Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from Councillor John Riley. 

Councillor Brian Crowe declared a non-pecuniary interest in Agenda Item 6, as his property had been flooded, and remained in the room during the consideration thereof.

Councillor Brian Crowe declared a pecuniary interest in Agenda Item 6, as he held SSE shares, and remained in the room during the consideration thereof.

Councillor Ian Edwards declared a non-pecuniary interest in Agenda Item 7, as he was the Chairman of H4All, and remained in the room during the consideration thereof. 

RESOLVED:  That all items of business would be considered in public. 

The Chairman noted that there had recently been a significant amount of building development undertaken across the Borough.  It was anticipated that this, coupled with the increasing use of electric vehicles and the development of autonomous vehicles, would provide utility companies with significant infrastructure challenges. 

Affinity Water

Mr Paul Mooney, Stakeholder Manager at Affinity Water, advised that the organisation had planned a significant amount of work over the next year.  This work was focussed around, but not limited to, distribution mains renewals (burst rate and customer impact), trunk main mitigation (security of supply and customer impact) and DG2 (the number of properties at risk of experiencing water pressure below the standard set by Ofwat). 

There were currently 5 mains renewals schemes for Hillingdon in the design or feasibility study stage.  It was anticipated that these schemes would be delivered in April 2018.  As Affinity was aware that its work could be intrusive, effort was made to cause as little disruption as possible, that residents maintained access to their properties and that the work took up as few parking spaces as possible. 

Affinity's work in the Borough was coordinated with Wayne Greenshield and his team in the Council's Traffic Management Section.  Wayne's team provided a great conduit to bring the utility companies together and raise issues for their attention.  Mr Mooney was confident that Affinity's relationship with the Council and with the Environment Agency was very strong. 

Affinity Water submitted work programmes to the Traffic Management Section on a quarterly basis so that opportunities to work with other providers could be identified.  However, consideration also needed to be given to safety issues and the restriction that providers work on a limited length of road at one time.  In practice, what would usually happen would be for the different services to follow on from each other.  Although this approach was not always effective, there were some really good examples of this working well on major roads. 

It was noted that new plastic pipes provided better flow and better water quality which meant that they could be smaller but more effective/efficient and therefore often be inserted into existing pipes to reduce disruption (slip line).  Where pipes needed to be upgraded, or where a new supply was being installed, new pipes would need to be laid.  Although the debris from the old pipes was left in the ground, the physical size of the new main would depend on displacement caused by pipes bursting or directional drill as this could lift the surface and/or damage other services. 

When there was a failure on a trunk main, interruptions could be experienced by up to 2,000 customers.  To mitigate the effect of burst mains, valves were installed to reduce the main lengths.  In addition, the number of network connections were being increased to secure a better supply of water to an area when a failure occurred. 

Affinity Water held a register for DG2 improvements which included those customers that were on the borderline of service failure.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

Mr Gary Collier, the Council's Health and Social Care Integration Manager, advised that the report set out the successes and challenges of the 2016/2017 Better Care Fund (BCF) Plan as well as presenting the 2017-2019 BCF Plan which had been submitted and was expected to be approved (or approved with conditions).  Once approved, it was anticipated that the 2017-2019 Plan would be considered by Cabinet in November 2017. 

Successes from 2016/2017 included:

·         Joint working across services - this had reduced the number of hospital admissions at a time when A&E attendance was increasing (activity levels had remained the same as for 2015/2016);

·         H4All Wellbeing Service - positive results had been gained in preventing the escalation of the needs of older people with long term conditions;

·         Hospital discharge - as patient choice was a significant contributory factor to Delayed Transfer of Care (DTOC), a booklet had been produced to help support these patients and their families.  Training had also been provided for staff in relation to DTOC.  Funding had also been secured for a consultant geriatrician and nine Patient Flow Coordinators had been recruited to improve the discharge process; and

·         Carers' hub contract - this was provided by Hillingdon Carers' Partnership and led by Hillingdon Carers.  This project had been successful in attracting new resources to the Borough which was then reinvested to support carers in Hillingdon. 

It was noted that targets for five of the six national metrics had been missed in 2016/2017.  The Committee was advised that this could give a misleading picture, for example, although the emergency admissions target had been missed, the level of activity had remained at the same level as the previous period within the context of increasing numbers of older people living with more complex conditions.  It was also noted that some targets had been imposed on Hillingdon by the NHSE, e.g., emergency admissions and the effectiveness of Reablement.  The Committee was informed that a contributory factor in the rise in DTOCs had been underreporting in 2015/16.  Much work had since been done to provide a consistent understanding of the definition of a DTOC across partner organisations.  Although this had been particularly successful in respect of Hillingdon Hospital, there was still some work in progress on the verification process with other partners.  Turnover of staff was one reason why this continued to be an issue.  

Hillingdon, like many areas, had also faced market issues such as the availability of appropriate care home places.  Mr Collier noted that 2016/2017 had been anticipated as being a challenging year to deliver as the first year of the plan (2015/2016) had included work that had already been agreed.  2016/2017 was therefore more of a positional year that provided a foundation for the 2017-2019 Plan. 

Members queried what action had been taken to improve DTOCs since it was raised in 2014/2015.  Ms Joan Veysey, Deputy Chief Operating Officer at Hillingdon Clinical Commissioning Group (HCCG), advised that the focus had been on ensuring  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 6 September 2017 be agreed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 14 September 2017 be agreed as a correct record.

The Chairman read out a statement from Councillor Riley regarding the input from the Committee into the Council's response to the MOPAC consultation on its Public Access and Engagement Strategy. 

It was noted that the meeting on 11 January 2018 would look at the provision of GP services in the Heathrow Villages area.  The Committee agreed that a resident representative be invited to attend the meeting to gain their perspective of the issues that residents in the area were facing.  In addition, invitations would be extended to NHS Property Services, Hillingdon Clinical Commissioning Group and Hillingdon Local Medical Committee. 

RESOLVED:  That:

1.    a Heathrow Villages resident representative be invited to attend the meeting on 11 January 2018 as a witness; and

2.    the Work Programme be agreed.