Agenda item

To consider the engagement plan for Public Health Community Services and the procurement approach set out for the re-commissioning of Public Health Community Services post April 2016.

Ros Jervis, Service Director, Public Health and Well Being, and Juliet Grainger, Commissioning Manager provided a summary of the report. 

The Commissioning Manager explained the process to commission, procure and manage Public Health contracts post March 2016. Current service provision provided by GPs and Pharmacists would come to an end in March or May 2016. She explained that the Council was obliged to re-commission the services under financial regulations and contract procedure, and that this programme of work was agreed by CRP in December 2014 and contracts due to be issued on 1 April 2016.

The Commissioning Manager explained that a number of engagement events had already taken place, including market warming events to explain about procurement.

Cllr Craig Collingswood voiced concern that discarded syringes were of concern in his ward, large amounts of needles and equipment were discarded in the vicinity of the pharmacy, both new and used.  He asked if the arrangements for needle exchange required a one for one exchange. The Service Director advised that the Council could not impose a one in one out scheme and proposed to use a pick and mix scheme for needle exchange. She advised that work was on-going to work with pharmacies that want to participate.

Cllr Stephen Simkins asked if local police had been involved in the consultation and if there were enough needle disposal bins provided on the streets as part of the crime, drugs and alcohol prevention measures.  The Service Director advised that there had been a problem in the Whitmore Reans for some time and that local partners are working together to address the issues and tackle tasks to make a difference such as clearing bushes etc. The helicopter view of issues enables partners to work together better on every aspect of the issue, this was considered to be education in its broadest sense.

Cllr Wendy Thompson voiced concerns that residents were tired of the issues, resources were being used addressing the same issues and that as people moved in and out of the area the issues and education about them were repetitive. She suggested that a very sure effort would be needed to sort out standards in the area and that with increasing population of migrants mixed with poor housing standards the task was huge.

The Service Director advised that in terms of the wider determinates many were in place, the social determinates indicate a more settled community and that this is something the Council is getting involved with.  She advised of the work Public Health and Housing Team are undertaking to rate landlords and how the Housing team is promoting healthy lifestyle and health improvement while working with the landlords about private rented sector housing.

Cllr Peter O’Neill referred to the issue of discarded needles and he asked if needle packs could be stamped during production to identify which batch or pharmacy discarded needles had come from.

The Service Director advised that the registration process would require that pharmacies demonstrate quality control measures and quality standards.

The Commissioning Manager advised that she would follow up enquiries from the Panel to understand whether syringes could be barcoded/colour coded to identify the pharmacy of issue. 

In response to a question from David Hellyar, Health Watch co-optee, the Service Director advised that Health Guidelines go against one for one exchange to protect the individual from further harm though re-use of needles and to protect against blood born viruses. She confirmed that it is feasible to have discussions through forums at Regional and National level to ascertain whether syringes can be coded in some way on the syringe not on the packaging.

The Panel asked for confirmation that the contracts would not be sub contracted.  The Service Director confirmed that initially the contract would be for a single provider service and suggested that in the future this can be looked at if and when required. 

Resolved:

That the Panel endorse the engagement plan for Public Health Community Services and that comments made during the discussion be taken into account.