Agenda and minutes

Councillor Phoday Jarjussey declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 5 – Provision of Health Services in the Borough, as he was a member of CNWL, and stayed in the room during the consideration thereof. 

Councillor Peter Kemp declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 5 – Provision of Health Services in the Borough, as he was an appointed governor of CNWL, and stayed in the room during the consideration thereof. 

To confirm that all items marked Part 1 will be considered in public and that any items marked Part 2 will be considered in private

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

The Chairman welcomed those present to the meeting. 

NHS Hillingdon

Mr Keith Bullen, Borough Director at NHS Hillingdon, stated that all 49 GP practices in the Borough had taken part in a two-phase ballot.  The first phase had been in relation to the selection of Board members for the Hillingdon Clinical Commissioning Group (HCCG) and the second was to establish support for involvement in the HCCG.  It was noted that 100% of the GP practices had stated that they wanted to participate in the HCCG. 

Members were advised that Hillingdon had secured CCG Pathfinder status and the associated development funding, which equated to £2 per resident.  This money would be used to support development of the consortium and for specific projects within the Hillingdon QIPP (Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention) programme.  It was noted that Price Waterhouse had been centrally appointed and funded to assist in the organisational development of HCCG.  Price Waterhouse would be working with HCCG over a six month period to help build the team and provide them with tools that they would need to function effectively. 

HCCG was already engaged in acute contract negotiations and was driving the redesign of the care pathway and clinical engagement across all providers.  HCCG’s improvements to the quality and efficiency of care pathways were being focussed around: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) / respiratory; muscular skeletal; and pain management.  Further work was being undertaken in relation to the pathway for ear, nose and throat by the Cluster.  GP practice sub groups had also been set up across the Borough and would be involved in the implementation of the new pathways.

The first phase of CCG delegated budgets (£127m) had been secured in September 2011 and had been divided between: prescribing (£32m); community services (£45m); outpatients (£45m); and direct access diagnostics (£5m).  A lead GP had been identified for each of these performance areas. 

Mr Bullen noted that there were a number of challenges that were currently being addressed by HCCG which included:

• the implementation and compliance with the new care pathways;
• the development of the specification for the Urgent Care Centre and its procurement in the new year with a commencement target of June 2012;
• establishing an efficient infrastructure for the CCG which would ensure that information was effectively cascaded to all GPs in the Borough; and
• improving integrated care across the Borough through collaborative working – this was an issue that Provider CEOs would be sponsoring as a major project over the next year. 

With regard to the financial position of NHS Hillingdon, Members were advised that the breakeven position was reliant upon delivering £13.3m of savings during the current year.  £10m of these savings would be achieved through the plan that was already in place and it was anticipated that the remaining savings would be realised through Project Gamma.  The focus was concentrated on providing the same quality of service (or an improved service) whilst improving affordability.  If the savings programmes failed to achieve their targets, it  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

Consideration was given to the Committee’s Work Programme for 2011/2012. 

The Committee was advised that the application for Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS) expert advisor support had been successful and that the Council had been allocated three days of support in relation to the Dementia review that would start in January 2012.  Democratic Services officers had already met with the expert advisor to discuss the logistics of setting up one or two half day stakeholder events in December 2011 and would investigate the timings and locations of these sessions with some of the stakeholders. 

It was agreed that, subject to agreement by the Whips, the Dementia Working Group would comprise Councillors Kemp, Gilham, Major, Jarjussey and White.  These Councillors would be invited to take part in the stakeholder events in December.  The events would be used to identify what services and support were currently available and what was required and then identify where the shortcomings were.  The findings from the stakeholder events would then be used to provide focus for the review.  Consideration would also need to be given to scheduling the Working Group meeting dates. 

It was noted that the External Services Scrutiny Committee meeting scheduled for 23 November 2011 had been cancelled and that there would instead be a Re-Offending Working Group meeting taking place on that date. 

In addition to a request for updates on the wheelchair service and the London Ambulance Service, Members requested that the meeting scheduled for 11 January 2012 regarding Healthwatch include the following invitees:

• Anne Rainsbury – Deputy Chief Executive of NHS London
• Nick Relph – Chief Executive of the Outer North West London PCT Cluster
• Jeff Zitron – Chairman of the Outer North West London PCT Cluster

It was noted that Transforming Community Equipment Services (TCES) be considered as a future agenda topic. 

RESOLVED:  That:

1. the report be noted;
2. the Whips be contacted regarding the configuration of the Dementia Working Group and that consideration be given to scheduling the meeting dates; and
3. the Committee meeting scheduled for 11 January 2012 include updates on the wheelchair service and Ambulance Service and that the invitees to that meeting in relation to the Healthwatch item include Anne Rainsbury, Nick Relph and Jeff Zitron.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 21 September 2011 be agreed as a correct record.