PNA 2018-2021 and to submit any views as part of that statutory process.  Members were informed that the outcome would be published on the Council website by the end of March 2018.  Initial feedback indicated that the response was overwhelmingly positive, there were no significant service gaps and that Wirral compared favourably both nationally and with neighbours.  Julie Webster also indicated that there had been an increase in the number of pharmacies located with GP surgeries which was a positive step.  It was further reported that no specific gaps had been identified and the situation would be kept under review.  A member commented that it would be helpful if members could be kept informed of pharmacies that had been added to surgeries and asked if this could be circulated to members.  Any feedback of coverage of pharmacies over the Christmas and New Year period was also requested and Julie Webster indicated that this was commissioned by NHSE and she would feed this request to the appropriated commissioner.

Resolved – That;

1  the report be noted.

2  where appropriate members be encouraged to submit views within the statutory consultation period

Simon Garner (Lead Commissioner – All Age Independence, Health & Care, Wirral Council) introduced his report and presentation that provided members with the Wirral Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board Annual Report 2016/17.  The report informed that this would be the final annual report for the former Wirral Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board as new arrangements for the combined Merseyside Safeguarding Adults Board, effective from 1 April 2017, would include Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton and Wirral.  Simon Garner reminded members of the basis of the Board and its main objectives and noted that future reports would be presented by the Independent Chair of the Board.  Members raised concern why there was no mention of victims of abuse including domestic abuse and modern day slavery and noted that the Committee had previously asked for available data.  Graham Hodkinson, Director for Care & Health, informed that this was covered across Merseyside by the Protecting Vulnerable Adults Board and in response to members concerns gave assurances that the points raised by Members would be taken back.  Members suggested that this topic could be included in Member Training for this year.  Simon Garner provided an outline of the key achievements of the SAPB and outlined the new arrangements for the Merseyside Safeguarding Adults Board.

Resolved – That;

1  the report and presentation be noted.

2  this Committee continue to monitor the incidence of domestic abuse and modern day slavery.

Jason Oxley (Assistant Director, Health and Care, Wirral Council) and Val McGee (Chief Operating Officer, Wirral Community NHS Foundation Trust) introduced their report and presentation that, as requested by the Chair of the Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee, provided members with an update on the early progress of the Integrated Social Care service provided by Wirral Community NHS Foundation Trust (WCT) on behalf of Wirral Council. The report described progress from the perspective of both Wirral Council (as commissioner of the service) and WCT as the service provider.  The appendices to the report contained the Quarterly Performance Report, 100 Day Plan and Staff and Service User Feedback.

Jason Oxley (Assistant Director, Health and Care, Wirral Council) and Val McGee (Chief Operating Officer, Wirral Community NHS Trust) set out the background to the report and explained that Wirral Council was undergoing a major transformation in the way in which it provided social care services to local people. The Council recognised the benefits of integrating health and care services and the opportunity that this brought to provide better, more joined up services to people who need them.  Integration made it possible for services to be developed more effectively to meet the needs of local residents. With social care and health staff working within one organisation it was possible to streamline assessment processes, reduce duplication of multiple professional involvements, and develop a single point of access and single social care and health support planning.

In March 2017 Cabinet had approved the creation of an integrated social care service for adults and older people and the transfer of services to WCT.  This had been implemented in June 2017. Under the new arrangement, WCT now provided statutory adult social care services on behalf of the Council under a contractual agreement. Services provided included the delivery of assessment, support planning and case management services for older people and adults.  The Council retained the care budget (budget of £57m) and market management duties, but commissioned WCT to carry out the statutory Care Act (2014) functions related to assessment and case management on its behalf. The functions mainly comprised of: assessment, support planning, care arrangement, review, case management, safeguarding and referral handling.  The Council retained the statutory duties.  Val McGee indicated that it was still early days and there was still a great deal of work to be done however the first 6 months showed a great deal of good progress and there were early signs of benefits.

Members raised a number of questions and thanked Jason Oxley and Val McGee for a very detailed report.  Councillor Wendy Clements indicated that she had taken a tour to look at the work of integrated services at WCT and had been pleased with the progress to date and Val McGee offered members of the Adult Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee the opportunity to also do this if they wished.

Resolved – That;

1  the report and presentation be noted.

2  that members wishing to take  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

A report from the Chair presented the work of the Adult Care and Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee in relation to scrutinising the 2018/19 budget proposals.  This followed a workshop held on Tuesday 9th January for Members to explore in more detail the budget proposals being put forward that fall under the remit of this committee.  A report was included as an appendix to the report.  The Adult Care and Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee was requested to acknowledge this report as its response to the 2018/19 budget proposals to be referred to Cabinet as part of its considerations in developing any budget recommendation to Council.

Resolved – That;

1  Committee acknowledges this report as its response to the 2018/19 budget proposals.

2  Committee refers this report to Cabinet as part of its considerations in developing any budget recommendation to Council.

The Chair introduced her report that provided an update regarding progress made since the last Committee meeting held on 28 November 2017. The report informed that the current work programme was made up of a combination of scrutiny reviews, workshops, standing items and requested officer reports. The Chair advised that the agenda report provided the Committee with the opportunity to plan and regularly review its work across the municipal year. The current work programme for the Committee was attached as an appendix to the report.

The Chair’s report highlighted a number of key points, namely:

Activity since the last meeting of the Committee

• Respite Services Scrutiny Review;
• Continuing Healthcare Funding (CHC) Scrutiny Review;
• Budget Scrutiny 2018 / 19

Future activity

• Additional Committee meeting - it was proposed to hold an additional committee meeting on Tuesday 13 February 2018 (6.00pm) at which members would receive a progress report regarding the local delivery of the Five Year Forward View.
• Spotlight session – Specialist Transport
• Universal Credit
• In order to strengthen the scrutiny of the performance of the health sector, the Chair raised the possibility of reintroducing the former Health and Care Performance Panel.  This proposal will be investigated further prior to the commencement of the 2018/19 municipal year.
• Future commissioning strategy for people with disabilities

Resolved – That the Adult Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme update for 2017/18 be noted.