Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance at this meeting of the following duly appointed Reserve Members:-

RESOLVED:  To note that the following interests were declared:

All Agenda Items

CouncillorKairul Kareema Marikar declared a non-pecuniary interest in that she carried out voluntary work for the Harrow Association of Disabled People and worked in the mental health field.  She would remain in the room whilst the matters were considered and voted upon.

Councillor Chris Mote declared a interest in that his daughter was employed at Northwick Park Hospital.  He would remain in the room whilst the matters were considered and voted upon.

RESOLVED: That Councillor Margaret Davine be appointed Vice-Chair for the 2015/16 Municipal Year.

RESOLVED: To note that no public questions or petitions were received at this meeting.

RESOLVED: To note that none were received.

RESOLVED:  That the following nominees be appointed as Advisers to the Sub-Committee for the 2015/16 Municipal Year:

1.            Mr Julian Maw (HealthWatch Harrow)

2.            Dr Nizar Merali (Harrow Local Medical Committee)

The Sub-Committee received an update report on the outcomes of the Joint Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 3 March 2015.

Following questions from Members, an officer advised that as part of its inspection of the London Ambulance Service (LAS), the Care Quality Commission (CQC) had requested Harrow to provide feedback to the CQC regarding the LAS’s performance locally, and that Members’ comments had been fed back to the CQC.

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Divisional Director of Strategic Commissioning which provided an update on the work of the Harrow Healthwatch.

Following questions and comments from Members of the Sub-Committee, an officer advised that

·                     the new contract for Healthwatch Harrow had been awarded to Harrow in Business for a further three years, with the option to extend the contract for an additional two years;

·                     the Council decided to reduce the budget for Healthwatch by 43% for the current and future financial years.  The reduction equated to approximately £80k.  The decision to reduce the budget was related to the volume of activity that the service needed to undertake rather than being based around the indicative un-ring-fenced grant that the Government had provided;

·                     a report regarding Healthwatch Harrow’s priorities and work programme for 2015/16 would be submitted to the next meeting of the Sub-Committee.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Corporate Director of Community, Health & Wellbeing which set out the main elements of the Harrow Local Account Report 2013/14.

Following a brief overview of the report, an officer responded to questions and comments as follows:

·                     the Local Account document had been a collaborative project and been co-produced with service users and carers and was aimed at the whole community;

·                     a 6-month review of the implementation of the Care Act would be carried out in October 2015 and this would be reported at a future meeting of the Sub-Committee;

·                     there had been a 15% increase in demand for Adult Social Care, however, the anticipated  demand from carers had been lower but is likely to increase over the year;

·                     service users, carers and third sector groups were beginning to understand the implications of the Care Act leading to increased demand as awareness grows;

·                     under the Care Act, existing care structures would be retained.  As  carers would now have the same rights as service users carers  would be offered  up to six weeks free Reablement service  and were being given advice on how to access universal services available in the Community;

·                     as part of the Council’s savings targets there would need to be further savings.  Officers would  provide Members with the necessary information to make informed decisions about further savings, while alerting them to the risks;

·                     there had been a sharp increase in the number Adult Social Care referrals and in the number of cases of DOLs (Deprivation of Liberty).  DOLs cases had increased by 3000%, however, the timeframes for these had not been breached and there was no waiting list;

·                     there was a dedicated Safeguarding contact and investigation team whose responsibility it was to assess whether a safeguarding enquiry was necessary and to carry out investigations.

Members of the Sub-Committee congratulated officers for the excellent report.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Divisional Director of Strategic Commissioning which set out the rationale behind developing a draft protocol for the working relationship between Harrow’s scrutiny function, the Health & Wellbeing Board and the local Healthwatch.

Following a brief overview of the report, an officer responded to questions as follows:

·                     the Protocol had been drawn up on the basis of guidance from the Centre for Public Scrutiny, the Local Government Association and the Department of Health;

·                     overall responsibility for the scrutiny function lay with the Overview & Scrutiny Committee, which would delegate discrete areas of work to the Health & Social Care Scrutiny Sub-Committee.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)          the suggested set of shared principles, as outlined in the report be agreed;

(2)          the report be noted.

RESOLVED: To note that, following a suggestion by the Chair, Members of the Sub-Committee agreed to visit the Accident and Emergency unit at Northwick Park Hospital before the next meeting of the Sub-Committee.