Agenda and minutes

[To receive any apologies for absence]. 

Apologies were received from the following members of the panel:

Cllr Rashpal Kaur

Cllr Milkinderpal Jaspal

Cllr Asha Mattu

Apologies were also received from members of Fulfilled Adult Lives Scrutiny Panel who were invited to comment on agenda item 5 – Integrated Care System Strategy and Priorities

Cllr Val Evans

Cllr Jacqueline Sweetman

[To receive any declarations of interest]. 

There were no declarations of interest recorded.

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

The panel members approved the minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2022 as being a correct record

[To receive a presentation on Performance, Budget Monitoring and Medium Term Financial Strategy]. 

The Chair invited John Denley, Director of Public Health, to present the report.

The Directorof Public Health advised the panel that the presentation would cover the following areas, 2022- 2203 performance, and budget monitoring update as at Q2, the 2023-2024 – 2023-2026 draft budget and medium-term financial strategy. The presentation would also cover future challenges to the service and the details of strategic risk register within the remit of the panel.

The Director of Public Health outlined the Council’s management of its finances and the link to the Our City: Our Plan strategic priorities. The priorities were approved by Council on 2 March 2022. The presentation would focus on the priorities related to healthy, inclusive communities and the contribution of public health in achieving them.

The Director of Public Health advised that the panel comments on the draft budget plans and how they are aligned to these priorities would be included in a response to Scrutiny Board.

The Director of `Public Health outlined the main findings of the performance and budget monitoring report as at Quarter 2 and advised that overall, a forecast overspend of £1.5 million was reported across the Council.

The Director of Public Health outlined an analysis of the overall performance of the Council against 56 key performance indicators in Quarter 2.

The Director of Public Health gave details of plan to develop a range of performance measures that could help the service to better understand the key priorities and health trends within the City. The Director of Director Public Health highlighted the difficulties caused by the delay in NHS publishing key performance indicators which related to the priorities in the Our City: Our Plan health portfolio.

The Director of Public Health highlighted plans for improving the situation by developing a new set of local performance indicators to ensure the service has a robust intelligence base to better understand the health needs of the population.

The Director of Director Public Health advised the panel that the service had recently commissioned healthy lifestyle survey to better understand the health needs of the population. In total 2000 people have completed the survey and the deadline has been extended to January 2023 to achieve a target of 5000 responses. The Director added that this figure would give a much better view of the City’s health profile and the likely impact on healthy life expectancy rates in the future.

The Director of Director Public Health commented on the increase in the uptake of residents attending health checks which is higher than the national average and plans to further improve the level of uptake in the future.

The Director of Public Health outlined the forecast budget position and explained the allocation of the public health grant of £21.7 million for 2022- 2023 and a breakdown of the services which it funds.

The Director of Public Health gave an overview of the 2023 – 2024 draft budget, the MTFS 2023 -2024 to 2025 – 2026 position that was approved by Full Council  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

[A Question and Answer Session on the Integrated Care System Strategy and Priorities including One Wolverhampton]. 

[Government guidance to Heath Scrutiny Panels is attached, along with four articles taken from The King’s Fund website.  The King’s Fund is an independent charitable organisation working to improve health and care in England]. 

The Four King’s Fund Articles are:-

1)    Integrated Care Systems explained: Making sense of systems, place and neighbourhoods.

2)    The first days of Statutory Care Systems: Born into a Storm

3)    Placed Based Partnerships Explained

4)    Social Care Providers and Integrated Care Systems: Opportunities and Challenges

The Chair invited Brendan Clifford, who is leading on the development of Integrated Care Partnership (ICP)for Councils in the Black Country, to make some introductory comments on the report to the panel.  The ICP has representatives from its partner authorities who will be responsible for developing an integrated care strategy to address health, social care, and public health needs of its area.

The Chair invited Paul Tulley, Wolverhampton Managing Director Integrated Care Board (ICB), to give more details on progress of the development of the Wolverhampton ICP since they were introduced nationally in July 2022.

The Managing Director advised the panel nationally the timescale for completing the development phase of the local ICP was the end December 2022.

A development working group was set up with representatives of local authority directors. The Managing Director outlined the range of representatives from different local and national organisations who were consulted earlier in the year about the plans for the ICP and the development of the priorities.

The following areas were agreed in facilitated consultation events as being the top four issues for ICB in order of priority, workforce, children and families, social care, and mental health.

The 42 ICBs nationally will take on the commissioning functions of previous 106 clinical commissioning groups which have been abolished by Government.  In each ICB there will be partnership of local authorities who will form the ICP. The ICP will be tasked with developing an integrated care strategy to address local health, social care, and public health needs that follow national legislation and related guidance.

The panel were invited to comment on the presentation.

The panel asked for the update on progress of developing the ICB and a view about how the new arrangements will differ from that provided under the CCG and work being done to bring different organisations together.

Paul Tulley, Managing Director, Black Country Integrated Care Board, reassured the panel that organisations in Wolverhampton already had well established partnership working arrangements before the recent legislative changes were introduced. The Managing Director advised the panel that key partner organisations responsible for either commissioning or providinghealth and care services to Wolverhampton residents are represented on the ICB. There is also representation fromHealthwatch and local community and voluntary groups.

The Managing Director advised the panel that the ICB operates at the both the system and place level in Wolverhampton. There are six strategic working groups under the ICB who are responsible for coordinating the work based on priorities set by the ICB.

The work of the working groups is supported by a management team to help drive forward the changes and improvements the ICB want to achieve.

Brendan Clifford, Working for Councils in Black Country Integrated Care System, commented on the progress made to bring different health and community services together and suggested that a report be presented to the panel in six months to update the panel on progress in response to the issue raised.

The panel expressed concerns about the level of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

[The date of the next scheduled Health Scrutiny Panel is 19 January 2023 at 1:30pm-.

The draft agenda items are :-

·       Primary Care (Results of latest GP Telephone Survey from Healthwatch Wolverhampton)

·       One Wolverhampton Priorities Update

·       The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust Transport Service

·       Urology Services Monitoring Report

·       Supporting Communities through Ward Plans

The Chair advised the panel that the next scheduled meeting is 19 January 2023 and listed the reports on the agenda.

The Scrutiny Officer advised the panel that the report Supporting Communities through Ward Plans has been deferred to June 2023.

The panel discussed delays to hospital admission and long waiting times for ambulances and expressed concern on the impact on residents.

The panel discussed the factors contributing to the pressures on health and adult social care.

The panel suggested a briefing from representatives at RWHT is arranged to update the Chair and Vice Chair on current situation and the work being done to try to alleviate some of the pressures.

David Loughton, Chief Executive, RWHT, commented that the service also considered the long wait times and delays in emergency ambulance to be unacceptable and outlined the acute set of challenges facing the health and adult care sectors.

There was a commitment from all the health partners to work together while accepting that the key issue is the lack of capacity in sector available to meet the rising demand and the increased complexity of cases from people who present at A&E.

The panel discussed with the presenters the impact of Covid 19 and its ongoing effect on the health and adult social care sectors.

Resolved.

1.    The panel agreed to note the report.

2.    The panel agreed to receive a report from Healthwatch Wolverhampton about the findings from a survey about GP access concerns.

3.    The issue of hospital waiting times to be discussed at a future meeting of the panel and an informal meeting arranged with RWHT to discuss the concerns highlighted.