Agenda and 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.

There were no declarations of interest on this occasion.

To agree the minutes of the meetings held on 6 October 2022 and 19 October 2022 as a true and correct record.

The minutes of the last meeting held on 6 October 2022 and 19 October 2022 were signed by the Chair as a true and correct record.

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

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

To receive an introduction on the Integrated Care Board.

Ms Karen Smith, Director of Adult Services, provided an update on the current position with the Integrated Care Board (ICB) in her duel role as a Director on the board and Director of Adult Services at Blackpool Council.

Ms Smith explained the structure of the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS) and how the Integrated Care Board (ICB) would work alongside the Health and Care Partnership to influence and agree health and care strategic priorities. The key risks and challenges had been identified as health equality, workforce, access to general practitioners, hospital discharges and wait times. The ICB and upper tier local authorities would be working collaboratively on the membership of the board, the terms of reference, meeting arrangements and a development plan for the Integrated Care Partnership (ICP). The partnership would then review the needs of local communities to determine and propose a set of priorities, that would focus on the most complex issues that could not be solved by individual organisations and these would then form the basis of a joint health and care strategy (Integrated Care Strategy). It was envisaged that the strategy would be available by the end of December 2022.

The Committee thanked Ms Smith for her presentation and expressed their disappointment that no additional representative was present from the ICB. Members highlighted concerns that important links and contacts that had been previously developed with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and were well established would now be lost. 

Concerns were also raised by the Committee around the lack of specific targets and projects, what the priorities would be for each area and how the Board would report on its performance and targets. Ms Smith responded that not all appointments to key roles had been made and that specific targets and projects had yet to be determined. The Board would be identifying a small number of priorities that would make the largest impact and meetings were underway at strategic and managerial level to maintain communication links and background knowledge to identify what the local issues were.

Ms Smith went on to confirm that no funding had yet been delegated to place based partnerships but assured the Committee that funding was in place from additional resources for current services and preparations for the winter challenges.

The Committee agreed to hold an additional meeting in February 2023 to receive a progress report from the ICB.

To provide an overview of the whole directorate including financial position.

Ms Karen Smith, Director of Adult Services presented the Adult Services Update Report to the Committee and highlighted the significant pressures that were being experienced across the board on social care and health service, including an increase in people being seen with greater or more complex needs, early discharge of patients for recovery within the community and the recruitment challenges for care workers.

Ms Smith reported that the Vitaline service had been successfully working with the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) to provide assistance in delivering a Falls Pick Up Service. Calls for the service were managed by NWAS which would determine whether each call was appropriate for Vitaline to respond to. The service was available to all Blackpool residents that had fallen in their own home and were uninjured but unable to get back up without trained assistance. It was explained that Vitaline could typically respond sooner than an ambulance, they would then undertake an assessment of the faller to check for any injury and, on following a successful fall pick up, would be able to stand down the ambulance. Members were assured that in the event that a hospital admission was required then an ambulance would still be deployed.

It was reported that the Vitaline service had been successfully piloted in care home settings and had now been rolled out across all settings.

Councillor Jo Farrell, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, and Community Health and Wellbeing, spoke of the recent Autism Conference that had been held and of how proud she was that The Autism Team at Blackpool were leading the way.

Members expressed a desire to be invited to future workshops to enable for a greater understanding of the work that was undertaken by the team.

In response for an update on staffing pressures and morale, Ms Smith responded that the team specifically impacted had been the front of house staff with the remaining teams being stable. Everything had been done to support the team including reviewing hybrid working arrangements, regular briefings with staff and service managers and suggestion boxes. Regular updates and responses to suggestions from the team had been carried out and a redistribution of work between teams had alleviated some of the work pressure. All posts for service managers were now in place with a focus on maintaining support for the staff.

Members enquired about the Adult Social Care Market Reform, in particular the impact on the lowest earners. Ms Smith responded that the introduction of a lifetime cap on care costs was a welcomed move and was intended to prevent people having to sell their homes to pay for care. Cost of care and market sustainability exercises would be undertaken in due course to plan for the future. On-line financial and social care assessments would also be developed for future use.

To receive the leaflet produced in response to the Meals on Wheels Scrutiny Review recommendation.

Ms Kate Aldridge, Head of Delivery, Performance and Commissioning presented an update on the action taken in response to the recommendation of the Meals on Wheels Scrutiny Review that included up to date prices, telephone numbers and website addresses for various providers of freshly prepared and frozen meals.

Some Members of the Committee expressed their disappointment in how the current format of the information did not match the brief for an appealing and colourful leaflet, as recommended at the September 2021 meeting. In response, Ms Aldridge advised that the information had been presented in its current form as an easily adapted generic format which could be used for multiple purposes. The Committee also acknowledged that the information provided was informative and the use of contact numbers was a welcomed addition. Members suggested that including a price range, would ensure that the information was protected against any changes to the current prices.

Members requested that the information detailed in the cost of living section, with vital contact numbers for help for anyone struggling financially to eat well, was made readily available. Ms Aldridge advised that this information had already been included in Your Blackpool.

Due to the time already lapsed Members were keen to ensure that the information on Meals on Wheels was circulated as soon as possible to residents. The Committee agreed that the information should be included in with the Council Tax bills in whatever format they were sent to residents in March 2023 as agreed previously by the Executive and as set out within the Scrutiny Review’s original recommendation.

To report the findings and recommendations of the Dentistry and Oral Health Scrutiny Review Panel to the Committee.

Ms Sharon Davis, Scrutiny Manager, reported the findings following the completion of the Dentistry and Oral Health review panel.

During the course of the review, the Government had made an announcement regarding reforms to dental contracts which would change six key areas over the course of 2022/2023. Due to the unknown potential impact of the changes the Panel had recommended that the Committee receive an update report in approximately 12 months to review the impact the changes had made and whether any further work was required.

The Panel’s secondary focus had been on improvement to oral health and prevention of poor dental health. The Council’s Oral Health Strategy was still in the early stages of development and that it would be appropriate and helpful for the Adult Social Care and Health Scrutiny Committee to have an early input into the development of the Strategy in light of the work of the review panel.

The Committee agreed:

1)       To receive an update report in 12 months to review the impact the reforms to dental contracts had made.

2) That the Committee was to provide input into the development of the Oral Health Strategy, at the appropriate stage.

To review the work of the Committee, the implementation of recommendations and identify any additional topics requiring scrutiny.

The Committee considered its workplan for the remainder of the municipal year and agreed to the inclusion of an additional meeting, to be held by the end of February 2023, to receive an update from the ICB and the Adult Services Update report, scheduled for the January meeting.

To note the date and time of the next meeting as 26 January 2023.

The date and time of the next meeting was noted as Thursday, 26 January 2023, commencing at 6.00pm