To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr ACR Chappell.

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

None.

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

There were no declarations of interest made at the start of the meeting. However, at the start of the item on WISH, Cllr GJ Powell declared an interest as the portfolio holder for adults and wellbeing at the time that the contract for WISH was being designed. It was confirmed by the statutory scrutiny officer that this was not material to the item as discussed at today’s meeting.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 24 January 2017.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on 24 January 2017 be agreed 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.)

There were no suggestions received.

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). 

There were no questions received.

The report was presented by the director of strategy, partnerships and STP, and colleagues of NHS Herefordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), including the director of transformation, the director of corporate development and the accountable officer.

The CCG director of transformation, began the presentation by recapping the work that had taken place so far around the sustainability and transformation plan (STP).  Commissioners had been working in partnership to develop the STP and a high level document was submitted in 2016.  The public engagement phase was under way and was coming to an end this week.  

Members made a number of observations and comments on the engagement approach:

·           members reported that people they had spoken to had not heard of Your Conversation as the vehicle for engagement and consultation and this included a number of local NHS workers within Wye Valley NHS Trust

·           it was felt that the documentation was difficult to understand and for people to picture how the plan would work, and this needed to be highlighted

·           the BBC had publicised some of the details of plans from across England and this was in contrast to the approach of the high level engagement led by the NHS. There were a number of resulting campaigns that had been generated by the public, and also the British Medical Association (BMA) had been commenting. The impact of this was noted in contrast to the number of visits to the ‘#YourConversation’ website and survey which had been completed by a comparatively low number of people

·           the BBC presented an opportunity to support the right message to the public

·           these factors presented a challenge when considering the differing publicity and perspectives on an emotive topic

In response, officers clarified that:

·           the detailed document was provided to NHS England and was the basis for public engagement with information being presented in a more accessible and theme-based way for the ‘#YourConversation’ survey promoted to the public by Healthwatch

·           at this stage the focus was on engaging on high level themes rather than on consulting on details and there were challenges across the footprint to do this in a meaningful way

·           at the same time it was important to ensure that the focus was on the facts, following a proper process of constructive and meaningful engagement

·           there was a national conversation and some standardisation in approach, which would include more accessible information, in recognition of the many common issues shared by the 44 STPs across England

·           there was a process of engagement being undertaken which was an early part of the overall plan, and this differed from formal consultation which would come later, and the requirements of which were well understood

·           there was communication coming through to NHS employees locally which was generating feedback

·           the council had been involved from the start of the process, and in recognition of employees also being residents, communication had sought to provide context and making connections to preventive work and WISH (wellbeing information and signposting service).  It was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 140.

To seek the views of the committee on work in progress to redesign the WISH service and its role in the wider prevention and wellbeing system for Herefordshire.

It was noted that the service was about to be recommissioned so this presented an ideal opportunity for scrutiny input. 

A member referred to her comments at an earlier meeting regarding her past experiences of using online searches being poor. She commented that this was now much better and WISH was appearing at the top of search results.  The WISH website now had better menu navigation including immediate information for people in crisis, and the overall construction of the website had improved.

The director for adults and wellbeing introduced the report by explaining that the Care Act 2014 placed a statutory responsibility on the council for providing information and advice. The model for WISH was intended to support the developing model of health and care by putting the member of the public at centre of the support available and helping them to access the large and varied range of local support and opportunities not provided by the state and supporting them to live well.  This also brought benefits to providers as WISH represented an information resource for referral and signposting their own service users. A further beneficial role was that of enabler in connecting communities in ensuring that the support on offer was the right support to meet need. It was noted that it could be difficult for individuals wishing to volunteer to know what they could do that would have the most beneficial impact on those needing support.

The community capacity and wellbeing manager explained that WISH was an evolving service, and as had been found in other authorities, the period of development was known to be around four years.  Since WISH’s inception, some of the key regulations had changed so its original purpose had developed and there was more focus on making the online presence comprehensive.  The provider, SIL (Services for Independent Living), was working with organisations listed on the website to review their entries and the intention was to focus on universal services and on areas of demand and localised information where there was limited content. 

A member commented that the website’s search facility needed to produce more postcode relevant information. She noted that some of the council’s services that provided opportunity to generate income were not listed. In response it was clarified that consideration was being given to what content could be migrated from the council website and how best to do this.  It was an intention to keep the WISH identity separate so that people were encouraged to visit it and so to reduce reliance on council services.  However, it was noted that it needed more promotion by other partners and for library staff to access it to support members of the public to find information.  Its use needed to be promoted more by other partners, including the library, so that people could use any public facing service to access information, not just via the physical hub.

Discussion took place around the footfall to the WISH hub. It was noted that there were fluctuations in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 141.