To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors Brigadier P Jones CBE and GA Powell.

To receive details of any Member nominated to attend the meeting in place of a Member of the Committee.

There were no named substitutes.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on the Agenda.

GUIDANCE ON DECLARING PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS AT MEETINGS

The Council’s Members’ Code of Conduct requires Councillors to declare against an Agenda item(s) the nature of an interest and whether the interest is personal or prejudicial.  Councillors have to decide first whether or not they have a personal interest in the matter under discussion.  They will then have to decide whether that personal interest is also prejudicial.

A personal interest is an interest that affects the Councillor more than most other people in the area.  People in the area include those who live, work or have property in the area of the Council.  Councillors will also have a personal interest if their partner, relative or a close friend, or an organisation that they or the member works for, is affected more than other people in the area.  If they do have a personal interest, they must declare it but can stay and take part and vote in the meeting. 

Whether an interest is prejudicial is a matter of judgement for each Councillor.  What Councillors have to do is ask themselves whether a member of the public – if he or she knew all the facts – would think that the Councillor’s interest was so important that their decision would be affected by it.  If a Councillor has a prejudicial interest then they must declare what that interest is and leave the meeting room.

Councillor WU Attfield declared a personal interest in agenda item 6: Report on the Assessments of 18-64 Year Olds Future Needs and Services, as a Trustee of Mind.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 5 March 2008.

RESOLVED:   That the Minutes of the meeting held on 5 March 2008 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To consider suggestions from members of the public on issues the Committee could scrutinise in the future.

There were no suggestions from members of the public.

To consider proposals for the development of high-performing health and social care services by 2012 to meet the expected future needs of 18-64 year-olds in Herefordshire with mental health problems and physical disabilities.

The Committee considered proposals for the development of high-performing health and social care services by 2012 to meet the expected future needs of 18-64 year-olds in Herefordshire with mental health problems and physical disabilities.

The detailed report to Cabinet on 24 January had been previously circulated to Members of the Committee. 

Members of the Committee had attended a meeting of the Adult Social Care and Strategic Housing Scrutiny Committee immediately prior to the Committee’s meeting, to which the Corporate Policy and Research Manager had presented the detailed report.  Members of the Health Scrutiny Committee had participated in the scrutiny of the report, as reflected in full in the Minutes of the Adult Social Care and Strategic Housing Scrutiny Committee.

The Chairman suggested a number of points which might be emphasised from a health scrutiny perspective in addition to the resolutions agreed by the Adult Social Care and Strategic Housing Scrutiny Committee.

RESOLVED:

That (a)     whilst the Committee welcomes the positive changes in mental health provision in recent months, it also recognises that further changes in the way services are delivered are necessary, particularly with regard to residential care levels and improved preventative measures.  It therefore supports the general findings of the report;

(b)      the decision to appoint a Joint Head of Integrated Commissioning for the Primary Care Trust and Herefordshire Council is supported and the Committee requests that the Joint Commissioning Strategy currently being prepared for physical disabilities is presented at the earliest opportunity for the Committee’s consideration, together with an updated version of the Joint Commissioning Strategy already in place for mental health services. Thereafter, the Committee asks that implementation progress reports should be made on a regular basis, including as regards the integration of occupational therapists into community teams under common line management and the development of the new ICT system for social care (with effective links to the PCT);

(c)      the Committee notes the large number of assumptions made within the mental health data and suggests caution over the financial projections which result.  It therefore supports better local data collection for service users and that updated actual data is taken into account in future budget setting;

(d)      the Committee would like the sourcing of outside funds to be a priority and would support the relevant personnel being employed to achieve this aim;

(e)      a report be made to the Committee on the workforce plan being prepared, which will include training, recruitment and retention issues for the Primary Care Trust, social care and provider organisations in the independent sector; and

(f)        in addition to emphasising the points above from a health perspective, the recommendations made by the Adult Social Care and Strategic Housing Scrutiny as set out below be endorsed:  

That:

(a)  The Committee believes that the recommendations to improve both Mental Health and Physical Disabilities are sound, although it remains concerned that the some of the conclusions are based on data that is far from robust.   Herefordshire Council and the Primary Care Trust (PCT) need to ensure  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.