Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 2 and 3, Trafford Town Hall, Talbot Road, Stretford, M32 0TH.. View directions

Contact: Fabiola Fuschi  Governance Officer

Items
No. Item

53.

ATTENDANCES

To note attendances, including Officers, and any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Acton, Dr. Carr, Mrs. Haddad, Hartley, Lloyd and Heather Fairfield, Chief Executive Trafford HealthWatch.

54.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members to give notice of any interest and the nature of that interest relating to any item on the agenda in accordance with the adopted Code of Conduct.

Minutes:

Councillors Akinola, Harding and Taylor declared a general interest in so far as any matter related to their employment. 

55.

QUESTIONS FROM THE PUBLIC

A maximum of 15 minutes will be allocated to public questions submitted in writing to Democratic Services (democratic.services@trafford.gov.uk) by 4pm on the working day prior to the meeting. Questions must be within the remit of the Committee or be relevant to items appearing on the agenda and will be submitted in the order in which they were received

Minutes:

The Committee received two public questions submitted by Mrs. Judith Collins.

 

First question: “Could Trafford Council assure that forthcoming town centre projects include public toilet provision. This is no longer available in Altrincham. In an all age friendly borough accessible toilet provision affecting young, old and disabled is essential.”

 

The Growth and Regulatory Services provided the following response:

 

Trafford Council maintains seven public Toilets across the Borough including those in Sale and Hale Town Centres. These are supplemented by toilets within Libraries and other public buildings which are available for visitors to use during normal opening hours.

 

Toilets are also available at Stretford Mall during the day. The Council alongside its co-owner Bruntwood are currently consulting on the future of the Mall and the wider town centre. We will consider the future of public toilet provision as part of that ongoing process.

 

Second question: “There is increasing concern about imposed charges for prescription delivery. Greater Manchester Older Peoples Network Health group has been asked to find out what the situation is locally. I work with Manchester University's Pharmacy researchers and I understand from them that Boots started to charge £5 and that local pharmacies are beginning to follow suit maybe to defray other costs from NHS cuts. Some customers gets charged per prescription other have a blanket charge usually £5.What is the situation in Trafford. 

If this takes up too much time am happy for the question to be asked out of the meeting

Judie”

 

The Medicine Optimisation Team – Trafford CCG – has liaised with Greater Manchester Local Pharmaceutical Committee (GM LPC). This is their response:

 

We are aware that some pharmacies do charge for their prescription delivery service.

 

The decision to charge is up to each individual contractor.

 

We are not informed if or when a pharmacy decides to do this as it is a commercial matter and we as an LPC have no involvement with commercial decisions.

 

Therefore we do not have records of which pharmacies in your area currently charge.

 

 

56.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 213 KB

To receive and, if so determined, to agree as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 30th January 2020

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Health Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 30th January 2020 be approved as a correct record.

57.

CORONAVIRUS

Verbal update

Minutes:

On request of the Chair of the Committee, the Interim Director of Public Health was in attendance to provide an update on the COVID-19 outbreak and to address the questions of the Committee.

 

The Officer informed Members of the latest facts and advice concerning COVID-19, following the meeting of the Civil Contingencies Committee (COBRA) this afternoon. The Officer reported that from a Containment Phase aiming to minimise the spread of the virus, the UK entered the Delay Phase that aimed to delay the spread of the disease that might affect people over a longer period of time to ensure that the NHS could manage the treatment of the disease amongst the population. The Officer reiterated that the advice for the population was to continue with hand and respiratory hygiene and observe social distancing rules. If a new and continuous cough and temperature over 37.8 was present, the advice was to self-isolate for at least seven days. If conditions deteriorated, the advice was to contact 111. As at today’s information, only people who were already in hospital would be tested for the virus. The Officer made clear that Public Health advice might change according to how the situation progressed.

 

The Committee requested to know what the situation in Trafford was. The Officer reported that, as at today, there were six confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Trafford, four were being managed at home, whereas two had just been announced today.

 

The Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care reassured the Committee that the Executive took this issue seriously and regular daily updates regarding social care and national guidance was applied to give a consistent message to members of the public. 

 

The Committee requested to know about capacity in local hospitals. Officers informed that local hospitals were currently holding up well and work was ongoing with care home providers to ensure that safe discharges took place to maintain hospital capacity.

 

The Committee asked whether the Council was being proactive in protecting people and employees. The Officer informed that, although sourcing protective material was difficult, soap and water were available in all bathrooms and kitchens in Council’s buildings. Paper towels were also available and they could be used to dry hands and open doors.

 

Members also queried about the safety of the modelling adopted by the Government with regard to social distancing and visiting vulnerable people which, currently was allowed. The Officer explained that Public Health measures had to consider and balance the risk of social isolation to which elderly and vulnerable people were exposed. The Officer made clear that current Public Health guidance could change as the situation developed.

 

RESOLVED that the update be noted.

 

58.

UPDATE ON PHYSICAL ACTIVITY pdf icon PDF 212 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee gave consideration to a report of the Interim Director of Public Health which informed of the work progressed in relation to a number of matters raised by the Committee to deliver on reducing physical inactivity as one of the Public Health priorities in Trafford. 

 

The Interim Director of Public Health attended the meeting to present the report and to address the enquiries of the Committee.

 

Members acknowledged and commended the work that had been undertaken to address the points raised at a previous meeting of the Committee. In particular, the projects that had been put in place to support GP practices to engage with patients and promote physical activity, local walks and park runs.

 

Members asked whether any information to promote physical activity had gone out with the Council Tax leaflet to take advantage of the publicity.

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.    That the progress be noted;

2.    That the Interim Director of Public Health liaise with Communications to discuss use of existing Council Tax publicity to incorporate message on physical activity.

 

59.

UPDATE ON IMMUNISATION pdf icon PDF 284 KB

Minutes:

The Committee gave consideration to a progress report of the Interim Director of Public Health which informed of the actions taken by the service on the theme of Immunisation in the Borough to respond to the requests that the Committee had raised at one of its previous meetings, in the current municipal year.

 

The Interim Director of Public Health was in attendance to present the information and to address the questions of the Committee.

 

Members asked whether Muslim communities were offered the alternative MMR (Mumps, Measles and Rubella) vaccination. The Officer explained that the message had been cascaded to all GP practices and data was currently been collected. The service would be able to report on this item at a future meeting of the Committee.

 

RESOLVED that the update on Immunisation be noted

 

60.

SUICIDE PREVENTION UPDATE pdf icon PDF 285 KB

Minutes:

The Committee gave consideration to a progress report of the Interim Director of Public Health which informed of the latest actions on the Suicide Prevention Plan for Trafford.

 

The Interim Director of Public Health was in attendance to present the information and to address the questions of the Committee.

 

The Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care informed the Committee that U92 had been chosen as venue for the Suicide Partnership conference to launch Trafford Suicide strategy involving the students and the community.

 

RESOLVED that the update be noted.

 

61.

UPDATE ON PERIOD POVERTY

Verbal update

Minutes:

The Portfolio Holder for Health, Wellbeing and Equalities provided the Committee with a verbal update on the work of the Executive following the recommendations of the Health Scrutiny Committee on Period Poverty.

 

All schools and colleges were now suppling free sanitary towels, following the implementation of a government scheme which funded the purchase of menstrual products for students. Consequently, the Red Box project had come to an end. However, support was required for Go with the Flow. This was a scheme aiming to provide the same support in venues such as sport centres and G.P. surgeries.

 

This scheme would be launched at UA92 in the near future.

 

RESOLVED that the update be noted.

62.

TRAFFORD CARE COORDINATION CENTRE pdf icon PDF 259 KB

Minutes:

The Committee received a report of the Associate Director of Commissioning, Trafford Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) which provided information on the current plans for the Trafford Care Coordination Centre. 

 

The Chair explained that this report had been requested by the Committee, following the concerns raised by some residents over the future care arrangements for elderly and vulnerable clients of the centre.

 

The author of the report, accompanied by the Director of Integrated Health and Social Care Strategy, attended the meeting to present the information and to answer the questions of the Committee.

 

The officers informed the Committee that the five year contract with the service provider was naturally coming to an end. Consequently, the CCG took this opportunity to review and appraise the service in the wider context of new services developed to manage urgent and primary care needs of the population in Trafford.

 

Members sought clarification on the risk posed by the termination of the services provided by the Care Coordination Centre. Members were also interested to know what good practice had been learned through this experience. Officers informed that all patients who received services from the Care Coordination Centre were under the clinical responsibility of G.P.s or district nursing. Therefore, a referral would be made to the patients’ G.P. before the centre was closed.

 

Officers also informed that the centre had been very revolutionary and innovative for its time as it had focused on preventing further patient admissions to hospital following their discharge. However, the current approach was to support patients in their own homes and additional support services were available to enhance patients’ care and experience.

 

Members also enquired about members of staff at the coordination centre. Officers informed that the clinical staff was directly employed by the contract provider and alternative roles had already been offered in other services. Administrative members of staff might face redundancies as they were directly employed by the Care Coordination Centre.

 

RESOLVED that the content of the report be noted

 

 

63.

PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPIES FOR MENTAL HEALTH CONDITIONS - SPOTLIGHT ON PROVISION IN TRAFFORD pdf icon PDF 440 KB

Minutes:

The Committee received an update to the information that it had received in September 2019 with regard to access to psychological therapies in Trafford. In particular, the Committee had been interested to know about the progress on accessibility, equality of access, attrition rate, recovery and re-presentation with a particular focus on access to services in the north of the borough.

 

The Assistant Director of Commissioning Trafford CCG was in attendance to present the information and to address the questions of the Committee.

 

Members noted the update and requested additional information on attrition for those users who accessed services on-line. Members also enquired whether information was accessible in other language for hard to reach communities.

 

RESOLVED:

1.    That the update be noted;

2.    That the availability of information in different languages for hard to reach communities be reviewed with the view to increase its accessibility.

 

 

64.

UPDATE ON TRAFFORD TOGETHER LOCALITY PLAN pdf icon PDF 322 KB

Minutes:

The committee received an update on particular aspects of the Trafford Locality Plan, following the presentation of a full report on progress in November 2019.

Today’s update concerned key areas of work in health and social care such as tackling inequalities, digital platform and engagement with the community.

 

The Director of Integrated Health and Social Care was in attendance to present the update and to answer the questions of the committee.

                      

RESOLVED that the development of the Locality Plan with particular reference to the three aspects requested at the previous meeting of the committee be noted.   

65.

TRAFFORD LOCAL CARE ORGANISATION UPDATE pdf icon PDF 296 KB

Minutes:

The committee received a progress report of the Director for Integrated Health and Social Care and of the Managing Director of Trafford Local Care Organisation (TLCO) on the completion of the transfer of Trafford community services from the previous provider to Manchester Foundation Trust, the progress on the Post Transfer Implementation Plan and an overview of the governance, financial and operational aspects associated with it.

 

The report authors were in attendance to present the information and to answer the questions of the committee.

 

Members sought and received clarification on a number of issues such as transferring of employees, commissioning and Locality Plan, neighbourhood planning event in autumn 2020 and Year Engagement Locality Plan.

 

Members stressed the importance of engaging with the community in each of the four localities and asked to be involved in the neighbourhood event and in any other part of the engagement strategy.

 

RESOLVED –

1.    That the update on post transfer of community services into Manchester Foundation Trust and the formation of the Trafford Local Care Organisation be noted;

2.    Ward Councillors be involved in the engagement strategy.

66.

UPDATE ON TASK AND FINISH GROUPS

Minutes:

The committee received an update on the work of the Task and Finish Group established during the current municipal year.

 

The first Task and Finish Group focused on failing G.P. practices in the borough. Members reported that this piece of work had been completed. Members went on to say that, following a session of questions and answers with officers of Trafford CCG, they had been reassured that G.P. practices in Trafford were performing well and robust processes and procedures were in place to prevent any further problem from arising.  

 

The second task and finish group focussed on tackling the stigma associated with mental health. Members reported that two meetings with representatives of Health and Social Care services and CCG had taken place and the work was ongoing.  

 

Reports on the work of the two task and finish groups would be produced and shared with the entire committee. The reports would feed into the annual scrutiny report for full Council.

 

RESOLVED that the update on the work of the task and finish groups be noted.

 

 

67.

SCRUTINY REVIEW

The Committee are asked to note that a review of Trafford Council’s Scrutiny process will be conducted in line with the time table below. The process will consist of a short questionnaire being sent to all Scrutiny Members, and a meeting where all Scrutiny Members are invited to discuss what has worked well and what can be improved. Information from the review will be fed into the Annual Scrutiny report.

 

Date

Activity

13 March 2020

Questionnaire sent to Scrutiny Committee Members

21 April 2020

Scrutiny Review

June/July 2020

Annual Scrutiny Report submitted to Scrutiny Committees

22 July 2020

Annual Scrutiny Report Presented to Council

 

Minutes:

The Governance Officer informed the committee that a review of Trafford Council’s scrutiny process would be conducted in line with the time table below. The process would consist of a short questionnaire being sent to all scrutiny members, and a meeting where they would be invited to discuss what worked well and what could be improved about the way the Council carried out its scrutiny functions. Information from the review would be fed into the Annual Scrutiny report.

 

Date

Activity

13 March 2020

Questionnaire sent to Scrutiny Committee Members

21 April 2020

Scrutiny Review

June/July 2020

Annual Scrutiny Report submitted to Scrutiny Committees

22 July 2020

Annual Scrutiny Report Presented to Council

 

68.

SAFEGUARDING ADULTS IN TRAFFORD - AN UPDATE ON THE WORK OF THE TRAFFORD STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP pdf icon PDF 345 KB

Minutes:

The committee considered the update on the work of the Trafford Strategic Partnership which was operating under a new model.

 

The Executive Member for Adult Social Care suggested that, in the new municipal year, the dashboard with the outline of complaints and learning points could be shared with the committee.

 

RESOLVED –

1.    That the update on the work of the Trafford Strategic Partnership be noted;

2.    That the safeguarding dashboard with the outline of complaints and learning points be shared with the Health Scrutiny committee in the new municipal year; the information to include an update on the introduction of the digital front door.

69.

STRETFORD MEMORIAL UPDATE pdf icon PDF 24 KB

Minutes:

The committee received a report of the Group Director of Estates and Facilities, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust which sought to inform of current and future plans for the Stretford Memorial site.

 

Members noted the content of the report and thanked the Trust for providing the update.

 

Members requested that a representative of the Trust be present at a meeting of the committee in the new municipal year to report on the provision of health services in the north of the borough.

 

RESOLVED  -

1.    That the content of the report be noted;

2.    That a representative of the Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust attend a meeting of the committee in the new municipal year to report on the provision of health services in the north of the borough.

70.

ALTRINCHAM HUB UPDATE

Verbal update

Minutes:

The Accountable Officer Trafford Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) attended the meeting to provide an update on the Altrincham Hub.

 

The officer reported that the South Integrated Network Team had moved to the hub with 120 health and social care members of staff. Other health services would move into the building in the next few months. NHS Property Services was discussing heads of terms for a café provider; however, because of current circumstances linked to Covid-19 pandemic, there might be a delay.

 

Members asked whether the newly opened café` would provide healthy choices café and whether there had been issues with patients accessing the sight. The officer responded that NHS Property Services would directly manage the contract with the café` provider and that the feedback received so far from patients had been overwhelmingly positive.

 

Members enquired about the possible use of the building for wider health and wellbeing activities, social prescribing, space for voluntary organisations and their activities. The Accountable Officer explained that NHS Property Services was piloting online booking of spaces and Altrincham Hub would be one of the sites part of their pilot. Organisations were invited to put forward their interest and to have a conversation with the CCG and NHS Property Services.

 

The Chair of the committee thanked the Accountable Officer for his contribution throughout the municipal year.

 

RESOLVED that the update be noted.

71.

URGENT BUSINESS (IF ANY)

Any other item or items (not likely to disclose "exempt information") which, by reason of special circumstances (to be specified), the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion should be considered at this meeting as a matter of urgency.

 

 

72.

EXCLUSION RESOLUTION (REMAINING ITEMS)

Motion   (Which may be amended as Members think fit):

 

That the public be excluded from this meeting during consideration of the remaining items on the agenda, because of the likelihood of disclosure of “exempt information” which falls within one or more descriptive category or categories of the Local Government Act 1972, Schedule 12A, as amended by The Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, and specified on the agenda item or report relating to each such item respectively.