Agenda and minutes

None.

None.

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 19 July 2018). Enquiries can be made through the telephone number/email address below.

None.

To Follow

This Item was deferred.

The Democratic Governance and Scrutiny Manager reported that Mrs Frances Smith from Wychavon District Council had been nominated as Vice Chairman by District Members.

The Committee supported their nomination and Mrs Smith thanked colleagues for their continued confidence.

Attending for this Item from Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (WAHT) were:

Fay Baillie, Lead Consultant for LMS

Cathy Garlick, Divisional Director of Operations, Women and Children

Michelle McKay, Chief Executive.

By way of presentation, which was circulated as part of the Agenda, HOSC was provided with information on the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Local Maternity System (LMS), which was a workstream of the Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP).

A copy of the LMS Plan had also been presented in the Agenda and had been developed to deliver national strategies and targets, including:

·         reduce still birth, neonatal death, maternal death and brain injury by 20% by 2020 and 50% by 2025

·         reduce smoking at delivery to less than 6% by 2022

·         reduce pre-term births (24-36 weeks gestation) to 6% by 2025

·         increase in continuity of carer by 20% by 2019 (with a local target of 10%)

·         midwife led care to 70% by 2022. 

The LMS Board had been in place for 18 months, with agreed governance and terms of reference.  The LMS Plan had been signed off by the Board and NHS England and both Counties had established Maternity Voices Partnerships.  In addition, funding bids had been secured to improve services.

The LMS Plan included creating Maternity Hubs, with care closer to home, with two already established, in Kidderminster and Leominster, and further sites under development.  Robust pathways would also result in the most appropriate care for women taking into account clinical need and personal choice.  It was also important to retain specialist neonatal care within the STP footprint.  Plans were also being developed by co-production to cover areas such as performance and maternity specification. 

Nationally, and across the local LMS area, it was reported that birth rates were fairly static or falling slightly, with 6900 births predicted in both 2019/20 and 2020/21, compared to the 2015 baseline of 7783.

Challenges to meeting the stated targets included smoking in pregnancy, obesity, breastfeeding rates below national figures and generally working within a challenged health economy.  Inconsistent perinatal mental health services and an inconsistent electronic patient record system were also risks to performance.  

In the ensuing discussion, the following main points were made:

·         Workforce issues continued to be a concern, with Councillors very aware of difficulties in recruitment at WAHT.  It was reported that although there was a risk, the Trust was fairly confident as midwifery training places were increasing nationally and the Trust had agreed to take on additional student midwifes.  They were also working very closely with the University of Worcester, with a jointly funded position of Consultant Midwife.  There were no midwife vacancies and job satisfaction was high, with flexible working being part of an attractive package

·         The reported £10m financial gap for the LMS was huge, however the Trust felt it was ahead of other LMS areas as the Plan was already supported by all the Clinical Commissioning Groups and the Sustainability and Transformation Partnership, with a workstream already established.  In addition, the Plan was supported by clinicians  ...  view the full minutes text for item 892.

Some Councillors had recently attended Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust's Annual General Meeting (AGM).  In addition, the Healthwatch Worcestershire Annual Conference was reported to have been a successful event with an especially in depth question and answer session.

It was noted that work was ongoing in Wyre Forest to tackle drug abuse.