NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
16 November 2022
STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN OF THE SCRUTINY OF HEALTH COMMITTEE
The Scrutiny of Health Committee has a responsibility to review any matter relating to the planning, provision and operation of health services within the County, including Ambulance Trusts and the policies of the Strategic Health Authority. A key part of that responsibility is requiring NHS bodies to consult health scrutiny on proposals for substantial developments or variations to local health service provision. The Committee contributes to annual health checks by providing commentaries to the Health Care Commission on the performance of NHS Trusts serving North Yorkshire and on the experiences that the Committee has had with those Trusts.
The committee was last due to meet on 9th September 2022, in person, in the Council Chamber at County Hall. This meeting was postponed due to the sad death of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and will now take place on 4th November 2022.
At the mid cycle briefing held on 22 July 2022 it was agreed that the immediate priority for the Committee was to look at and understand in more detail, the most recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) reports, the issues identified, along with the relevant action plans in place to take these forward.
Overview and Scrutiny Deep Dive into Autism
At the meeting held on 17th June 2022 there was a public question asked in relation to Autism. The question was
“What action will this Committee, together with relevant Officers, take to:
a) maintain close oversight and scrutiny of developments in this matter, and
b) ensure TEWV and the new Humber and North Yorkshire ICB produce and implement costed action plans to remedy an underdeveloped care system in North Yorkshire for Autistic people”.
Following discussions, the Chair and the Committee agreed that a deep dive into autism be set up to start as soon as possible as a separate meeting outside of the main Committee.
Colleagues in Health and Adult Services are currently working on this with an update being on the agenda for the meeting on 4th November with a final report due in December. There will be opportunities for Members and end users to participate in this work.
Committee Workplan
Having previously discussed at length the challenges facing healthcare across the County generally and in particular the areas the Committee felt would be a priority in terms of Scrutiny over the next 18-24 months, the workplan has been updated to reflect this. The immediate priority is the review of CQC reports and these will be discussed in more detail at the meeting on 4th November where representatives from Tees, Esk & Wear Valley NHS, York & Scarborough Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership will attend.
Committee Meeting on 4 November 2022
The most recent meeting of the Committee took place on 4 November 2022. The items considered at that meeting were as follows: NHS update on North Yorkshire Place since Integrated Care Systems (ICS) were established on 1/7/22: TEWV Care Quality Commission Inspection and Action Plan: Scarborough & York Hospitals Care Quality Commission Inspections and Action Plan: South Tees Care Quality Commission Inspection Report and Action Plan: Update on the deep dive into Autism: Scrutiny of Health work programme.
The new ICS presentation provided much discussion with a number of questions around how the new structure will be measured, the plans to both recruit and maintain sufficient staff and how it will look at a local level.
Members were brought up to date with the recent CQC report issues and the plans in place to rectify areas highlighted as problematic. The presenters will be returning to a future Committee meeting in order that progress can be monitored and the focus maintained. The progress on the deep dive into Autism is encouraging and we are looking forward to hearing the outcome of that from colleagues in Health and Adult Services at the next meeting in December. We will then look to have a further focus on that as a Committee early next year.
The Committee is keen to work collaboratively and will therefore continue to link in with the Council’s Area Constituency Committees (ACC’s) to ensure focus is maintained at a local level and support officers have recently attended a meeting of the Thirsk and Malton ACC to discuss issues around GP availability and the availability of NHS dentists within the area. The committee will also continue to work closely with the Care and Independence Overview and Scrutiny Committee allowing continued joint working around social care.
COUNCILLOR ANDREW LEE
Chairman of the Scrutiny of Health Committee
7 November 2022