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

The following questions were received from a member of the public.

Where is the public control or influence in the new Integrated Care System?

Where will there be any opportunity for Trafford residents, the public, to scrutiny the plans of this local ICS in any meaningful detail, so as to influence its decisions?

Where will the democratic control or influence be articulated? 

Where is democracy in the direction and planning of all our public health and care services?

The Chair of the Committee provided the response below, which was also to be sent in writing to the member of the public.

“Thank you for your question and associated material.  At this point, we are still working locally on understanding and implementing the changes required by the recent NHS reforms.  In Trafford we have established a system board to manage the transition to an integrated care system and agree future ways of working. As part of this joint work we have also refreshed our Trafford locality Plan to take account of the proposed legislative changes and the ongoing impact of the pandemic. We are very aware of the impact of inequality, which has been highlighted by the differential experiences through the pandemic of different population sub- groups. We are also working closely with health and care colleagues across Greater Manchester to ensure that Trafford can influence the future direction of health and care services across the ICS.

We are determined to ensure that the reforms as implemented in Trafford should lead to a system with a greater focus on preventative work, and on reducing inequality in outcomes.  We hope that a Trafford system, rather than individual organisation, approach to delivery of our joint strategy will facilitate improvement of the health and care of local residents. The HWBB continues to have the strategic goal of improving healthy life expectancy and reducing inequalities in this measure and we are expecting Trafford’s One System Board to work with us in delivering this.

We are very keen to engage the public in the implementation of these changes; but at present, as stated above, the detail of the proposals are still being worked on at a national and regional level and we are waiting for final guidance.’”

Following the Chair’s response, the Joint Accountable Officer for Trafford CCG added that Trafford were implementing national guidance and Trafford CCG were working with all the local partners as part of the Board. There were to be no private organisations on the Board and four Trafford Councillors would sit on the Board to provide democratic involvement. The Joint Accountable Officer made it clear that many aspects of the change were still to be decided including the funding arrangements for the Board.

The Chair of Healthwatch Trafford added that Healthwatch Trafford would be involved at the Greater Manchester level. A national survey had been conducted by Healthwatch England to all Councils and 80% came back stating that they would like to have Healthwatch be part of the integrated Care Boards. A meeting had been booked to discuss having Healthwatch on the Greater Manchester Board.

Resolved:

1)    That the question and response be noted.

2)    That the response be provided in writing to the member of the public after the meeting.