To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors CR Butler, ACR Chappell, PE Crockett, MT McEvilly and NE Shaw.

To receive details of any members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a member of the committee.

Cllr WLS Bowen attended as a substitute for Cllr ACR Chappell and Cllr PJ Edwards for Cllr PE Crockett.

To receive any declarations of interest by members in respect of items on the agenda.

None.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 19 September 2016.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on 19 September 2016 be approved as a correct record of the meeting and signed by the Chairman.

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

(There will be no discussion of the issue at the time when the matter is raised.  Consideration will be given to whether it should form part of the committee’s work programme when compared with other competing priorities.)

None.

To note questions received from the public and the items to which they relate.

(Questions are welcomed for consideration at a scrutiny committee meeting so long as the question is directly related to an item listed on the agenda.  If you have a question you would like to ask then please submit it no later than two working days before the meeting to the committee officer.  This will help to ensure that an answer can be provided at the meeting). 

None.

To update the committee on the development of the decisions and delivery programmes for the draft Herefordshire and Worcestershire Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP), which is being submitted to NHS England on 21 October 2016.

The chairman welcomed Dr Jonathan Shapiro, lead for the One Herefordshire programme.

The director for adults and wellbeing referred to the earlier presentation to the committee on 19 September 2016 and summarised progress to date on the development of the sustainability and transformation plan (STP): 

•           there was a national mandate to form STP footprints across England, principally based on population sizes and aiming to deliver good quality care that was sustainable

•           an Initial submission was made to NHS England in April focusing on triple aim gaps, which was followed by assurance process, in which there was a high level of senior NHS officer involvement

•           this was an NHS process although the Herefordshire and Worcestershire STP included active involvement from local government

•           the draft plan would be submitted to NHS England on 21 October and which would inform the NHS and the council’s planning processes 

•           the documentation was not yet in the public domain although there was a process being developed for wide and active engagement and consultation as this was vital to the realisation of the plan

•           an assurance process would follow submission on 21 October and the plan would then be signed off by NHS England

•           local governance would include partner organisations,  with formal public consultation commencing in the spring of 2017 

The chief executive, Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust (WH&CT), as the lead for the STP in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, added that the STP programme board was a partnership that included voluntary services and Healthwatch across both counties. There were plans to expand clinical input beyond the staff briefings that had taken place to contribute to the analysis of the triple aim gaps.  The aim was to be fully involved with the scrutiny committee, particularly regarding communications and engagement.  It was believed that the plan was generally positive and that stakeholders were signed up to it, but it was understood that there may be some difficult conversations. In terms of developing public awareness and encouraging involvement, online information resources had been launched through #YourConversation.

The chair commented that in relation to scrutiny involvement, there had been some difficulty in NHS England’s recognising the power of scrutiny committees to see the commissioning intentions of partner organisations. 

A member observed that the STP was an NHS plan, and asked about the impact on public health and social care through the realisation of the plan. It was explained that the STP was based on a system-wide approach which implicitly included social care and public health and that it was critical to ensure that any implications were recognised and mitigated.  One way of helping this was to look at closer work around commissioning. There was also national guidance on integration to ensure impact was recognised and addressed across the system.

Commenting further on the STP’s commissioning deadline in December seeming unrealistic, the member asked whether the detail of contracts would be anything more than visionary at the point of sign-off.  The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 111.