Agenda and minutes

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 7 November 2024 and to deal with any matters arising, attached.

RESOLVED: that the minutes for the Panel meeting on 7 November 2024 be approved and signed as a correct record.

The Panel considered the report of Healthwatch Southampton which updated the Panel on the current health and social care issues being raised by the public to Healthwatch Southampton.

Amanda Kelly, Healthwatch Southampton Manager was in attendance and, with the consent of the Chair, addressed the meeting.

The Panel discussed a number of points including:

·  Healthwatch was part of a national network that guided councils and local decision makers on public views regarding health services.  Feedback was gathered by Healthwatch through surveys, community engagement events and visits to local health services throughout the year.

·  The priorities remained similar to the previous year with most comments from the public focussing on access to GP appointments, dental services, adult mental health and day services.

·  Members felt there were many residents who were not aware of Healthwatch Southampton.

·  Promotional material was distributed to health centres however it had been observed that there were fewer poster and leaflets on display in waiting rooms since the pandemic.

·  There had been an increase in the number of people who completed the Healthwatch survey this year.

·  There had been a steady rise in the number of reports of problems with getting to appointments and Healthwatch had initiated research to look at how people travel to access appointments at the local hospitals.

RESOLVED  that, to raise the profile of Healthwatch Southampton and the important role the organisation played, Healthwatch Southampton would seek to promote itself as widely as possible, including posters and leaflets in Southampton GP practices.

The Panel considered the report of the Scrutiny Manager which recommended that the Panel challenged and considered the appended information provided by the Director of Adult Social Care, relating to the performance of Community Wellbeing services, the current financial position of the service and the service transformation programme.

Adult Learning Disability Residential Respite Service User Group Representatives, Lynette Hall, Pat Larmond and Amanda Guest; Way Ahead Representative, Alex Grant; Southampton City Council Officers, Robert Henderson, Executive Director for Community Wellbeing, Children and Learning; Kay Reeve, Director of Adult Social Care and Councillor Finn, Cabinet Member for Adults and Health were in attendance and, with the consent of the Chair, addressed the meeting.

Kay Reeve, Director of Adult Social Care, provided the Panel with an overview of the performance of Adult Social Care services in Southampton and an update on the service transformation programme.

The Panel discussed a number of points including:

·  The requirement for further development of the performance dashboard. Consultants from Newton (Europe) had been engaged to assist with the development of performance metrics for the service.

·  A new performance lead had been appointed to collate and analyse data and drive improvement plans for the service.

·  Clarity of purpose and roles within the service had been established, and service development focused on making processes more efficient, promoting cultural transformation, with clear values, and career paths for staff.

·  The number of people who had indicated they were satisfied with the decisions reached at the end of safeguarding investigations had increased.

·  The new home care framework had led to an increase in satisfaction with the speed of arranging home care from when the request was made.

·  Direct payments were still underutilised but the increased visibility provided by the virtual wallet that had been introduced had helped to identify where more support was needed.

·  The whole life pathway transformation programme focussed on the themes of living well and ageing well, good decision making enabled, putting in place the right support at the right time to help promote independence, prevent people from needing more intensive care, and to help people return to living independently after hospital discharge.

·  Transformation also focused on ensuring that young adults were supported to, where possible, live independently in the community rather than being placed in residential care.

·  The consultation phase for proposed changes to overnight residential respite for adults with learning disabilities was ongoing. The proposals aimed to achieve best value and economies of scale for the council by providing services directly, which would help to achieve budget savings whilst maintaining service quality.

·  Representatives in attendance raised concerns about the consultation process, the potential impact of the options proposed on service users and carers, the potential long-term cost to the council and the NHS associated with the options presented, and the lack of trust in the council. 

·  The representatives expressed appreciation for the quality of service that was being provided at Weston Court by the current service provider. 

·  Reflecting concerns about the limited financial information provided, representatives requested  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

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.

It was noted that the South Central Ambulance Service Improvement Programme update was still in progress and would be provided soon.