Agenda and minutes

The apologies of Councillor Allen were noted.

Councillor Finn declared that she was employed as a Mental Health Social Worker for NHS Professionals at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust and her husband was a Trustee of Solent Mental Health Service.

Councillor Kenny declared that she was a Member of Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust and her husband was a Governor of Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.

Councillor Noon declared that he worked in Adult Social Care.

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 19 October 2023 and to deal with any matters arising, attached.

RESOLVED: that the minutes for the Panel meeting on 19 October 2023 be approved and signed as a correct record.

The Panel considered the report of the Scrutiny Manager which enabled the Panel to discuss developments relating to Project Fusion, the programme of work to create a single new NHS Trust to provide community, mental health and learning disability services across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

Ron Shields, Chief Executive, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust; and James House, Managing Director, Southampton Place, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board; were in attendance and, with the consent of the Chair, addressed the meeting.

The Panel discussed a number of points including:

·  The new trust would be a large organisation that would benefit from improved economies of scale and an increased pool of resources that can be used to deliver services.

·  There was a wide variation in service delivery across the footprint of the new organisation. There were good reasons for some variations in service delivery but there were instances where variation was not warranted or beneficial.

·  The new trust would provide services designed to be delivered locally to meet the identified needs of residents in each community.

·  Frontline delivery in areas where services were efficient and effective would remain the same. Changes would be focused on improving and developing services where performance was poor, services were inefficient, or where gaps in provision had been identified.

RESOLVED 

1)  That the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust would be invited to provide an update on the Trust’s first three months of operation at the Panels meeting in June 2024.

2)  That, reflecting the focus on reducing unwarranted variation across the wide footprint of the new organisation, assurance would be provided to the Panel that, when the newly formed NHS Foundation Trust is operating, the Southampton local operating system would have the flexibility and financial protections required to deliver high quality services that met the needs of the residents of Southampton. 

3)  That, the public communications planned to accompany the launch of the new NHS Trust would be shared with the Panel in advance to enable members to sense check the information.

The Panel considered the report of the Scrutiny Manager which recommended that the Panel considered and challenged the appended information from the Executive Director of Wellbeing and Housing.

Councillor Fielker, Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Housing, and Clare Edgar, Executive Director Wellbeing and Housing were in attendance and, with the consent of the Chair, addressed the meeting.

The Panel discussed a number of points including:

·  The challenges associated with reporting the changes being planned and delivered across Adult Social Care services, through the transformation programme, at the appropriate level of detail for the Panel to consider.

·  The financial pressures to close the funding gap had provided a focus for the transformation programme to be delivered at pace within agreed timescales.

·  The performance information reported to the Panel needed to be reviewed to enable elected members to better understand how well Adult Social Care Services in Southampton were performing.  This would enable the Panel to focus on areas of highest risk and poor performance.

·  The customer management system was still presenting challenges to reporting accurate service performance.

·  Information relating to the support provided to carers in Southampton was not included in the report.

RESOLVED 

1)  That, reflecting concerns about the Panel’s ability to utilise the performance information currently provided to effectively hold decision makers to account, consideration would be given to the dataset to be presented to the Panel moving forward.  The Panel’s initial request was that they would be provided with the information presented to the Cabinet Member at Cabinet Member Briefings.

2)  That the Panel would be kept informed and updated of the Adult Social Care budget proposals to enable the membership to scrutinise and comment on the measures.

3)  That key performance information relating to the support provided to carers in Southampton would be circulated to the Panel.

The Panel received and noted the report of the Scrutiny Manager which enabled the Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel to monitor and track progress on recommendations made at previous meetings.

The Panel noted that the issue of delayed discharge, raised during the discussion on winter pressures, was scheduled for consideration at the February 2024 meeting.

The Panel also noted that the requested information on NHS Dentistry had been received and would be considered by the Panel at a future meeting.