Local democracy

Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1 - City Hall, Bradford. View directions

Contact: Palbinder Sandhu/Jane Lythgow 

Items
No. Item

15.

DISCLOSURES OF INTEREST

(Members Code of Conduct - Part 4A of the Constitution)

 

To receive disclosures of interests from members and co-opted members on matters to be considered at the meeting. The disclosure must include the nature of the interest.

 

An interest must also be disclosed in the meeting when it becomes apparent to the member during the meeting.

 

Notes:

 

(1)       Members may remain in the meeting and take part fully in discussion and voting unless the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an interest which the Member feels would call into question their compliance with the wider principles set out in the Code of Conduct.  Disclosable pecuniary interests relate to the Member concerned or their spouse/partner.

 

(2)       Members in arrears of Council Tax by more than two months must not vote in decisions on, or which might affect, budget calculations, and must disclose at the meeting that this restriction applies to them.  A failure to comply with these requirements is a criminal offence under section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. 

 

(3)       Members are also welcome to disclose interests which are not disclosable pecuniary interests but which they consider should be made in the interest of clarity.

 

(4)       Officers must disclose interests in accordance with Council Standing Order 44.

 

Minutes:

Susan Crowe disclosed that her organisation (Bradford Talking Media) had a contract with the Clinical Commissioning Groups and the local authority’s Health and Wellbeing department (Minute 22). 

 

Action: City Solicitor

 

16.

MINUTES

Recommended –

 

That the minutes of the meeting held on 4 July 2019 be signed as a correct record (previously circulated).

 

(Jane Lythgow – 01274 432270)

Minutes:

Resolved –

 

That the minutes of the meeting held on 4 July 2019 be signed as a correct record.

 

 

17.

INSPECTION OF REPORTS AND BACKGROUND PAPERS

(Access to Information Procedure Rules – Part 3B of the Constitution)

 

Reports and background papers for agenda items may be inspected by contacting the person shown after each agenda item.  Certain reports and background papers may be restricted. 

 

Any request to remove the restriction on a report or background paper should be made to the relevant Strategic Director or Assistant Director whose name is shown on the front page of the report. 

 

If that request is refused, there is a right of appeal to this meeting. 

 

Please contact the officer shown below in advance of the meeting if you wish to appeal. 

 

(Palbinder Sandhu - 01274 432269)

 

Minutes:

There were no appeals submitted by the public to review decisions to restrict documents.

 

18.

REFERRALS TO THE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

Any referrals that have been made to this Committee up to and including the date of publication of this agenda will be reported at the meeting.

Minutes:

There were no referrals made to the Committee.

 

19.

CO-OPTION OF MEMBERS TO THE HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

Under Article 6 of Part 2 of the Constitution the Committee may make a recommendation to Council for the co-option of non-voting members to the Committee.

 

The Committee is asked to recommend the appointment of the following non-voting co-opted member:

 

Susan Crowe - Bradford District Assembly Health and Wellbeing Forum

 

 

                                                            (Caroline Coombes -01274 432313)

 

Minutes:

Under Article 6 of Part 2 of the Constitution the Committee may make a recommendation to Council for the co-option of non-voting members to the Committee.

 

The Committee was asked to recommend the appointment of the following non-voting co-opted member:

 

Susan Crowe - Bradford District Assembly Health and Wellbeing Forum

 

Resolved –

 

That it be recommended to Council that the following non-voting co-opted member be appointed to the Health and Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the 2019/20 Municipal Year:

 

Susan Crowe - Bradford District Assembly Health and Wellbeing Forum

 

ACTION: City Solicitor

 

20.

SHIPLEY HOSPITAL pdf icon PDF 110 KB

The Chief Finance Officer/Deputy Chief Executive (Bradford and Craven Clinical Commissioning Groups) will present Document “C” which provides an outline of the proposal to close Shipley Hospital. 

 

Recommended –

 

1.    That the issues associated with continuing to provide services at Shipley Hospital be noted.

 

2.    That the plans for engagement and consultation on the proposals to close Shipley Hospital and relocate services be noted.

 

(Helen Farmer – 01274 237704)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chief Finance Officer/Deputy Chief Executive (Bradford and Craven Clinical Commissioning Groups) presented Document “C” which provided an outline of the proposal to close Shipley Hospital. 

 

The summary to the report explained that the hospital currently accommodated radiology, physiotherapy and general surgery outpatient clinics that were run and managed by Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; a small number of older people’s mental health services managed by Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust and a voluntary sector service. 

 

Following a request by BTHFT to relocate Radiology services to St Luke’s Hospital, the CCGs and the Trust had worked with NHS Property Services to review the current utilisation of the site. It was explained that this would be subject to further engagement and consultation with the public.

 

A visit to the hospital had been arranged for Members and other interested parties on Monday 29 July 2019 and, for the benefit of those that had not been able to attend that visit, the report detailed the location, organisation and current condition of the building. 

 

An additional paper was tabled which mapped the locations of patients using the physiotherapy and radiology services and revealed that the majority of users were from the BD18 area.  The paper also reported that residents of the postcode areas of BD17; BD10; BD12; BD16 and BD9 were also accessing the services.  

 

The relocation of services currently provided at Shipley Hospital had been considered and alternative provision proposals were outlined in Document “C”.  It was explained that to better utilise radiographic resource to support demand the radiology service could relocate to St Luke’s Hospital.  The move would increase capacity and ensure that the Trust could provide a resilient and timely x-ray service for patients across the District.

 

Provision of out patient physiotherapy services from a variety of GP practices and community based sites at Westcliffe and Windhill Medical Centres was reported.  It was proposed that Bradford Bereavement Support and memory assessment clinics run from Shipley Hospital would be relocated to a local GP practice.  A general surgery colorectal outpatient clinic would relocate to St Luke’s Hospital in order to better utilise staffing resource.

 

Those who had attended the visit to the hospital expressed grave concerns that the condition of the building had been allowed to deteriorate to such an extent.  They reported that in the upper floors of the building water from the leaking roof was running down the walls; the ceilings were collapsing; flooding water was beginning to impact the physiotherapy area on lower floors and toilets had been filled.  It was agreed by all who had visited that the building was not fit for use.  It was suggested that the building had deliberately been allowed to deteriorate to justify its closure and to centralise provision.

 

The rationale for the proposal to close and dispose of the hospital, as stated in Document “C” was reiterated and included; better utilisation of the radiographic resource to support demand; the patient environment not meeting expectations and to prevent costs of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

21.

PROCUREMENT OF DISABLED FACILITIES ADAPTATION FRAMEWORK pdf icon PDF 147 KB

The report of the Strategic Director, Place (Document “D”) advises members of the forthcoming procurement of a framework agreements with a value in excess of £2 million.

 

Bradford Council’s Adaptation Team (Housing Service) within the Department of Place currently utilises a framework agreement for the delivery of major disabled adaptation works.

 

The current framework agreement has been in place since 1 April 2016 and is due to expire on 31 March 2020.

 

Recommended –

 

That the report be noted.

 

(Alison Garlick – 01274 434512)

Minutes:

The report of the Strategic Director, Place (Document “D”) advised members of the forthcoming procurement of a framework agreement with a value in excess of £2 million.

 

Document “D” revealed that Bradford Council’s Adaptation Team (Housing Service) within the Department of Place currently utilised a framework agreement for the delivery of major disabled adaptation works.  The current framework agreement had been in place since 1 April 2016 and was due to expire on 31 March 2020. Procurement of a replacement framework was required to ensure the delivery of adaptations and to comply with EU procurement Legislation and Contract Standing Orders.

 

For the benefit of new Members to the Committee the Chair explained that contracts for a value over £2 million must be considered by the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee. It was expected that the value of the contract would be approximately £4.5million.

 

Document “D” contained three options and corresponding benefits and disadvantages of each were reported.  A Member expressed a view that the options appeared one sided and the way in which those options had been selected was not clear.  For clarity it was explained that the framework option was utilised to ensure that there was the capacity for the work to be undertaken should individual contractors, for whatever reason, be unable to fulfil their obligations and to ensure that one contractor would not have a monopoly and dictate price.  Batch tendering had been undertaken in the past but did not provide as many advantages because small contractors could incur delays through lack of capacity, staff sickness or other issues. Experience had found that having larger firms on the framework meant that the Council was more able to respond quickly and having additional contractors on the “reserve” list meant that these could be drawn upon should unfortunate incidents, such as contractors going into administration, occur.

 

Members questioned the calculations contained in the report with the number of completed DFGs appearing to be above the available budget.  It was suggested that a breakdown of the budget spend would have been useful.  In response it was explained that once a DFG was approved a client legally had 12 months for work to be delivered so there was a level of financial commitment held in the budget at all times.  Members were also advised that if a client used their own contractor it would not be fair to delay payment until all works were completed so the works were inspected periodically and payments made in stages. 

 

The time taken from an initial enquiry to works being completed was queried.  It was explained that all cases varied significantly.  For most cases there was a wait of approximately one month to have a housing inspection.  If cases were not complicated it could take less than there months to get to the contractor stage.  Complicated technical schemes could take considerably longer.

 

A Member referred to delays of six months from referral to Occupational Health inspection.  It was suggested that the Adaptations Team and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

22.

UPDATE ON HEALTH AND WELLBEING SAVINGS PROGRAMME 2019-20 pdf icon PDF 282 KB

The report of the Strategic Director, Health and Wellbeing, (Document “E”) provides information on the achievement of the savings in the Department of Health and Wellbeing as at the end of quarter one 2019..

 

Recommended –

 

That the report be noted.

 

(Wendy Wilkinson – 01274 434163)

Minutes:

The report of the Strategic Director, Health and Wellbeing, (Document “E”) provided information on the achievement of the savings in the Department of Health and Wellbeing as at the end of quarter one 2019.

 

The Director, Health & Wellbeing reported that savings were being achieved by doing the right thing for people and would take time to embed.  It was explained that, nationally, it was recognised that Social Care had been underfunded for a considerable time.  The Government’s Green Paper on Social Care had been delayed four times and services were being managed piecemeal until that legislation was in place. 

 

It was explained that measures were being adopted to working practices to avoid; reduce or delay the time when people became reliant on long term care.  Increasing numbers of residents were living with disabilities but the funding was reducing.  It was known that not supporting residents would drive people into crisis so the service was working with more people at an earlier stage to delay the need for high end support.  Those measures would also increase the capacity to manage demand for people with higher needs.  Hospital discharge figures evidenced that those measures were effective.

 

Examples cited included reports of one resident with learning disabilities who had been placed in supported living, with 24 hour support, 10 years previously.   He was now supported to live in his own home.   Those measures were providing savings to the service, but more importantly, giving him the independence he had always wanted.    A person with memory problems had received costly home care visits to remind him to take essential medication.  That resident now has a watch which reminds him when he should take his treatment.

 

It was reported that the Authority was now the 5th best nationally against delayed hospital discharges.  Repeat visits to hospital after 91 days were also reducing and helped the service confirm that the measures where having the correct impact.

 

Reductions in young people going into residential care were also reported and it was explained that only two admissions had been made during the year.

 

Investments had been made with NHS England to provide new units for supported living and it was explained that the Bronte development should be up and running within the next couple of months.

 

Members were assured that Issues with quality of care were reducing as work had been undertaken with providers to ensure that a better quality of care was provided.  Investment had been made in Home Care Services with separate payments for travel time and the cessation of 15 minute visits. Members questioned the payments for travel and were advised that the service paid, at an over base rate, for 30 minute visits.  Those payments included compensation for travel time and the 30 minute visits were not compromised through travel. 

It was acknowledged that the winter months would incur additional costs but Members were advised that the service would end the year in a better financial position than in previous years. 

 

Whilst supporting  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

23.

DRAFT WORK PROGRAMME 2019/2020 pdf icon PDF 67 KB

The Overview and Scrutiny Lead will provide a report (Document “F”) which presents a draft work programme for 2019/2020 for adoption by the Committee.

 

Recommended –

 

That Members  note the information contained in Appendix A to Document “F” and that it, along with any amendments or additions, is adopted as the Committee’s Work Programme 2019/2020.

 

(Caroline Coombes – 01274 432313)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Overview and Scrutiny Lead provided a report (Document “F”) which presented a draft work programme for 2019/2020 for adoption by the Committee.

 

Following discussion on the previous item it was agreed that Welfare Advice and Living Well would be added to the programme.

 

The forthcoming report on autism was discussed.  It was agreed, that to allow Members the opportunity to consider the claims and assurances requested when the experiences of autistic people accessing support was discussed on 20 February 2019, that the draft report would be circulated prior to the meeting.

 

In response to disappointment expressed that iMPOWER, consultants appointed to review the savings plan and to model the achievable savings over the next three years, had not been in attendance.  The Strategic Director reported her intention to invite iMPOWER, together with front line social workers and users of the service, to a future meeting to provide their views.

 

A Member suggested that patient transport be considered as a future topic for inclusion on the programme.  He believed that assumptions were made about people’s ability to pay transport costs to hospitals and that there was no consideration given to poverty in transport strategies.  He also expressed concern that, at the inception of car parking charges, the revenue raised from those charges was to be used for the hospital but that this was no longer the case.  A Member referred to community partnerships working with models on transport and travel and questioned if future strategies would result in patients having to travel to access services or if services would be relocated.  In response it was explained that it would be difficult to consider plans for peripheral health services as each trust determined their own policies.  It was agreed that Patient Transport could be a future topic.

 

A suggestion that facility plans could be assessed by the Council’s transport officers to model future travel requirements was made. 

 

Members were advised that the Leader of Council would attend a meeting scheduled for November to talk about the Council’s Health and Wellbeing Plan and it was agreed that issues around the Acute Trusts’ reviews of deaths occurring in hospitals, discussed previously, could be raised at that time.

 

Resolved –

 

That the information contained in Appendix A to Document “F”, together with the issues raised by Members be noted, and Appendix A be adopted as the Committee’s Work Programme 2019/2020.

 

ACTION: Scrutiny Lead Officer