Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from panel members Andy Fry and Clive Holt. Mary Rayner had recently been appointed to the Panel but was unable to make today's meeting.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting, and Jo Ringshaw, from Healthwatch Worcestershire was invited to join the table.

Cllr June Griffiths declared an interest as her daughter worked for an individual who may receive a personal budget.

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 20 January 2016). Enquiries can be made through the telephone number/email address below.

None.

(previously circulated)

The Minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2015 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

In attendance for this item were the Council's Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, and from the Directorate of Adult Services and Health (DASH) - the Director and the Head of Finance and Business Support.  As part of the Council's consultation process for the 2016/17 budget proposals, the Panel would discuss:

·         Latest performance information for 2015/16

·         Draft 2016/17 budget

The Chair pointed out that this may be the Panel's last meeting with Director Richard Harling, who was leaving for a new role – his departure would be a loss.

In relation to scrutiny of the 2016/17 budget, the Panel Chair would report the main messages from this discussion to the Budget Member Challenge Group.

Further information was provided by a presentation.

2015/16 Performance – Quarter 2 (July – September 2015)

Outcome: Promote health and wellbeing

The Council had responsibility to promote health and wellbeing, with oversight from the Health and Wellbeing Board. Performance reporting through the public health outcomes framework showed a continued picture of overall good health with pockets of variation in areas of disadvantage.

A gap remained in the difference in life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas, although steady improvement was taking place. Numbers of pregnant mothers smoking, at 14% was still too high – the service was being re-commissioned from April 2015 which it was hoped would reduce this figure. Substance misuse recovery remained low although it had improved slightly under the new provider (Swanswell Trust).

Numbers of healthchecks undertaken was slightly below target. The Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing wanted to start to target areas where need was greatest.

Main discussion points

·         Concern was expressed around continued low performance around recovery from substance misuse and the impact this could have on families and other services – it did not seem to be working and how would this be affected by cuts to public health ring-fenced grants?

·         The Director acknowledged the low figures, although it was not that Worcestershire had higher numbers of people in treatment, but that treatment had been less effective.  However, the new provider had needed to undertake a lot of work at the start of the new contract (April 2015). Availability of data was improving, although further improvement was needed. Nationally, no service claimed to make people better and in the long-term, it may be that different national models were needed, to reflect the fact that misuse was a chronic disease rather than a short-term illness, and also to adapt to the needs of a changing cohort of people, following a spike in increased drug use in the eighties. The public health ring-fenced grant reduction would reduce funding for the service by around 10%.

·         The Director acknowledged that a better model might make use of different approaches and policies of legalisation used abroad, however this was not his decision to take.

·         A scrutiny task group was due to look at effectiveness of the prevention and recovery drug and alcohol misuse service, and the Panel had previously raised concerns  ...  view the full minutes text for item 211.