Agenda and minutes

It was noted that Councillor Ali Milani would be attending the meeting but would be a little late. 

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

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 12 February 2019 be agreed as a correct record.  

The Chairman noted that this was the third meeting of the Committee that had been set up to look at the provision of hospice services in the North of the Borough.  He welcomed those present to the meeting and thanked them for attending. 

It was noted that the Committee brought partners together in an environment which generated discussion.  Members were aware that a significant amount of work had been undertaken behind the scenes by all parties involved and that this had resulted in real progress. 

Ms Sarah Brierley, Acting Director of Strategy at East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust (ENH), advised that she was grateful to the Chairman for meeting with her and ENH’s Chief Executive, Mr Nick Carver, to help to move things along.  Ms Brierley noted that hindsight was a wonderful thing and that the Trust recognised that it had not engaged or communicated the challenges it had experienced regarding the environment soon enough.  She apologised that there had not been timely or clear communication.  Moving forward, Ms Brierley was delighted that the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and commissioners had shown great leadership and desire to develop a model for the future that would meet the needs of the community. 

Mr Richard Sumray, Chair of The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (THH) Board, advised that the Trust had not been involved in the decision to close the unit.  There had been some discussion with ENH in 2017 about building / maintenance works that had been needed and which had subsequently been carried out.  More recently, the issue had been in relation to the extent to which work was needed to get the building back into service.  At this stage, THH had not been asked to take action in relation to the inpatient unit building. 

Mr Sumray advised that the original agreement to lease the building to ENH had been made virtually overnight in around 2005.  This had not been uncommon practice at the time.  Since then, putting a lease in place had proved to be much more of a challenge than anticipated.  Work had been undertaken to put a service level agreement (SLA) in place between THH and ENH since the Committee’s last meeting.  Although consideration had been given to the transfer of the freehold, this had not proved feasible so, once the SLA had been signed and was in place, a lease would be amicably drawn up. 

The current situation had proved to be unusual as there were a large number of organisations involved with responsibility for different aspects of the service.  Mr Sumray noted that, if ENH was not involved in the service provision, the building would pass back to THH and consideration could then be given to future arrangements. 

Dr Steve Hajioff, the Council’s Director of Public Health, advised that the majority of the problems experienced by individuals occurred because there was an interface between two different organisations.  There were often gaps in the interface between organisations which individuals could fall down.  An integrated care  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

Consideration was given to the Committee’s Work Programme.  It was noted that the next meeting on 13 March 2019 would be looking at post office services in the Borough. 

As it was likely that the next update on progress regarding the reopening of the Michael Sobell Hospice (MSH) inpatient unit would be brief, it was agreed that the item be included on the agenda for the meeting on 12 June 2019.  Concern was expressed that staff being TUPE transferred across might think that the service provided in the inpatient unit was for cancer patients only.  As such, it would be important that Hillingdon Clinical Commissioning Group ensured that the service specification highlighted that the service was for ALL terminal patients and not just those with cancer. 

It was recognised that a lot of work had been going on in the background with regard to MSH.  This work had helped partners to come together and make progress in reopening the MSH inpatient unit.

Members queried whether there were any other NHS services within the Borough that did not have a contract.  It was thought that this was unlikely but not impossible. 

It was agreed that the Committee look at dental service provision in the Borough at its meeting on 9 October 2019.  Dr Hajioff advised that fluoride varnishing for school aged children had been delivered to the Borough by NHS England and conversations were ongoing about repeating the initiative.  He would need to check to see if there was fluoride in the water in Hillingdon.  Members were asked to forward their thoughts and ideas around dentists to the Democratic Services Manager as soon as possible. 

Members were delighted to note that Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust had been rated as ‘Good’ following their recent CQC reinspection. 

RESOLVED:  That:

1.    an MSH update be added to the meeting on 12 June 2019;

2.    Members provide the Democratic Services Manager with their thoughts and ideas on dentists as soon as possible for scrutiny at the meeting on 9 October 2019; and

3.    the amended Work Programme be noted.