Agenda and draft minutes

1.      The Scrutiny Officer (KCC) asked for nominations for Chairman of the Kent and Medway NHS Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

2.      Councillor Wendy Purdy proposed and Mr Dan Daley seconded that Mr Mike Angell be elected Chairman.  No other nominations were received.   

RESOLVED that Mr Mike Angell be elected Chairman of the Kent and Medway NHS Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee. 

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 19 March 2013 are correctly recorded and that they be signed by the Chairman. 

Felicity Cox (Kent and Medway Area Director, NHS England), Dr Rosarii Harte (Assistant Medical Director – Acute Services, Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust), Lauretta Kavanagh (Partner, Integrated Commissioning and Strategic Change, Kent and Medway Commissioning Support), Alison Burchell (Chief Operating Officer, NHS Medway CCG), Ian Ayres (Accountable Officer, NHS West Kent CCG) and Dr Karen White (Medical Director, Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust) were in attendance for this item. 

(a)       The Chairman welcomed Members of the Committee (Joint HOSC), the Committee’s guests and members of the public.  The Chairman then explained to Members that to accompany the Report of the independent expert, which formed part of the agenda, a CD would be played with the consultant, Mr James Fitton, introducing his report. 

(b)       When this was played, Mr Fitton provided an overview and introduction which explained that his report was supportive of the NHS proposals but that certain reassurances were required. There needed to be a clearer articulation of how the centres of excellence would be delivered and there needed to be confidence that the bed numbers would be sufficient.

(c)        In introducing the topic from their perspective, NHS representatives explained that discussions about the future shape of adult mental health services were not new and had been ongoing for a number of years. There was broad support that Medway A-Block was not fit for purpose. There was also an issue around the inequality of services available in East and West Kent, with a need to ensure beds were in the most appropriate locations. The sensitivity analysis which had been carried out had lead to the determination to strengthen community services in advance of changing acute inpatient provision. The bed numbers had been re-run and now been increased from 150 to 174. There would be local bed availability 90% of the time and this was viewed as being an affordable compromise. The comment was also made that the local NHS broadly accepted the key points of the independent expert’s report. It was also pointed out that there was the changing context in the local health economy to take into account, such as Medway NHS Foundation Trust having been placed into special measures.

(d)       A specific question was asked about the beds in Ruby Ward in Medway Maritime Hospital. It was explained that these were not part of the consultation or proposed changes.

(e)       One of the main areas of discussion was around bed numbers. The rigour of the data was questioned with regards bed usage. The Committee was informed that there had been a trend for bed use to decrease over the last four years. There had been an increase on the previous month, but it was unclear whether this was a blip, or a change in the trend. If it was the latter, NHS representatives undertook to return to Members.

(f)         There was a discussion around the nature of the relationship between bed availability and usage. NHS representatives explained that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.