| HSC.791 | Pat Jones - Greenhalgh introduced Shirley Allen, Healthwatch Project
Manager and Russell Starkie, Principal Procurement & Project Planning Officer to the Committee and explained that they had been leading on
the work in relation to the Healthwatch consultation which had been carried out across the borough.
It was explained that the Health and Social Care Act 2012 set out statutory requirements for all upper tier authorities to commission a Healthwatch which would take over from the Local Involvement Networks.
Healthwatch Bury will have a role in improving services across Health and Social Care by engaging communities, identifying priorities and supporting local people to help design, improve and develop current and future health and social care services to meet the needs of local people.
Healthwatch will also hold the NHS and local authorities to account for how they plan and deliver public services and spend public money.
It was reported that local authorities will be under a duty to ensure that there is an effective and efficient Healthwatch in their area from April 2013.
Healthwatch organisations must be:-
• Corporate bodies carrying out statutory functions;
• Not for profit organisations;
• Able to employ staff;
• Able to sub-contract statutory functions
There must be continuity between the LINk and the establishment of Healthwatch and the DH transition document states that ‘Local authorities will commission Healthwatch with freedom to decide how to do this, and will want to take their LINks, Host and local communities with them, building a dialogue and working in partnership to decide what will work best in their locality’.
Shirley explained the process that had taken place to date in relation to the establishment of a Healthwatch Bury;
• Legislation and guidance reviewed
• Consultation carried out
• Potential models and approaches reviewed
• Preferred option developed
• Consultation on preferred option carried out
It was explained that the consultation that had been carried out had taken a variety of approaches to ensure the widest capture of information.
900 people in total had been involved in the process, of those - 232
had been involved in focus groups, 170 had completed the Healthwatch survey. Press releases had been sent to all local papers and information had been included in partners’ newsletters. A dedicated web page was set up providing relevant background information and links to the online survey. This was supported by Facebook, Twitter and press releases.
The consultation findings were set out within the presentation and the key observations included;
• Healthwatch should be well known and trusted in local communities, working positively with local people and commissioners of services.
• Healthwatch should reach out to groups and individuals who find it difficult to express and communicate their views and choices
• Healthwatch should ensure that support is available for people who are unable to make choices for themselves.
• Healthwatch must be an active organisation which is accountable to local people and recognised as a channel through which the public can express their views.
• 25% of respondents said that they had never been able to have their say on health and social care matters and 33.5% were rarely able to have their say. The barriers that were identified were that they did not know who to contact to talk to and they did not think that anybody would listen and feedback to them.
Shirley explained that the project group had considered 5 different models and had decided that the preferred approach was model 4 - A consortium of local organisations would incorporate as a social enterprise and come together to deliver Healthwatch.
The consortium would be formed into a Shadow Healthwatch Board and during this period Bury LINk would act as a residuary body continuing to deliver its core functions. This would be hosted by Bury Third Sector Development Agency (B3SDA).
B3SDA will enable and support the Shadow Healthwatch Board to develop Healthwatch Bury as a social enterprise. They will be supported to hold an AGM and elect officers. Following this, the LINk legacy would be transferred to the fully formed Healthwatch.
The Shadow Healthwatch Board will be made up of organisation representatives and individuals who will be appointed an open recruitment and selection process and they will operate in shadow form from April 2013 to no later than April 2014 when it will become Healthwatch Bury proper.
The Healthwatch Project Board sits above the Healthwatch Shadow Board and is made up of the Director of Adult Care Sevices, the Council Solicitor, the Healthwatch Project Manager and other Council Officers who will assist the Shadow Healthwatch Board to;
• Develop a service specification
• Develop a Memora dum of Understanding between the Shadow Healthwatch Board and the Healthwatch project Board.
• Develop a Healthwatch Transition Plan to carry out an equality analysis of the new service.
• Develop a service specification for the commissioning of support services for a period not extending beyond 31 March 2014
• Develop an outcomes based contract for the provision of support services
It was also explained that the Healthwatch Project Board would monitor and review the contract for the provision of support services and monitor and review progress against the Shadow Healthwatch board transition plan.
Members of the Committee were given the opportunity to ask questions and make comments and the following points were raised:-
• Councillor Ann Audin referred to the Shadow Board and the Project Board and asked what the difference was between the two.
Shirley explained that the Shadow Healthwatch Board was as yet unknown as it had not been recruited to. The Shadow Board would be responsible for the transfer into Healthwatch and the Project Board would help them to do this and monitor their progress.
• Councillor Audin asked whether the Chair and Deputy Chair post would be paid.
Shirley reported that this decision would be made by the board themselves once it had been established.
• Councillor Walker referred to funding for the service from the Department of Health and asked if there were rules and regulations around this.
It was reported that the funding would be given by the Government to the authority and then awarded locally. It would not be ring-fenced.
• Councillor Walker also asked which organisations would be members of the consortium and who would determine this.
Shirley explained that there would be an advert inviting applications from anybody that was interested in becoming either a Board Member or a general member. It would be up to each organisation and individual to decide whether they wanted to apply as a representative of an organisation or an individual.
A Board Member had to be 18 yrs old or over and a General Member 16 Years old or over.
Shirley also explained that membership would never close so people could become a general member at any time.
• Councillor Columbine asked about the transition from the LINk to Healthwatch Bury and asked what would happen in this time. Who would people go to if they had any issues.
Shirley explained that the current LINk office, staff and contact details would be retained and governed by the newly appointed Chair of the Shadow Healthwatch through the current host organisation. There would be no change in how people access the services available.
• Councillor Holt asked whether Healthwatch would assist whistleblowers who may be concerned about a persons care.
Shirley explained that Healthwach would be working closely with all organisations such as the Care Quality Commission and the Patients’ Cabinet and would either deal with the issue themselves or signpost people to the relevant organisation.
Pat Jones-Greenhalgh explained that the Chair of the Patients’ Cabinet will be a Member of the Clinical Commissioning Group and will represent the patients of the borough in this role.
• Councillor James referred to the fact that all of the different services, providers and organisations were very widespread and asked if they were too fragmented to enable robust scrutiny of them.
Pat explained that this was where the different relationships would work. The Patient’s cabinet will have champions that look at services such as GP practices and feed back to the Clinical Commissioning Group.
Tony Sargeant, the current LINk Chair explained that a lot of work had already been carried out to bring the different organisations together and protocols had been agreed. It was anticipated that this would carry forward from the LINk to the Healthwatch.
• Councillor Smith asked how many people would sit on the
Healthwatch Board.
It was explained that the suggested number was a core board of 12 including a Chair and Vice Chair and the potential for up to 6 co-optees to ensure that it was representative of the communities it covers.
• Councillor Smith also asked who Healthwatch Bury would be accountable to once it was established.
It was explained that Local Healthwatch will be funded by the local authority and held to account by them for their ability to operate effectively and be value for money through the contract monitoring arrangements.
|