Agenda and minutes

Venue: Altrincham Library, 2 Pott Street, Altrincham, WA14 1AH

Contact: Fabiola Fuschi 

Items
No. Item

17.

ATTENDANCES

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

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Dr. Carr and Councillor Thomas.

18.

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

 

Councillor Lloyd declared a general interest in so far as any matter related to her previous position as Executive Member for Health and Wellbeing.

19.

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.

 

 

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business received.

20.

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 following public question was submitted via email:

 

“I have a question for the Scrutiny Committee .  . . .

I have seen this Committee in action under three Chair leaders over time.  I am regularly present at all CCG Board meetings over a long time with questions and some success in pressing for change/ improvements.  I have wider involvement and interests in Health and Social Care,  in what is currently a very confusing plethora of activity out there whichever way you look. 

On Scrutiny and the reasons why this Committee exists, it does not  get to "good or outstanding" in my considered view and from a lot of experience of the "critical friend" role in action on issues.  With the subject tonight, it seems to be in the catch up zone,  discussing a major problem in which it has no real authority  to decide and pronounce.  I am well familiar with the background.  Do you agree that under the new "annual scrutiny leadership cycle", it has to sharpen its teeth and forget the "friend" in the critical phrase, with this agenda problem?”

 

The Chairman acknowledged the question and explained that a detailed response would be sent to the questioner in due course.

 

The Chairman added that the Health Scrutiny Committee derived its powers from The Health and Social Care Act 2001 and the National Health Service Act 2006 and its main functions were to hold to account the decision makers in relation to health and well-being issues in Trafford and to strengthen the voice of local people, ensuring that their needs and experiences were considered as an integral part of the commissioning and delivery of health services and that those services were effective and safe.

 

A Health Scrutiny protocol was in place to outline working arrangements between the Health Scrutiny Committee, key NHS partners, HealthWatch Trafford and the Older Person’s Champion on how best deliver the duties placed on them by legislation. However, the Committee was constrained in its actions by the legislation.

 

The Chairman informed the Committee that Mrs. Judie Collins, Chair of the Altrincham and Bowdon Civic Society wished to make a statement concerning this evening’s agenda item. Three minutes were allocated to Mrs. Collins to present her information.

 

Mrs. Collins addressed the Committee and explained that, at the beginning of the process concerning the development of the Altrincham Hub, there had been no adequate public consultation over the hospital’s future. This had been confirmed by a decision of the High Court, following judicial review. Subsequently, the developers had started engaging with residents and the Altrincham and Bowdon Civic Society had been able to express its concern with regard to maintaining the heritage of the building. Currently, regular meetings with CCG’s project managers were taking place. Mrs. Collins added that the Altrincham and Bowdon Civic Society would like to see the NHS Property Services taking part with the CCG in the lesson learned exercise regarding this matter. 

 

The Committee sought and received clarification from Mrs. Collins  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

21.

THE ALTRINCHAM HUB DEVELOPMENT pdf icon PDF 160 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee gave consideration to a report of the Accountable Officer for NHS Trafford and Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) which informed of the the background of the Altrincham Hub development and the CCG’s response to the outcome of the independent review of the Hub, commissioned by the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership.

 

The author of the report, accompanied by the Associate Director of Primary Care Trafford CCG, attended the meeting to present the information and to address the enquiries of the Committee.

 

In May 2015, a full business case had been approved by the CCG Governing Body to locate a health care hub on the site of the former Altrincham Hospital which was owned by a local developer. However, due to historic governance processes and lack of appropriate challenge of the business case, the project led to expending of funds and resources that could have been saved.

 

The Accountable Officer explained that the independent report commissioned by the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership on the Hub had been published on 6th March 2019. The CCG had accepted the nine recommendations listed in the report which urged the organisation to put in place measures to ensure the efficient accomplishment of future projects of similar size and strategic importance. 

 

The Accountable Officer went on to explain that, in addition to addressing those nine recommendations, the CCG also wanted to focus on the wider issues in the review, such as ensuring that appropriate governance arrangements were in place during the key decision making process, building a high performing Governing Body able to appropriately challenge future schemes and identify risks and the ability of management to deliver agreed actions. As a result, the responses to the recommendations and the plans and processes put in place to address the wider organisational issues were reviewed, internally, by the CCG’s Governing Body and the Audit Committee and, subsequently, approved by the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership.

 

The Accountable Officer also informed the Committee of the future use of the Altrincham Hub and confirmed that the CCG had entered a legal agreement with two GP Practices which would move in the near future from their existing buildings into the hub, providing primary care services for over 24,000 residents. This would be pivotal in securing the opening of a community pharmacy in the building. The Accountable Officer also reported that conversations with the Council were ongoing about the possibility of an integrated health and social care team located in the Hub. The NHS Property Services was in conversation with commercial organisations about the use of the third floor.

 

The Committee sought reassurance from the CCG’s representatives that the lesson learnt from these circumstances would lead to a more robust procurement process and a clear audit trail of decision making within the organisation. Members were informed that, as a consequence of the independent review and the acceptance of its findings, the CCG had developed a three phase response which had consisted in the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.