Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from Mrs F S Smith, Mrs J Marriott and Mr G Vickery.

Agenda item 5 (Quality Accounts) – Cllr Andy Roberts, Chairman, declared an interest as a Board member of St Richard's Hospice, and did not take part in the discussion of Primrose Hospice's Quality Account, which was led by Cllr John Raine.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services in writing or by email indicating the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 21 April 2015). Enquiries can be made through the telephone number/email address below.

None.

Previously circulated

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 3 March 2015 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Chairman reminded committee members that the meeting was taking place during the pre-election period known as purdah. While it was appropriate for HOSC to agree comments on the NHS Trusts' Quality Accounts, as part of the Council's usual business, HOSC members were asked to bear in mind that whilst the normal business of the County Council must be allowed to continue - the overarching principle of purdah is to avoid the County Council appearing to influence improperly the democratic electoral process.  Of particular relevance is that the Council should not publish any publicity on controversial issues or which seeks to influence voters. The Chairman advised that discussions should therefore not be overtly party political. 

The Chairman set out the process for the Committee's agreement of comments on each draft Quality Account, whereby any updated information could be put forward, and clarification would be sought on any matters raised by the HOSC.

Draft comments on Accounts from the Acute Hospitals' Trust, Health and Care Trust and Primrose Hospice had already been circulated to the HOSC, based on earlier informal meetings between the organisations and a small group of HOSC members. These comments would be finalised after this meeting, in time to enable the organisations to comply with publishing deadlines from Monitor.

West Midlands Ambulance NHS Trust:

Michelle Brotherton, Divisional Manager for West Mercia and Sue Green, Deputy Director of Nursing attended from the Trust.

There was no further information to add at this stage, however further clinical data would be added when available and also further detail to the divisional reports.

Discussion points:

HOSC members, including the lead HOSC members (Cllrs Johnson and Rayner) made a number of comments, focusing on:

·         the improved readability was welcomed

·         further commentary and context was needed to give the public a real sense of the main headlines behind the organisation's work this year, and the particular issues in Worcestershire

·         it would be helpful to understand the basis for priorities and how they would be measured

·         divisional reports were also welcomed, having been requested for several years by HOSC

·         the Board's paperwork was very complex and did not present a clear message of its work; greater use of more accessible communication channels, such as video, would be beneficial

·         a member had received a complaint about an access issue, yet one of the Trust's commitments was to improve access to all members of society

·         a member had been impressed with the Trust's work to improve performance targets for ambulance response times, with improvements in some Wyre Forest areas for Red 1, although Red 2 had suffered somewhat

·         Worcestershire's significant increase (13%) in activity was very concerning, and was significantly higher than comparable areas within West Mercia (Herefordshire = no change, Shropshire = 1.5%) – something which HOSC would continue to monitor

·         the performance gap between rural and urban areas was concerning and whilst acknowledging the greater challenge in rural areas, it was important to improve performance

·         members sought assurance on progress to improve performance in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 741.

There were no local issues to report.  However, HOSC members would be interested to have a progress update on roll-out of Personal Health Budgets.

Several committee members had visited the recently opened Oncology Centre and had been very impressed with the centre and staff.