Agenda and minutes

The Overview, Scrutiny & Localism Manager reported that Mrs J Whittle replaces Mr A Sandhu, MBE on the Committee.

Mr G A Horne, MBE proposed, Mr M C Dance seconded that Mr B R Cope be elected Vice-Chairman of the Committee.

Carried without a vote.

Mr J A Kite declared an interest as a member of the Darent Valley Hospital Trust and Councillor M Lyons declared an interest as a governor of the East Kent Hospitals University Trust.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meetings held on 20 March and 25 June 2009 be approved as a correct record subject to Mr C P Smith being deleted from those Members recorded as being present at the meeting on 25 June 2009.

(1)       The Committee received updates from the Eastern & Coastal Kent Primary Care Trust and the West Kent Primary Care Trust following questions asked by the former Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 6 February 2009.

(2)       RESOLVED that the updates be noted.

(1)       The Committee received information in response to the comments made by the former Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee from the Eastern & Coastal Kent Primary Care Trust and the West Kent Primary Care Trust on delayed transfers of care.

(2)       RESOLVED that the updates be noted.

John Cunningham, Chair of Governors' Group LINk and Graham Hills, Director Kent and Medway Network Ltd will be in attendance for this item.

Mr J Fletcher and Mr R Kendall, Governors of Kent LINk and Mr G Hills, Director, Kent and Medway Networks Ltd were in attendance for this item.

(1)       The Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted that Local Involvement Networks (LINks) were established in England from 1 April 2008 to give communities a stronger voice in how health and social care services are delivered.  As independent networks of local people and groups LINks will find out what people want, investigate issues and use their powers to hold services to account. 

(2)       The Committee noted that LINk had been operational in Kent since December 2008 and has powers to:-

(a)               obtain information from health and social care commissioners;

(b)               issue reports and make recommendations and expect a response within a laid down timeframe;

(c)               refer to the County Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committees concerns with health and social care services; and

(d)               enter certain services and view the care provided.

(3)       Following a transitional phase from April 2008 which had been managed by Kent County Council, Kent and Medway Networks Ltd was awarded the contract to “host” the Kent LINk in July 2008.  The Kent LINk became a legal entity at its launch on 3 December 2008 when it endorsed its governance arrangements.  The LINk has recruited over 800 LINk participants.  At the first annual meeting of the LINk in May 2009 it approved its first annual report which was available to all Members of the Committee and also endorsed its work programme for 2009/2010 which was appended to the report before the Committee. 

(4)       In response to a question by Mrs Sergison, the Committee noted that the documents, following visits made by the former Patient and Public Involvement Forum representatives, had been kept and were available to the LINk as background information. 

(5)       Mr Daley asked that the issue of pain clinics be considered by the LINk as worthy of inclusion within their work programme at a future date. 

(6)       Mr Long said that he was pleased to welcome back the LINk and he hoped that the LINk would also assist the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee in holding to account the Primary Care Trusts and more importantly the Strategic Health Authority.

(7)       Several Members asked questions on the piece of work on transport to hospitals identified by the LINk as one of its priorities for its work programme.

(8)       The Overview, Scrutiny and Localism Manager referred to a piece of work being lead by one of the Policy Managers within the County Council’s Corporate Policy Unit who was in discussion with the Primary Care Trusts regarding access to healthcare focussing on transport issues.  The Committee noted that the Policy Manager had been pleased that the LINk had included this in their work programme as one of their priorities.

(9)       The discussion which ensued sought greater clarification on who was taking the lead on this issue and how it could be drawn together.  It was recognised that the Health Overview  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

 - report by Overview, Scrutiny & Localism Manager)

(1)               The Chairman invited, sought and gained the approval of the Committee to deal with this item as urgent business as the requisite statutory notice had not been given.

(2)               The Overview, Scrutiny & Localism Manager informed the Committee that the Leader of the Council, Mr P B Carter, had indicated at the first meeting of the new County Council on 25 June 2009 that a thorough review of the County Council’s Overview and Scrutiny function would be undertaken to ensure that it was “fit for purpose” taking into account the emerging legislation/regulations for scrutiny.  It was planned that a report would be submitted to the County Council on 15 October 2009 setting out a number of options for the future.

(3)               As part of this process all the County Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committees were being asked for their views which would enable a comprehensive report to the County Council to be prepared.

(4)               The Committee noted that since the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s inception it had considered on a number of occasions ways in which the Committee could discharge its enormous workload.  It was important to do this again now in the light of changes to legislation including the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 which introduced the following additional responsibilities for Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee:-

(a)       Overview and Scrutiny Committees were given powers to review and scrutinise the actions of partner authorities (including NHS organisations involved in Local Area Agreements and Community Strategies);

(b)       Council executives must respond to reports and recommendations from Overview and Scrutiny Committees within two months; and

(c)        Local Involvement Networks (LINks) were created and can formally refer matters to Overview and Scrutiny Committees and expect a response.

(5)               The Committee noted that in addition to the elected County Members who serve on the Committee there are four voting representatives of the twelve Borough and District Councils across Kent. 

(6)               Provision for the patient and public voice through the former Patient and Public Involvement Forum was made on the former Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee with a number of non voting places.  However, with the establishment of the Local Involvement Network (LINk) whereby the Committee would have a statutory duty to respond to any formal referrals to the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee from the LINk, consideration would need to be given to whether it was appropriate to allocate any places to the LINk on the new Committee.  

(7)               The Committee noted that both the County Council and Medway Council had embedded within their Constitutions a framework/protocol for convening a joint Committee at short notice when there were issues of a strategic or geographical Kent nature which warranted such consideration.

(8)               The Committee also noted that prior to the Committee’s establishment in 2001 a framework in which the Committee would operate together with protocols for the operation of the Committee were agreed by the Kent Association of Local Authorities.

(9)               A  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Committee noted that the next meeting was on Friday 2 October 2009 at 10:00 am.  In addition to the item on the refocusing and restructuring of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, representatives from the South East Coast Ambulance Trust would be present to provide detailed information to the Committee on their application for Foundation Trust status and to respond to Members’ questions.  The Chairman indicated that he hoped that an ambulance would be available for the Members to visit and inspect during the course of the meeting.