Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence are listed above.

Councillor D Quinn acted as a substitute representative for Councillor Bayley.

Members of Health Scrutiny Committee are asked to consider whether they have an interest in any of the matters on the agenda and if so, to formally declare that interest.

Councillor Tariq declared an interest due to being the Manager at Healthwatch in Oldham.

The minutes from the meeting held on 25th January 2023 are attached for approval.

It was agreed:

That the minutes of the meeting held on the 25^th January 2023 were agreed as an accurate record.

Questions are invited from members of the public present at the meeting on any matters for which this Committee is responsible.

No members of the public were in attendance and no questions had been submitted in advance of the meeting.

A period of up to 15 minutes will be allocated for questions and supplementary questions from members of the Council who are not members of the committee. This period may be varied at the discretion of the chair.

No Member questions had been received in advance of the meeting.

A representative from Bury Healthwatch to provide an update.

Anne Marie from Healthwatch reported on the project looking at access to GP services for people with sensory loss and physical disabilities. A small-scale mystery shop, interviews and focus groups had taken place so far, and visits to services will follow shortly. They would invite any interest in participation to get in touch, as well as sharing any experiences Members may have received concerning this subject.

Brought to their attention were issues surrounding access to GPs at weekends for families of people that have passed away. Problems with accessing services can delay burial, and in Muslim and Jewish faiths it is essential to bury someone as fast as is possible, with delays causing further suffering. They are looking to gather information and experiences to inform actions and would again welcome any input members of the committee may have on this.

The enter and view programme was now underway with initial focus on care homes. They had undertaken a first visit and the report was due out shortly. The programme of future visits was being prepared, along with a plan to start looking at day care and extra care facilities in the borough.

There are two Healthwatch Bury reports included with the papers attached to the agenda packs and one recently published, is on Dementia diagnosis with the other on Pharmacy services. Any feedback from the committee was welcome.

The Chair invited any questions on the Bury pharmacy survey report and Councillor Rizvi welcomed the extra hours and how can the message be spread across GP surgeries.

Anne Marie reported that work was being done with health partners to get that message across to local people that pharmacies offer different services and had different opening times.

Councillor Harris commented on extended hours and the problem of locating a pharmacy that was open and a window poster promoting other night time services in the borough would let the public know.

Dr Cathy Finds added people with minor ailments should be signposted to a community pharmacy.

Councillor Tariq commented on 24-hour online pharmacy services and that data usage of these services could be gauged and inputted into the GM pharmaceutical body.

Councillor Walsh requested that under the demographics section of the report, could Radcliffe be added as a township area instead of being classed as ‘other’ in the data fields.

Will Blandamer referred to the Bury Pharmaceutical  Needs Assessment 2022-25 which was endorsed by the health and wellbeing board and the link to access this was included on page 45 of the agenda pack.

The Chair summed up discussions and better communications would provide where to obtain pharmacy information and moving forward this should be conducted in the same manner across the GM network area.

The Dementia Survey Report was also attached to the agenda packs and the Chair reminded Members of the committee that Healthwatch Bury had produced the report only and were a watchdog body and did not provide the specialised services.

Some Members enquired about the memory test being used  ...  view the full minutes text for item HSC.6

Will Blandamer, Executive Director of Strategic Commissioning, Kath Wynne-Jones, Chief Officer - Bury Integrated Delivery Collaborative and David Latham, Programme Manager to provide an update.

Kath Wynne-Jones and David Latham introduced the report which was intended to provide an update to the Committee of progress within the Urgent Care programme, with particular emphasis on NHS Planning Guidance for 2023-24.

A great deal of work had already commenced to ensure that Bury as a system was prepared for winter 2022/23.  The report provided an overview of improvement work and assurance as to the local infrastructure in place.

The Bury locality operates a single Urgent and Emergency Care System.  The system works collectively from late summer to prepare for winter.  Improvement and resilience work was continuous throughout the year which supports winter preparations.

The report was intended to provide an update of progress within the urgent care programme with particular emphasis on winter planning arrangements.

National NHS objectives for 2023-24 were provided in relation to urgent and emergency care. The 5 key themes were as follows:-

•      Increase physical capacity and permanently sustain the equivalent of the 7,000 beds of capacity that was funded through winter 2022/23

•      Reduce the number of medically fit to discharge patients in our hospitals,

addressing NHS causes as well as working in partnership with Local Authorities.

•      Increase ambulance capacity.

•      Reduce handover delays to support the management of clinical risk across the system in line with the November 2022 letter.

•      Maintain clinically led System Control Centres (SCCs) to effectively manage risk

Other items covered at the meeting included:-

•      A&E Attendance levels

•      A&E 4 Hour Performance

•      Length of Stay & NCTR

•      12 Hour Performance

•      Ambulance Performance

An update on schemes and funding streams for 2022-23 was provided with initial feedback from the Winter season and during the Christmas holiday period.

Councillor Grimshaw commented that in her experience, Fairfield General Hospital was a great experience.

Councillor Harris addressed the need to speed up discharges and it was reported this was a challenge across the GM boundaries with patient flows.

Will Blandamer added that Bury had social care staff based at North Manchester Hospital.

Councillor Brown discussed the turnaround of ambulance times and an overview was provided on the processes involved.

It was agreed:

That the Committee noted and supported the approach.

Jane Case, Programme Manager (Bury), NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care to provide an update.

The Chair reported that Jane Case, Programme Manager (Bury), NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care was unable to attend the meeting this evening.

Will Blandamer reported that the item had gone to the Children’s Scrutiny Committee and referred to the presentation included in the agenda packs. Attention was drawn to the pressures of the service and 1 in 6 children aged 5-16 may develop some form of probable mental health problem. Referrals to GM’s CAMHS services rose by 124% over the first two years of the pandemic, and the total population of young people in contact with mental health services overall grew by 13%. In some cases, this had been considerably more extreme.

Details were provided that over the last year we have continued to support CYP MH system by bolstering the offer across all areas of the iThrive Model.

Examples of new service models and reformed pathways across all elements of ithrive model were included in the report.

The presentation also covered:-

• GM Crisis work Community Based Crisis Support 
• Transforming Crisis Services  
• Trust Comparison
• PCFT  response
• Bury CAMHS waiting list initiative and outcomes

Will Blandamer thought that the video played to the Children’s Scrutiny Committee could be shared with this committee.

Councillor Rizvi commented on the Trust comparison figures with Bury higher than other areas. Will Blandamer informed the committee that the report covered how this would be tackled.

Councillor Hayes asked a question about communications on behalf of Councillor Boles who had needed to leave the meeting. Will Blandamer reported that engagement was conducted with the youth council and he was not sure of communication campaigns involving Instagram which had been suggested and would look into any clinical risk with the use of such channels.

A Member mentioned eating disorders and Will Blandamer said there was funding available for this and would bring back an update on this agenda item in the Autumn period.

Report to follow.

This item would be included on the agenda for the next meeting in the new municipal year as Adrian Crook was unable to attend this evening and provide an update report.

Update reports on the two task and finish groups attached.

The Chair thanked all Members and Andrea Tomlinson from Democratic Services who had supported the task and finish groups.

Loneliness and Social isolation had been discussed in the sub-group and who was impacted and if the pandemic had made things worse. Faith based groups were looked at to see if they could teach the wider population of Bury. Updates had also been included by Adult Services, Andy’s Man Club and the Youth Cabinet had been attended by the Chair.

A Carers review undertaken by the sub-group looked at what was on offer and were people aware. Presentations were received from the Adult carers hub and Children’s Services. The Chair drew attention to the actions around awareness training for Councillors, a focus on communications to those who were digitally excluded and looking at befriending services and the role of governing in challenging schools.

It was agreed:

That Members noted the report and agreed with the actions and recommendations as per the report.

Any other business which by reason of special circumstances the Chair agrees may be considered as a matter of urgency.

No urgent business was reported at the meeting.

The Chair thanked the committee for all their work during the municipal year and how the work programme had been flexible to reflect different issues becoming important when required. The two topics looked at by the task and finish groups would help raise those issues for the residents of Bury.

Thanks was made to the Overview and Scrutiny Officer, Democratic Services and Officers in health care positions along with representatives from the wider health system across Greater Manchester.