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 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 28 September 2023 as a true and correct record.

The Committee agreed that the minutes of the last meeting held on 28 September 2023 be signed by the Chairman as a true and correct record.

The Committee to consider the content of the Council’s Forward Plan November 2023 – February 2024, relating to the portfolios of the relevant Cabinet Members.

The Committee considered the contents of the Council’s Forward Plan November 2023 to February 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 an update about NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board, including the development of the vision and strategy.

Ms Karen Smith, Director of Adult Services, Blackpool Council and Director of Health and Care Integration (Blackpool), Lancashire and South Cumbria (ICB) and Ms Karen Tordoff, Place Development and Delivery Lead gave an overview of the work of the Integrated Care Board (ICB).

Members congratulated the ICB on the Active in Autumn event held in October 2023, Ms Smith advised that the event was part of a series of information sharing and promotion of service events, the next one would take place in Spring 2024.

The Committee acknowledged the development areas within the ICB, but felt that more information regarding data and performance of the ICB was required and how the new structure had impacted the general public, partners and customers.  Ms Smith advised that significant dialogue with NHS England would continue and advised that she would start to analyse the reports and provide key information to the Scrutiny Committee going forward.

Ms Amy Lepiorz, Associated Director Primary Care, ICB updated the Committee on the barriers within the General Practice (GP) and Primary Care services.  Access to services was the main concern raised by service users and she confirmed that 200 extra GP appointments would be available weekly in Blackpool.  Monitoring and assurance visits to gain an insight into how GP and Primary Care settings operated were underway to identify local challenges.

The Committee were advised that 10% of GP appointments in Blackpool were ‘Did Not Attend’ and more work was underway to reduce this, including text reminders for appointments.

Members acknowledged that development of the access to service would largely depend on changes in patient behaviour and offered support within their wards to promote the service and future changes.  This centred around; the impact of missed appointments, raising the profile of the new Community Pharmacy offer as first point of contact, and alternative ways to access advice and treatment.

Mr Nick Barkworth, Senior Delivery Manager (Dentistry) echoed the same challenges within the Dentistry service with regards to access to services.  He highlighted that the Dentistry industry had experienced a much slower rate of recovery following Covid pandemic, patients coming back to dental services was requiring more appointments per person for their treatment, in order to deal with the deterioration in their dental health.

In addition, large national private providers had ended their contracts to supply dentistry which had reduced the numbers of Dentists available locally and nationally. 

Mr Barkworth explained that the Dentistry service would use the challenging time as an opportunity to allow for real change and to develop new pathways and efficiency savings.

Both Ms Lepiorz and Mr Barkworth advised that a joint bespoke service to focus on hard to reach patients was available and proposed to hold a promotional event within the Anchorsholme Ward in an attempt to engage with local residents.

The Committee agreed:

1.      To note the content of the report and the progress made; and

2.      To receive future updates as appropriate with regards to the impact of the changes within the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To provide Scrutiny Members with an overview of the dementia service provision and statistics for Blackpool place. 

The Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSFCT) to provide additional information regarding the range of services offered to support our population of older adults with cognitive impairment is outlined, along with performance metrics and improvement activity.

Ms Karen Smith, Director of Adult Services, Blackpool Council and Director of Health and Care Integration (Blackpool), Lancashire and South Cumbria (ICB) and Mr Andrew Williams, Director of Operations for the Fylde Coast, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT) provided separate progress reports with regards to Dementia within their Service.

Both services highlighted the challenges with patients with high level complex and addition learning needs.

Mr Williams updated the Committee with regards to the September launch of the Initial Response Service (IRS).  He explained that in addition to Health and Social Care referral pathway, referrals for older adults and those with dementia could go through IRS.

Members requested additional understanding of the how the population projective data was prepared, Ms Smith suggested that the Committee invite a representative from the Population Health Team to a future meeting.

The Harbour had two dementia wards caring for dementia patients. It had been recognised that there was a need for specialist dementia wards for patients with advanced dementia and behavioural concerns. 

The Committee agreed:

1.      To note the content of the report and the progress made;

2.      To receive a further Dementia update in 12 months’ time; and

3.      To invite the Population Health Team to a future meeting, to understand how projection data is generated.

To present to the Committee the Blackpool Teaching Hospitals National Health Service (NHS) FT Finance Report.

Mr Mark Brearley, Director of Finance, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust presented the Committee with a report with regards to the financial pressures and the recovery plan.

Members raised concern with regards to the cost of locum and agency staff, discussion took place in relation to what could be done to increase home grown talent and improve the career opportunities available in Blackpool.  An improved training and development programme was a key area of focus for the service and investigation would take place on how to improve staff levels and retain staff locally.

Discussion also took place with regards to how partnership working had an impact on budgets and risk, Mr Brearley advised that this would be more of a future issue when budgets and services become intertwined, and joint working is more established.  Information regarding joint budgets would be brought to Scrutiny when appropriate.

The Committee agreed: 

1.      To note the contents of this report; and

2.      To receive a further report on the financial pressures and progress on the recovery plan in 12 months’ time.

To present performance against the Council Plan key performance indicators (KPIs) relevant to the remit of this Committee.

Ms Karen Smith, Director of Adult Services provided an update on the performance against the Council Plan headline key performance indicator (KPI).

People who need social care in Blackpool;

·         Would receive an assessment in good time,

·         Have access to support from a range of good quality providers,

·         Would have a regular review of their needs.

Concern was raised regarding the lack of targets within the performance data, Ms Smith advised that the omission of targets had been a conscious decision in order to ensure that staff was striving to be as good as they could be, rather than aiming and relaxing efforts after hitting a target that was short of 100%.  However, Ms Smith agreed to include aspirations into future reports.

The Committee agreed: 

1.      To note the content of the report; and

2.      To receive additional information in future reports with regards to Blackpool’s performance against other local authorities.

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.

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

To note the date and time of the next meeting as Thursday, 8 February 2024 commencing at 6.00pm.

The date and time of the next meeting was noted as Thursday, 8 February 2024 commencing at 6.00pm.