Appointment of Chair of the Wirral & Cheshire West and Chester Joint Health Scrutiny Committee, for this meeting.

Vicki Shaw, Solicitor to the Committee invited nominations for the appointment of the Chair.

On a motion moved by Councillor Christina Muspratt and seconded by Councillor Lynn Riley, it was –

Resolved (unanimously) – That Councillor Yvonne Nolan be appointed Chair of the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the duration of the Urgent Care Scrutiny Review.

(Councillor Nolan in the Chair)

Members are 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 are 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.

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 what they were.

The following declarations were made.

A further declaration was made by invited Member / Observer Councillor Phil Gilchrist, who declared a personal interest by virtue of his role as a Governor appointed to the Cheshire and Wirral NHS Partnership Trust, and as a member of the Health and Wellbeing Board.

To approve the minutes of the meeting of the Wirral and Cheshire West & Chester Joint Scrutiny Committee held on 11 December 2018.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 December 2018 be approved as a correct record.

The Chair invited representatives from the CCG / NHS to present their evidence and explained that the purpose of this meeting was to review the consultation arrangements for the Urgent Care Review.

Nesta Hawker, Director of Commissioning and Transformation - Wirral Health and Care Commissioning introduced her report that outlined the current position of the urgent care transformation work providing an update with regards to consultation and engagement feedback and next steps. She informed that a future report on the decision-making process will come back to the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee once the decision has been made by the CCG Governing Body on 9 July 2019.

Director of Commissioning and Transformation informed that the NHS Long Term Plan outlined the aim to ensure patients received the care they needed fast and to relieve pressure on Accident and Emergency Departments (A&E). Her report informed that it was recognised nationally that there was unnecessary pressure on A&E and other parts of the urgent and emergency care system, and that Wirral was not immune to these issues. Analysis of data showed that half of the patients that attended A&E could have been treated in a more appropriate setting to deliver the same outcome, e.g. community health venues, pharmacies. This additional pressure meant that those patients who were very poorly and in need of emergency interventions, may not be seen as timely as they could be. She added that the consultation on proposals for Wirral was not a ‘tick box exercise’ for national proposals and must be sustainable clinically.

Director of Commissioning and Transformation explained the methods of public engagement / pre decision consultation had taken place between 20 September and December 2018 had included surveys, website communications, postcards, statutory meetings, public meetings, and focus groups for those with protected characteristics. She added that post consultation, at request of the Wirral Overview and Scrutiny Committee had resulted in an independent company undertaking analysis of the feedback on 2 specific matters i.e. 24hrs or 15hrs Urgent Care and walk-in access originally being limited to Children and dressings treatments.

Dr Paula Cowan – Chair, Wirral Health and Care Commissioning informed the Joint Health Committee that there had been a quite a lot of feedback, highlighting a depth of interest within local community and raising issues regarding the utilisation of services, the need for walk-in centres. She further informed that the consultation exercise had demonstrated transparency, resulting in the initial survey of 1965 respondents having been followed up by comments from in the region of 45 thousand residents.

Dr Cowan apprised the Joint Health Committee that there had also been a lot of positive feedback relating to the co-location and access to diagnostics at Arrowe Park (Wirral University Teaching Hospital (WUTH) A&E, and the benefits of standardised healthcare as detailed in the report. She added that the consultation also highlighted resident’s displeasure regarding the closure of walk-in centres, and the difficulties of WUTH as choice of location due to public transport  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.