Agenda and draft minutes

Members are asked to declare any interests in the items under consideration and in doing so state:

(1) the type of interest concerned either a

(a)   personal interest

(b)   prejudicial interest

(c)    disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI)

and

(2) the nature of the interest concerned

If any member requires advice on declarations of interests, they are advised to contact the Head of Democratic Governance in advance of the meeting.

Councillor Laura Marshall declared a personal interest in respect of item 5 – ICB Workforce Update, the nature of the interest that she worked in Unison Health Branch.

To consider any requests from members of the public to speak at the meeting.

There were no requests from members of the public to speak on this occasion.

To agree the minutes of the last meeting held on 16 November 2023 as a true and correct record.

The Committee agreed that the minutes of the last meeting held on 16 November 2023 be signed by the Chairman as a true and correct record.

To consider the content of the Council’s Forward Plan, February 2024 – May 2024 within the remit of the Committee.

The Committee considered the contents of the Council’s Forward Plan February 2024 to May 2024, relating to the portfolios of the Cabinet Members whose responsibilities fell within its remit and noted the upcoming items.

To provide Committee Members with a Workforce update on behalf of NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria (LSC) Integrated Care Board.

Ms Andrea Anderson, Director of People – Place and Programmes, and Ms Karen Smith, as Director of Health and Care Integration (Blackpool), Lancashire and South Cumbria (ICB) provided an extensive report with regards to the ICB workforce.  Members praised the content and appearance of the data within the report.

A Place-Based Partnership had been developed for Lancashire and South Cumbria to promote and enable deeper integration and collaboration with health and social care in order to improve population health, hospital flow and discharges into the community.  A development day would be delivered to staff with regards to understanding the partnership. 

The 5 year workforce strategy had been approved, implementation would launch in March 2024 and would detail what this meant for Blackpool.  Work was underway with regards to the presentation of figures and how data would be recorded in the future.

The different ways of learning and providing training had been discussed and highlighted the need for more face to face training sessions, to increase peer to peer support.  Work would also continue with regards to career pathways and the retention of staff, changes to the culture and the ethos had been identified as a key area for development.

Members requested a future update once the changes had been embedded, the data to include both positive and negative stories to enable the scrutiny committee to support the service more appropriately.

The employment pathway was discussed and Members requested detail of the information collated for people leaving employment.  Ms Anderson advised that an exit interview should be completed with outgoing staff, but acknowledged that the data analysis lacked structure and more could be done to understand the reasons why people left the organisation.  It was suggested that a further analysis of the exit analysis data be undertaken with a report presented back to the Committee in due course.

The Committee agreed:

1.                    A further analysis of the exit interview data to be received in due

   course.

2.                    To receive a further report with regards to the changes being made to

   the career pathway once the new ways of working were embedded.

To provide an update on the work of Healthwatch Blackpool and determine how it can be used to better influence the Scrutiny Committee’s workplan and how work undertaken by Healthwatch can provide an evidence source for the Committee.

Ms Beth Martin, Healthwatch Blackpool Manager attended the Committee to provide an update on the work of Healthwatch Blackpool.

Ms Martin highlighted the work that Healthwatch were undertaking within the five priority wards in Blackpool;

·         Bloomfield

·         Claremont

·         Park

·         Talbot

·         Tyldesley

A door knock project had been undertaken to consult with residents face to face.  The project resulted in over 400 people sharing their experiences.  A number of themes had been identified and ranged from access to health and care, the cost-of-living crisis and the challenges of social isolation.

The feedback received had been honest and based on real life experiences.  The data had been used to develop the services going forward.  Following the implementation, residents were provided with details on how their contribution had impacted on the service.

A number of projects were underway with regards to assisting the homeless population with accessing dentistry and vital cancer screening for women.

Ms Martin advised that all services were working well together and engagement had been welcomed by all.

Members praised the volunteering opportunities with the service which allowed people to make care better for the community.

The Committee agreed:

1.      Include Healthwatch as a regular item on the agenda to enable efficient scrutiny

2.      To receive a data report from the consultation exercise outside of the meeting.

To provide Scrutiny Members with an overview of the Winter Resilience arrangements for Blackpool Place and an updates on key areas of work.

Ms Samantha Wake, Deputy Team Manager, Ms Lucia Plant, Deputy Team Manager, Ms Zarna Choudhury, Case Assessor, Mr Mark Bairstow, Social Worker and Harrison Mottram, Student Social Worker, all from Adult Social Care gave a progress update following the implementation of the 3 Conversations approach. 

To date they had worked with 343 people, 84% of those were dealt with using conversation one, and 16% had progressed to conversation two.

Ms Choudhury, Mr Bairstow and Mr Mottram provided the Committee with three very different, real life experiences where the 3 Conversations approach had been applied and explained how the impact of the approach had created better outcomes for the individuals.

The team explained that as part of the promotion for the 3 Conversations approach they had attended a number of community events and coffee mornings.  The team advised that as part of the continued promotion of 3 Conversations they would be attending the Blackpool Place Based Partnership 'Spring into Spring' event at the Winter Gardens on Monday 13th March 3-5pm.

Ms Karen Smith, Director of Adult Services, Blackpool Council and Director of Health and Care Integration (Blackpool), Lancashire and South Cumbria (ICB) advised that the 3 Conversations implementation was in the early stages, and evaluation would be a key measure of the success as to whether it would be rolled out to other services.

Members thanked the team and stated that the feedback from the life experiences had been great asset to the presentation.

Ms Smith and Councillor Neal Brookes Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care provided an Adult Services update and focused on the adaptations made by the different services and the impact they had had on workload over the Christmas period.

Work had continued with regards to the Ambulance Diversion Service to reduce the number of patients going to hospital by increasing the treatments within the home and virtual wards.  In addition, the Ambulance Service and Rapid Response Service would continue to develop their offer to enable the right professionals to be available to the patient at the initial stage to prevent the need for them to be admitted to hospital.

The Fylde Coast Health and Social Care Career Academy had provided a positive impact on reducing staff turnover.  The whole recruitment process would be analysed, bringing the social care services together with regards to recruitment events and the application process alongside ongoing work with regards to recruitment and retention of staff across the whole sector.

With regards to budget concerns, the annual budget would be approved at Annual Council on 21 February 2024.  Ms Smith advised that joint working should be a priority to ensure efficiency savings. 

In response to a question, Ms Smith explained that the Integrated Care Board (ICB) had been expected to provide additional income of £1.6m into the Better Care Fund (BCF), however this had not transpired.  Members were reassured that no retrospective funding would be included in future budgets to mitigate this type of shortfall in the future.

The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To consider the Workplan and to monitor the implementation of Committee recommendations, together with any suggestions that Members may wish to make for scrutiny review topics.

The Committee considered its Workplan for 2024 and noted the items within.

The Committee agreed:

1.      To include a 3 Conversation update in 12 months’ time.

2.      To undertake a detailed review with regards to the Care packages.

3.      That following a number of recent updates regarding Dentistry, to postpone the item to a later meeting.

4.      To postpone the Carers Strategy to the first meeting of 2025.

5.      To include Healthwatch as a regular update.

Members considered Committee’s Action Tracker, noting the outstanding items contained.

To note the date and time of the next meeting as Thursday, 21 March 2024 commencing at 6.00pm.

The date and time of the next meeting was noted as Thursday, 21 March 2024 commencing at 6.00pm.