Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

No apologies were received.

All Members who believe they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting must declare that interest and, having regard to Part 3 Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members’ Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code.  Furthermore all Members with a Personal Interest in a matter being considered at the meeting should consider, having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 4 of the Code, whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 of the Code, consider whether it is appropriate to leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Personal interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

No declarations were made at this point in the meeting.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee (HASC) held on 14 September 2020 were confirmed as a correct record.

Matters Arising: On Minute 214 (deputations) the Chairman reported that following a deputation at the last meeting there was discussion of the reporting by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust of their Out of Area beds figures. Following the meeting clarification was sought from the Trust regarding their figures and a satisfactory explanation was received. This had been shared with Committee Members.

To receive any deputations notified under Standing Order 12.

The Committee did not receive any deputations.

To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.

The Chairman made three announcements:

Passing of Cllr Alison Finlay

The Chairman was saddened to report that Cllr Alison Finlay, a district councillor of Test Valley Borough Council and co-optee on this committee, had passed away suddenly in the week following the last meeting. On behalf of the Committee he gave thanks to Cllr Finlay for her service to this committee and her community, and expressed condolences to her family and friends. A minute’s silence was held as a mark of respect.

Safeguarding concerns

The Chairman highlighted that there was an item on the agenda for this meeting on Adult Safeguarding, which falls within the remit of the HASC to have overview and scrutiny of the arrangements in place to carry out the Council’s statutory responsibilities around safeguarding adults. He clarified that it was not within the remit of the HASC to investigate individual cases and should anyone have safeguarding concerns about an individual, this should be reported to Adult Services using the numbers published on the County Council’s website, or the online form to report concerns. Safeguarding referrals are triaged by the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub, known as the MASH. A complaints process is available for dissatisfaction with the service received in an individual case.

Deputations

The Chairman reminded those present of the County Councils deputation rules, as set out in the Constitution:

·         Committees or Standing Panels of the County Council shall receive deputations at any Meeting relating to business that is properly within the Agenda for such Meeting

·         the total time taken by a deputation in addressing a Meeting shall not exceed 10 minutes

·         any deputation which has appeared before a Meeting of the County Council, the Executive, an Individual Executive Decision Day or any Committee or Standing Panel of County Council, shall not reappear at any such Meeting or any other Meeting or Individual Executive Decision Day within a period of six months on the same or similar topic

·         no discussion shall take place with the presenters of a deputation, but the Chairman of the Meeting may inform the deputation how, if at all, the matter will be dealt with by noting, action or referral

·         Deputations in respect of Individual service concerns will not be received where, in the opinion of the Chief Executive in consultation with the Monitoring Officer, the subject matter of the deputation relates to issues which are more properly dealt with through the County Council’s Corporate Complaints Procedure, or which might cause the County Council to breach confidentiality rules

To receive an update from the Director of Public Health regarding the latest position on Coronavirus in Hampshire and public health led actions in response.

The Committee received a report and supporting presentation from the Director of Public Health (see Item 6 in the Minute Book) providing an update on the public health response in Hampshire to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Director summarised the written report and provided the latest figures on the state of coronavirus in Hampshire. It was reported that the time to receive the result of a coronavirus test was improving compared to the last meeting and there were now five testing sites in Hampshire. The County Council had used legal powers on two occasions to close events due to the risk that social distancing could not be maintained.

Following questions members heard that:

·         There were not specific thresholds for triggering an area to move up on the governments Tier system, such decisions were made based on a number of factors including the rate and spread of the virus, number of positive cases in the community and how the local NHS was coping

·         The data suggested that testing was producing less than 1% false positives

·         Most test results were provided within 48 hours

RESOLVED:

1. To note the current COVID-19 situation.

2. To note the leadership role of the Public Health Director and function.

To receive an update from the Director of Adults’ Health and Care regarding the response of the department to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The Committee received an update from the Director of Adults’ Health and Care (see Item 7 in the Minute Book) on the Covid-19 response by Adults’ Health and Care. The report and accompanying presentation covered the response, recovery and the care sector. It was reported that the ‘bronze’ structure for managing the response to the pandemic had been stood down on 3 September 2020. However a shadow bronze structure had been retained to enable the department to remain prepared to stand up the bronze response again in future if needed. All Hampshire County Council Care day services for Younger Adults and Respite services had re-opened, although with reduced capacity.

It was noted that for the period February to October 2020 there had been 800 excess deaths in care homes (compared to the 5 year average) of which 500 had Covid 19 mentioned on the death certificate. Work was ongoing to understand the causes of these excess deaths.

There were concerns from Care Association Members who responded to a survey during the pandemic regarding their financial viability. Care homes had seen a 15% reduction in occupancy of care home beds during the pandemic, and usually required a 90% occupancy rate to be sustainable. The County Council was providing financial support to the sector, however the pre-existing structural challenges in the care home sector remained.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee notes the work that has taken place to date by Adults’ Health and Care, public and voluntary sector organisations and their partners in Hampshire to support the needs of its most vulnerable citizens and the wider community.

2.    That the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee is assured by the systems that have been put in place across Hampshire, as set out in this report, to support the county’s most vulnerable residents as well as the wider community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

3.    That the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee recognises the impacts upon the care home sector and wider social care sector but is assured by the work underway to support the care home sector.

4.    That the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee notes actions taken and currently underway to support moves toward recovery of services, systems and processes across Adults’ Health and Care and receives further updates at future meetings.

To receive an update from NHS commissioners regarding the impact of Covid 19 on the NHS locally and recovery of services.

The Committee received a report from the Clinical Commissioning Groups covering Hampshire and the Isle of Wight providing an update on the response of the NHS in Hampshire to the Covid-19 pandemic (see Item 8 in the Minute Book). It was reported that planned care was close to 100% of being back up and running. Significant investment had been made to enable this recovery to happen. Urgent and emergency care settings were now getting busy again. It was acknowledged that because of the time service levels were reduced, waiting times for planned care had increased with thousands of patients now in the category of waiting over a year. Efforts were being made to increase capacity to help bring down these waits. It was noted that a positive outcome of the situation had been the acceleration of joint working across the health and care system.

It was reported that the New Forest Birth Centre was temporarily closing due to staffing issues arising from covid procedures. The closure would be reviewed every two weeks.

Following questions members heard that:

·         In the first wave effort had been put in to creating capacity to respond to covid demand that ended up not being needed. When cases go up again the response would be different to maintain other services as far as possible

·         There had been maternal deaths nationally as a result of Covid, however there hadn’t been any serious cases in Hampshire

·         No services were currently closed completely however some had long back logs

RESOLVED:

That the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee:

1.    Note the system wide update

2.    Note the temporary closure of the New Forest Birth Centre and request an update in January 2021.

To receive an annual update from the Director of Adults’ Health and Care in respect of the local authority statutory duty to safeguard vulnerable adults.

The Committee received a report from the Director of Adults’ Health and Care (see Item 9 in the Minute Book) providing an annual update in respect of the local authority statutory duty to safeguard vulnerable adults. It was noted that in previous years the Committee had received the Hampshire Safeguarding Adults Board (HSAB) annual report separately to the annual update from the department. These had now been aligned and this report included a link to the HSAB annual report. It was reported that the HSAB was now chaired by the Director of Adults Health and Care. Instead of an independent chair there was now an independent scrutineer role, and this role had recently been filled.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee receives this annual update report related to adult safeguarding and notes it will be received by Cabinet on 24 November 2020.

2.    That the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee note the positive progress with regards to safeguarding adults in Hampshire and the commitment of a wide range of Adult Services officers in achieving this level of performance.

3.    That the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee note the developments and risks in relation to the remit of our local authority statutory duty to safeguard and keep vulnerable adults safe from abuse and/or neglect

4.    That the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee note the contribution of the Hampshire Safeguarding Adults Board in leading the development of policy across the four local authority areas of Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight, including the Hampshire Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report for 2019/20.

5.    That the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee receive a further update on adult safeguarding in 12 months’ time.

To consider and approve the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee Work Programme.

The Director of Transformation and Governance presented the Committee’s work programme (see Item 10 in the Minute Book).

Cllr Craig had raised a concern regarding the performance of the NHS 111 service, following a personal experience of using the service recently on behalf of a family member. It was agreed to add this topic to the work programme.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee’s work programme be approved, subject to any amendments agreed at this meeting.