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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Town Hall, Katharine Street, Croydon CR0 1NX. View directions

Contact: Simon Trevaskis
02087266000  Email: simon.trevaskiss@croydon.gov.uk

Note: Due to a technical issue it was not possible to webcast this meeting. 

Items
No. Item

28/19

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 96 KB

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 24 September 2019 as an accurate record.

 

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 24 September 2019 were agreed as an accurate record.

 

29/19

Disclosure of Interests

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act, Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that it is a requirement to register disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and gifts and hospitality to the value of which exceeds £50 or multiple gifts and/or instances of hospitality with a cumulative value of £50 or more when received from a single donor within a rolling twelve month period. In addition, Members and co-opted Members are reminded that unless their disclosable pecuniary interest is registered on the register of interests or is the subject of a pending notification to the Monitoring Officer, they are required to disclose those disclosable pecuniary interests at the meeting. This should be done by completing the Disclosure of Interest form and handing it to the Democratic Services representative at the start of the meeting. The Chair will then invite Members to make their disclosure orally at the commencement of Agenda item 3. Completed disclosure forms will be provided to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion on the Register of Members’ Interests.

 

Minutes:

There were no disclosures of interest made at the meeting.

 

30/19

Urgent Business (if any)

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

 

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

 

31/19

Workforce Planning across Health & Social Care in Croydon pdf icon PDF 116 KB

The Sub-Committee is asked to review the attached documents together with information arising from the discussion of this item at their meeting with a view to forming conclusions and recommendations.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee considered information set out in the agenda together with further information in a supplemental agenda which provided an overview of the workforce challenges facing both Croydon Health Service NHS Trust (CHS) and the Adults Service at Croydon Council. Present at the meeting for this item were:-

·         Michael Burden – Director of Human Resources & Organisational Development for CHS

·         Deborah Calliste – Head of Human Resources for the Health, Wellbeing & Adults at Croydon Council

·         Matthew Kershaw – Chief Executive for CHS & Place Based Leader for Health

·         Guy Van Dichele – Executive Director for Health, Wellbeing & Adults at Croydon Council

As an introduction to the item presentations were given to the Sub-Committee on the workforce issues from the perspective of the Council and CHS respectively. These presentations can be viewed on the links below.

Croydon Council presentation:-

https://democracy.croydon.gov.uk/documents/s18812/Adult%20Social%20Care%20Workforce%20-%20Presentation.pdf

Croydon Health Service NHS Trust Presentation:-

https://democracy.croydon.gov.uk/documents/s18794/Appendix%20B%20CHS%20Presentation%20-%20Workforce%20Planning%20in%20Health.pdf

Following the presentations the Sub-Committee was given the opportunity to question those present on the information provided. The first question asked whether there were any groups working in the community that could inform the Council’s work on dementia and autism. It was advised that there were groups such as the Older People Group and the Autism Partnership Board that informed the Council’s work and new members were always welcome if Members knew anyone who wanted to get involved.

In response to a question about initiatives being used by both the Council and CHS to recruit staff it was advised that it was important to have entry level jobs, such as Health & Wellbeing Advisors at Croydon Council and Healthcare Assistants at CHS as these provided opportunities for people to start their careers in either the health or social care field. CHS was also working with schools to encourage young people to visit the hospital to explore potential careers in health.  It was confirmed that the booklet on being a Croydon nurse included case studies of staff who had progressed in their nursing careers from entry level roles.

It was highlighted that there were certain areas that were more suitable to a joined up method of delivery with such an approach already being taken in the Safeguarding team and Pharmacy. There were other further opportunities being explored for joint working in areas where there was an overlap between health and social care.

Further work was required before it would be possible for services to be co-produced with patient involvement, but it was hoped that this would be possible in the future. Feedback indicated that patients would always say that they wanted a joined up service, but to provide this would mean giving up what makes the individual organisations unique.

In response to a question about how the staff vacancy rate was being managed by CHS it was advised that at present cover was provided through 70% of staff working additional hours which was supplemented by agency staff.  A large scale overseas recruitment process had recently been completed which had resulted in 110 nursing staff being recruited from the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31/19

32/19

Winter Preparedness pdf icon PDF 112 KB

The Sub-Committee is asked to review the attached documents together with information arising from the discussion of this item at their meeting with a view to forming conclusions and recommendations.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee considered the information set out in the agenda, including a presentation on the CHS Winter Plan which would ensure that the hospital had the resources and capacity to cope with the expected demand over the winter. The item was introduced by a presentation from the Chief Operating Officer at CHS, Lee McPhail. A copy of the presentation can be found here:-

https://democracy.croydon.gov.uk/documents/s18797/Appendix%20A%20-%20Winter%20Preparedness%20-%20Presentation.pdf

Following the presentation the Sub-Committee was given the opportunity to ask questions on the Winter Plan. The first question related to capacity in the A&E department and whether it was sufficient to cope with a serious incident such as a flu outbreak. In response it was advised that there was a 30 bed contingency capacity built into the service, along with extra flexibility delivered through reducing elective care should there be a period of particularly high demand. There was also ongoing work outside of the hospital with partners which focussed on keeping people out of hospital, with conversations being had over wider health determinates such as poverty and heating.

As a follow up it was questioned whether the 30 bed contingency was being used at the present time. It was confirmed that the additional capacity was currently being used, but the approach set out in the Winter Plan which directed the focus towards reducing the length of a patient’s stay in hospital would, if managed correctly, reduce the impact upon bed capacity.

As the Winter Plan set out the Operational Pressures Escalation Levels (OPEL) Framework, it was questioned at what level CHS would have to stop elective surgery in order to manage capacity. It was advised that only non-elective surgery would be carried out should OPAL4 be reached and in the event of this happen it would be reviewed on a daily basis.

It was questioned how the demand for mental health care provision was being managed and in particular people with mental health related issues presenting themselves at A&E. It was advised that representatives from the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust were members of the A&E Board and a specific task force had been created to focus on this work stream.

In response to a question about the support available for homeless patients over the winter, it was advised that there was a Homeless Health Team based at the hospital. CHS was in the process of creating a Homeless Health Hub within the hospital that would provide additional support and shelter for homeless patients.

It was questioned whether the availability of GP appointments was monitored as limited availability could lead to increased attendance of patients at A&E. It was confirmed that there was regular communication between primary and secondary care providers to help prepare for demand. There was also a coordinated communications programme that was aimed at informing the public of their options when engaging with healthcare.

At the conclusion of this item the Chair thanked the officers for their attendance, acknowledging that much of the work set out  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32/19

33/19

Immunisation Priorities in Croydon pdf icon PDF 246 KB

The Sub-Committee is asked to review the attached presentation together with information arising from the discussion of this item at their meeting with a view to forming conclusions and recommendations.

 

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee considered a presentation from the Director of Public Health, Rachel Flowers, who along with the Director for Integrated Women’s, Children’s and Sexual Health for CHS, David Garrett, was in attendance at the meeting to answer questions on the immunisation priorities for Croydon.

A copy of the presentation delivered can be found here:-

https://democracy.croydon.gov.uk/documents/s18791/Immunisation%20Priorities%20in%20Croydon.pdf

Following the presentation the Chair advised the Sub-Committee that the report had been requested to give Members an overview of the current immunisation issues in the borough. It was agreed that the presentation had highlighted certain issues that should be reviewed in greater depth. As such it was agreed that the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Sub-Committee would work with officers to prepare a workshop/briefing session on immunisation in the borough for the Sub-Committee.

Information Requests

The Sub-Committee requested to be provided with a list of universal immunisations for Croydon.

Conclusions

Following a short discussion of this item the Sub-Committee concluded that the issue of immunisation in Croydon needed further exploration and it was left in the hands of the Chair and Vice-Chair to work with officers to arrange.

34/19

Health & Social Care Sub-Committee Work Programme 2019-20 pdf icon PDF 141 KB

The Sub-Committee is provided with a copy of its work programme for 2019/20 for its information.

Minutes:

The Chair introduced this item, advising the Sub-Committee that he had arranged to hold regular informal meetings with Healthwatch Croydon to get their input into work programming and inform the Sub-Committee’s work through the voice of the patient.

The manager of Healthwatch Croydon advised the Sub-Committee that they were currently working with CHS on a review of the patient experience at the new A&E facility which could be brought to a future meeting.

It was highlighted that the Sub-Committee meeting on 21 April 2020 had been set aside for a review of Whole life mental health provision.  In the lead up to this it was hoped that site visits could be arranged to help inform the Sub-Committee’s discussion at the meeting.

The Sub-Committee resolved to note the Work Programme for 2019/20.

35/19

Exclusion of the Press and Public

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

 

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

 

Minutes:

This motion was not required.