Archived decisions

AT A MEETING of the HEALTH REVIEW COMMITTEE of the COUNTY COUNCIL held at The Castle, Winchester on Tuesday, 25 January 2005.

PRESENT

Councillors: Dr. R.J. Ellis (Chairman); Mrs. A.M. McNair Scott (Vice-Chairman);

Mrs. P.G. Banks; I.F.E. Beagley; Mrs A. Buckley; K.G. Chapman; C. Connor;
G.W. Davis-Dear; Mrs. P. Dickens; K. Evans; Mrs K. Heron; Mrs. P.G.E. Holden-Brown; P.K. Mason; R.C. McIntosh; A. Mitchell; Mrs. E.M.F. Randall; K.P.J. Searle;
Mrs. P.A. West; D. Welch; D.F. Wright.

Also in attendance: Councillor F. Charlton (Portsmouth City Council); Felicity Hindson, MBE (Executive Member - Social Care); B. Parnell (Southampton City Council)

106. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that where they believed that they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should normally, at the time of debate, declare their interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter is discussed.

Councillor Mrs. P. Dickens declared a personal interest in that she is employed by the NHS; Councillor P.K. Mason declared a personal interest in that he is employed by the Ambulance Service; Councillor Mrs. P.A. West declared a personal interest in that her daughter-in-law is employed by the Ambulance Service and Councillor D.F. Wright declared a personal interest in that his wife is a General Practice Manager.

107. MINUTES

The Minutes of the Meetings of the Committee held on 26 and 30 November 2004 were, subject to Councillor I.F.E. Beagley being added to the attendance list of the meeting held on 30 November 2004, confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

108. CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

    (a) New Member

    The Chairman welcomed Councillor Mrs. Buckley, who had replaced Councillor Dowden, to the Committee and thanked Councillor Dowden for his hard work on the Committee.

    (b) Conferences/Meetings

    The Chairman reported that the Vice-Chairman and Health Review Manager had attended a meeting of the Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council Community Scrutiny Meeting on 11 January to present the role of the Committee and the way in which it was working with partners. Yesterday he had attended a meeting of the South East Region Health Scrutiny Chairmen. He would be attending a Centre for Health Scrutiny event on 4 February; The Democratic Health Network training event on health consultation on 22 February and a national meeting to discuss health and the countryside on 24 February.

    (c) New Forest Primary Care Trust

    The Chairman advised Members of a letter that had been received from New Forest Primary Care Trust regarding a significant deterioration in its financial position and that it would be introducing a financial recovery plan to make £7.7m savings by 31 March 2005.

    (d) Penny Velander

    The Chairman reported that Penny would be leaving to take up a post with New Forest District Council. He thanked her for all her hard work for the Committee.

109. DEPUTATIONS

There were no deputations to this meeting.

110. THE FUTURE OF HEALTH SERVICE IN FAREHAM AND GOSPORT

The Chief Executive presented a report on the responses given by Fareham and Gosport Primary Care Trust (PCT) on the Committee's recommendations and representations made about the proposed health services in the area (Item 5 in the Minute Book). The Chairman welcomed representatives of the PCT to the meeting who answered detailed questions about the proposals and the representations made about them. He outlined the options open to the Committee which were:-

    · To confirm that the PCT's preferred option, which was shown in Appendix 6 to the Chief Executive's report, was in the interests of the health service in the area

    · To request further information from or action by the PCT

    · For the Committee to sit as a formal "select committee" to consider the decision by the PCT

    · To request for an informal evaluation of the proposals by the Independent Reconfiguration Panel

    · To formally refer the proposals to the Secretary of State for Health

    in considering the issues Members said that the PCT had carried out a robust consultation process. However, they raised concerns about the parking and traffic implications would have on Gosport; the lack of input from the Ministry of Defence had had on the valuation of the Royal Haslar Hospital site; the situation following the Ministry of Defence withdrawing from Royal Haslar Hospital in 2007 and the completion of the redevelopment of Queen Alexandra Hospital; commitments made to local people in 2000, particularly with regard to day surgery; the impact of any new developments on the services planned for the area; and the configuration of minor injury services and services, such as rehabilitation to be provided at the proposed Coldeast Community Hospital and the use of assets. Members were of the opinion that sufficient doubt had been raised about the robustness of the financial information that was material to the decision of the PCT Board and that local people needed to be confident that the way forward was right for them. They took the view that the matter should be referred to the Secretary of State for urgent consideration.

    RESOLVED:

    That Fareham and Gosport PCT's proposals for the future of health services in Fareham and Gosport be formally referred to the Secretary of State for Health with a request that the proposals are evaluated by the Independent Reconfiguration Panel as a matter of urgency.

111. INQUIRIES RECEIVED AND ACTION TAKEN

The Chief Executive presented a report on inquiries received, the source of each injury and the action taken (Item 6 in the Minute Book). He gave details of the priorities for the 2005/06 work programme; Beyond Health Fit; Out of Hours Services and Orthopaedic Choice. The Chairman introduced Dean Garrett, Project Manager, Modernisation Director, Eastleigh and Test Valley South PCT, who gave a presentation on Orthopaedic Choice.

RESOLVED:

That:-

    (a) The report be received and the actions outlined in the report be endorsed.

    (b) Dean Garrett be thanked for his presentation.

112. PROPOSALS TO DEVELOP OR VARY NHS SERVICES

The Chief Executive presented a report on proposals from NHS to vary or develop health services in the area of the Committee (Item 7 in the Minute Book). He presented the report in two parts which comprised of items for information which alerted the Committee to forthcoming proposals from the NHS to vary or change services and items for action which set out the actions required by the Committee to respond to proposals from the NHS to substantially change or vary NHS services.



Under items for information he gave details on:

Mid and South West Hants Cluster: Surgical Services Reconfiguration

Members were advised of proposals for surgical services reconfiguration and it was now necessary for the case of need and the option for providing surgical services to the population needs to be established to allow Members to determine if such changes would be substantial.

Winchester and Eastleigh Health Care Trust: temporary closure of Endoscopy Services at Andover War Memorial Community Hospital

Following the report to the last meeting of the temporary closure of the Endoscopy Services at Andover War Memorial Community Hospital an update on the position would be presented to the Committee in March 2005.

Under items requiring action he gave details on:-

Blackwater Valley and Hart PCT: Modernising Health Services at Fleet Hospital

Proposals focused on maintaining services in the community as close to people's homes as possible.

Maternity Services in South East Hampshire

The Portsmouth City PCT had distributed a document on "Better Maternity Services" and Members appointed to the Joint Committee would provide regular updates.

Department of Health: Future Arrangements for the support of Patient and Public Involvement in Health

The Chief Executive had prepared a draft response to the consultation which was shown as appendix 1 to the report.

Framework for Assessing Substantial Change

The framework had been approved by the Hampshire, Southampton, Portsmouth and Isle of Wight Health Scrutiny Joint Committee and had been shared with NHS senior staff and the Independent Reconfiguration Panel. The closing date for comments and feedback was 15 March 2005.

Healthcare Commission: Performance Assessment Framework

The Chief Executive had prepared a draft response to the consultation which is shown as Appendix 2 to the report.




Commission for Social Care Inspection: Consultation on Draft Standards for Improving the Regulatory Process

The Chief Executive had prepared a draft response to the consultation which was shown as Appendix 3 to the report.

RESOLVED:

That:

    (a) Mid and South West Hants Cluster: Surgical Services Reconfiguration

      (i) The Hampshire, Southampton, Portsmouth and Isle of Wight Health Scrutiny Joint Committee be advised of the overview and Scrutiny Committees whose populations will be affected by the proposed changes.

      (ii) The Committees be briefed on the joint arrangements established.

      (iii) The draft framework for assessing substantial change informs the development of the proposals for reconfiguring surgical services.

    (b) Winchester and Eastleigh Health Care NHS Trust: temporary closure of Endoscopy Services at Andover War Memorial Community Hospital

    The Committee be apprised of any decisions taken with regard to the Endoscopy Service at Andover War Memorial Community Hospital at its meeting in March 2005.

    (c) Blackwater Valley and Hart PCT: Modernising Health Services at Fleet Hospital

    Any comments members wish to make to the PCT on the proposal be sent to the Chairman by 7 February 2005.

    (d) Maternity Services in South East Hampshire

      (i) The document produced by Portsmouth City PCT be noted.

      (ii) The Committee be apprised of the progress of the joint committee on a regular basis.

    (e) Department of Health: Future Arrangements for the support of Patients and Public Involvement in Health

    The draft response be agreed.

    (f) Framework for Assessing Substantial Change

    The outcome of the consultation process be reported to the next meeting of the Committee.

    (g) Healthcare Commission: Performance Assessment Framework

    The response to the Healthcare Commission be agreed.

    (h) Commission for Social Care Inspection: Consultation on Draft Standards for Improving the Regulatory Process

    The draft response to the Commission for Social Care Inspection be agreed.

113. HEALTH REVIEW - PROGRESS REPORT

The Chief Executive presented a report on the progress of the reviews of Access to Therapy Services for Children in School and Pre-School and Access to Podiatry Services for People with Diabetes (Item 8 in the Minute Book). A number of agencies had failed to respond to the deadline of 7 January 2005 and, due to the poor response the presentation of the final report to the meeting of the Committee could not be achieved.

RESOLVED:

That:

    (a) The delay to the reviews due to agencies not responding by the required deadline be noted with concern.

    (b) The final report on the reviews be presented to the Committee in March 2005.

114. ROYAL BOURNEMOUTH AND CHRISTCHURCH HOSPITALS NHS TRUST - APPOINTMENT OF FOUNDATION TRUST GOVERNOR

The Chief Executive presented a report recommending the appointment of a Foundation Trust Governor (Item 9 in the Minute Book).

RESOLVED:

That Councillor Mrs Heron be appointed as a Foundation Trust Governor to the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Trust.

115. HAMPSHIRE, SOUTHAMPTON, PORTSMOUTH AND ISLE OF WIGHT HEALTH SCRUTINY JOINT COMMITTEE

The Chief Executive reported that, following the resignation of Councillor Bayford, it was necessary to appoint another representative to the Joint Committee.

RESOLVED:

That Councillor Connor be appointed to the Hampshire, Southampton, Portsmouth and Isle of Wight Health Scrutiny Joint Committee.

4JM530105