Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Martin Stevens  Tel: 01902 550947 or Email: martin.stevens@wolverhampton.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies and Substitutions

[To receive any apologies for absence and notification of any substitutions]. 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

An apology for absence was received from Panel Member, Cllr Rashpal Kaur.

 

Cllr Jasbir Jaspal sent her apologies as the Portfolio Holder for Public Health and Wellbeing. 

 

Marsha Foster had submitted her apologies as a representative of the Black Country Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

 

Vanessa Whatley, Deputy Chief Nurse, The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, sent her apologies.  

 

There were no substitutions. 

2.

Declarations of Interest

[To receive any declarations of interest].

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Tracy Cresswell declared a pecuniary interest on agenda item 6, Healthwatch engagement pre-tender activity. 

3.

Minutes of previous meeting pdf icon PDF 492 KB

[To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record].

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 24 March 2021 were confirmed as a correct record. 

4.

Wolverhampton Covid-19 Outbreak Control Plan – 2021 refresh pdf icon PDF 313 KB

[To scrutinise the Wolverhampton Covid-19 Outbreak Control Plan – 2021 refresh]. 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Director of Public Health introduced a report on the Wolverhampton Covid-19 Outbreak Control Plan – 2021 refresh.  The Covid landscape had changed dramatically right the way through the pandemic to date. This had consequently led to the plan being refreshed. 

 

The Director for Public Health presented a slide on the subject of, “What we’ve learned so far.”  He cited six important themes,

 

·       Shared Ownership

·       Shared Cultures

·       Shared Information

·       Shared Trust

·       Shared Goals

·       Shared Capacity

 

He showed a slide on the governance local arrangements, which highlighted the complexity of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.  The refreshed plan had seven key themes, which he listed as follows :-

 

·       Theme 1 – Care homes and educational settings

·       Theme 2 – Higher risk settings, communities and locations (including compliance and enforcement)

·       Theme 3 – Community Testing

·       Theme 4 – Contract Tracing

·       Theme 5 – Data integration and information sharing

·       Theme 6 – Vulnerable communities (including support to self-isolation)

·       Theme 7 – Governance and local boards

 

The Director of Public Health with regards to Care Homes commented it was important to provide as much support as possible, including specialist advice to limit the impact of the virus.  It was important to continue to support care settings to increase vaccine uptake within staff.  Looking ahead to the winter it was important measures were in place to reduce the risk of infection. 

 

The Director of Public Health with reference to Care Homes remarked that they had to ensure every possible support had been offered to these settings to contain and manage possible outbreaks. It was also important that education could continue at University in a safe manner. 

 

The Director of Public Health commented that they continued to support businesses at scale to access routine lateral flow testing.  They were also being proactive and reactive to enforcement activities working with West Midlands Police and Environmental Health.  They would proactively support businesses to re-open safely as lockdown eased and continue to collaborate with partner agencies, supporting workplaces to comply with legislation and guidance.  He praised the response from the faith groups within the City, in terms of leading the response within their communities.

 

The Director of Public Health presented a slide on community testing.  The City had been one of the first in the country to have a drive through testing site in partnership with NHS colleagues.  It was also one of the first to have community mobile testing programme and one of the first in the region to have mass testing.  This has been particularly valuable at Christmas time, when there had been a peek of the UK variant.  He was also pleased with the work of the local contact tracing team.  Data integration and sharing had been invaluable.  Lessons from this could be taken forward into the future, including as part of the Relighting Our City Strategy. 

 

The Director of Public Health highlighted the importance of getting as many people in the City to have their vaccine and as quickly as possible.  With time vaccine  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Public Health - Annual Report 2020 - 2021 (Draft) pdf icon PDF 136 KB

[To scrutinise and comment on the draft Public Health Annual Report 2020 -2021]. 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Director of Public Health presented the Public Health Annual Report 2020-2021.  A copy of the presentation slides are attached to the signed minutes.  He thanked the Portfolio Holder for Public Health and Wellbeing and the two members of staff who had led on the production of the report, Neeraj Malhorta (Consultant in Public Health) and Emily Hackett (Senior Public Health Specialist). 

 

A Panel Member praised the Public Health Annual report and in particular the individual Ward profiles at the end of the report.  She acknowledged the exemplary corporate response to the pandemic.  She however highlighted that the UK was one of the most unequal countries in Europe.  There was still a great deal of work to do, Covid-19 had amplified the inequality within the country.  With reference to domestic violence, she stated that she was the Councillor observer on the Haven Board and confirmed that demand for the service had exceeded the supply over the period of lockdown.  They were exceeding the numbers for which they had been contracted to do and suggested this was an area which could be looked at by Officers in the future.  She noted that cancer screening had declined as would have been expected.  She added that this would mean poorer outcomes for people in the future, when cancer was finally discovered.  She remarked that she wanted to see safe cycle routes into the City Centre.  She did not believe there was a safe route from Bilston into the City Centre at the current time.

 

The Director of Public Health on the matter of domestic abuse promoted the importance of partnership working to help people that were vulnerable to domestic abuse.  He preferred to think of it in this way rather than from a purely contractual perspective.  Creating stability to be able to respond and growing the service in relation to the need was key.  He saw cancer screening as part of the “Relight our City” agenda.  Responding to try and improve the situation was key.  With reference to cycling there were key elements, ownership of a bike, ability to ride a bike and being able to ride a bike in a safe environment.  The third part was a challenge, safe routes and helmets were important. 

 

The Chief Executive of the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust commented that safety for cycling also included personal security.  A number of his staff used to cycle on the Canal tow path into the City Centre.  They had now stopped doing this as a Member of his staff was pushed into the canal with his bike after his wallet had been taken.  He commented that people were presenting with cancers at a higher stage than would have been preferable.  This was clearly a concern going forward.  They were doing everything they could to ramp up the cancer services as rapidly as possible.

 

A Panel Member asked about the percentage of houses with one or more category one hazards.   He asked for more information about the seriousness of the situation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Healthwatch Pre-Tender Engagement Activity pdf icon PDF 382 KB

[The current Healthwatch (Wolverhampton) contract is due for renewal in April 2022. The Council wishes to engage with local people including key partners in health and social care, service users and their families/carers in order to shape and enhance the new Healthwatch (Wolverhampton) provision].

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Deputy Director for Adult Services presented the item on Healthwatch pre-tender engagement activity.  She stated that the Healthwatch contract was up for renewal next year, when the current contract came to an end in March 2022.  Given the importance of Healthwatch, particularly in the current climate and as the country began to recover from Covid and learn from the last 18 months, it was crucial that the voices of people in the City were heard.  Lived experience was incredibly important to Adult Services when they were delivering services and improving the delivery of service.  It was essential to the practice model in Wolverhampton.  They were keen to obtain the views of Members of the Health Scrutiny Panel, so these could be incorporated into the work on the contract. 

 

The Commissioning Officer gave a presentation on Healthwatch Wolverhampton.  The engagement exercise was to inform the development of the service specification.  They wanted to hear the views of the general public and stakeholders to see what they could do to improve the service specification.  A 12-week consultation had taken place which ran from the 1 April 2021 to 24 June 2021.  The consultation process had taken place online because of Covid-19.  It had been promoted through press releases, various websites and media platforms including CCG, Wolverhampton Voluntary Sector Council and the current Healthwatch Wolverhampton service, in addition to individual communications aimed at all Social Care providers. 

 

The Commissioning Officer commented that whilst the official engagement exercise had finished, she was still happy to incorporate any feedback from the Health Scrutiny Panel, up until the point when the official document had to be submitted to procurement for the official tender process.  The new service had to be in place by 1 April 2022.  There had also been four on-line workshop meetings.  She had been working with Children and Young people to support input specifically from young people through an on-line workshop. 

 

The Commissioning Officer remarked that the overarching purpose of Healthwatch Wolverhampton was to improve local health and Social Care services through:-

 

 

·       Championing the views of local people who use health and Social Care services by ensuring that their collective voices are heard, and views and experiences are used to improve existing services and to help shape future provision at both an operational and strategic level.

 

·       Ensuring that action is taken to resolve concerns and problems in relation to services and to prevent them from arising again. 

 

·       Signposting individuals to the most appropriate services.

 

 

All local Healthwatch’s had an overall arching body, Healthwatch England. They determined to a large extent the operational parameters for all local Healthwatch organisations.  The parameters were as follows: -

·       Promoting and supporting the involvement of people in the commissioning and scrutiny of local services.

 

·       Enabling people to monitor the standard or provision of local services and to influence improvements.

 

·       Obtaining people’s views of local services and making them known to relevant organisations.

 

·       Reporting / recommending improvements to services.

 

·       Providing advice and information about access to local services.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.