Present:   

Councillor Astbury (in the Chair)        

Councillors Croft, Haggis, K Swinburn and Wilson.   

Officers in attendance:

• Katie Brown (Director of Adult Services)
• Zoe Campbell (Senior Scrutiny and Committee Advisor)
• Diane Lee (Director of Public Health)
• Sophie Pickerden (Scrutiny and Committee Support Advisor)

Also in attendance:

• Councillor Shreeve (Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Health, Wellbeing and Adult Social Care)
• Darren Downs (Independent Chair of the Safeguarding Adults Board)
• Sarah Everest Ford (Navigo)
• Debbee Jewitt (Integrated Care Board)
• Julie Wilson (Integrated Care Board)
• Stewart Wilson (Safeguarding Adults Board Business Manager)

There were no members of the press or public present at the meeting.

 

SPH.40      APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence for this meeting were received from Councillor Hudson and Councillor Sandford.

SPH.41      DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

There were no declarations of interest received in respect of any item on the agenda for this meeting.

SPH.42      MINUTES

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel meeting held on the 29^th November 2023 be agreed as an accurate record.

SPH.43      QUESTION TIME

There were no questions from members of the public for this panel meeting.      

SPH.44      FORWARD PLAN

The panel received the current Forward Plan and members were asked to identify any items for examination by this Panel via the pre-decision call-in procedure.

RESOLVED – That the forward plan be noted.

SPH.45      TRACKING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF SCRUTINY

The panel received a report from the Statutory Scrutiny Officer tracking the recommendations previously made by this scrutiny panel, which was updated for reference at this meeting.

RESOLVED –

1. That the report be noted

• That a copy of the joint Health, Overview and Scrutiny Committee response to the Humber Acute Service Review consultation be circulated to the panel.

SPH.46      SAFEGUARDING ADULTS BOARD ANNUAL REPORT

The panel received the North East Lincolnshire Safeguarding Adults Board annual report.

Members were concerned about the increase in reported cases of modern day slavery and queried the cause. Mr Watson explained that the figure was returning to the pre-Covid numbers and  there was an increase year on year.

Mr Downs highlighted that nationally the numbers were increasing, and he felt that was a positive because awareness across the community had increased, resulting in more reporting and intelligence  which led to more opportunities for people to be safeguarded. He explained that there was work taking place with professionals to reduce the number of vulnerable people being exploited.  

The figures for the numbers of people reported for modern day slavery was based across Humberside and Mr Downs agreed to ask for the break down for each place and include these figures in next year’s annual report.

A member queried the reason for producing the report. Mr Watson confirmed that it was a statutory requirement of the Safeguarding Adult Boards (SAB) to produce an annual report that set out the activities and work undertaken by the SAB and its members to deliver  the aims and objectives of the strategic plan over the last year. Mr Downs explained that the report had to meet all the audiences’ requirements and give reassurance to the public that the board were safeguarding vulnerable adults. Mr Downs noted that next year, the report would look different and would use some of the learning event feedback to establish what people wanted to see in the report and make it more visible around what the board were achieving in the area for the public and stakeholders.

Referring to the training in the report a member asked about progress and what difference the training had made. Mr Downs explained that safeguarding adult reviews identified key lessons to be learnt and one of those was to understand what training was out there and what the focus needed to be. He highlighted that the board had to make sure that the right training and skills for new recruits was available and there were strong links to safeguarding.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

SPH.47      INTEGRATED NEIGHBOURHOOD TEAMS

The panel considered a report that highlighted the work to date and planned work for the Health and Care Partnership Integrated Neighbourhood Teams Programme.

Members were keen to understand how the integrated neighbourhood teams worked. Ms Jewitt  confirmed that it was a way of working not a specific team. The aim was to connect all services more effectively by working together to provide wrap around services so that residents didn’t feel fobbed off.

Within the report a member asked what was meant by ineffective use of the North East Lincolnshire pound. Ms Wilson explained that it was referring to duplicate processes between services and it was about making sure we didn’t duplicate and were making the best use of the resources.

A member was concerned about the number of GP appointments that were non-medical. Ms Wilson explained that there was an audit on why people went to the doctors which helped to inform other services such as the voluntary and community sector who would be able to help support residents and prevent future non-medical GP appointments.

Members were concerned about the number of hospital admissions. Ms Jewitt explained that A&E was for some people the only place they knew, and the integrated neighbourhood teams would be a clear point of contact and links with other services to prevent people going into hospital.

Ms Jewitt noted that people who were housebound, accessed higher than average visits to A&E because of a fall or injury. As part of their role, the integrated neighbourhood team aimed to get in sooner and take a proactive look at medicine reviews and trips and fall hazards to prevent people going into hospital.

Ms Brown confirmed that issues emerged through primary care for social care services and that there was so much we could do to intervene  at the right time. Supporting each other and resources would enable better outcomes  for people and eliminate the people being bounced from service to service and the integrated neighbourhood teams created that one stop shop.

The panel were supportive and welcomed the new ways of working.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

SPH.48      CQC REGULATION OF ADULT SOCIAL CARE

The panel received a presentation giving the panel an overview of the CQC regulation of adult social care.

The panel found the overview informative and welcomed an update at the next panel meeting in March to understand the framework and the role of scrutiny.

RESOLVED – That the update be noted.

SPH.49      LOCAL GOVERNMENT REGULATION CHANGES

The panel considered a report that updated the panel on the new government statutory guidance and regulations for health scrutiny panels with effect from 31^st January 2024.

Ms Campbell explained that the guidance and regulations were around the substantial services changes, however, elected members as individuals could lobby MP’s and write to the Secretary of State if they wished with their concerns at any time.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

SPH.50      QUESTIONS TO PORTFOLIO HOLDER

There were no questions for the portfolio holder at this meeting.

SPH.51      CALLING IN OF DECISIONS

There were no formal requests from Members of this panel to call in decisions taken at recent meetings of Cabinet.

There being no further business, the Chair declared the meeting closed at 7.01 p.m.