NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNCIL
21 FEBRUARY 2024
STATEMENT OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SCRUTINY OF HEALTH COMMITTEE
COUNCILLOR ANDREW LEE
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 Health and Care Partnerships. 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 feedback to the Integrated Care Boards and the NHS Trusts serving North Yorkshire on their performance and the experiences that the Committee has had with them.
Committee Meeting on 13 December 2023
The Committee last met on 13 December 2023, in person in The Brierley Room at County Hall. At that meeting, Members received detailed presentations on:
· An update on the Catterick Integrated Care Campus
· Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Trust’s latest well led inspection
· Acute Mental Health Services across North Yorkshire
· North Yorkshire Hospice Care
There were 2 public questions at the committee meeting.
Question 1 was in relation to the Autism strategy and question 2 was in relation to mental health services, specifically in Harrogate.
The questions and responses can be viewed Here
Outlined below are further details in relation to some of the areas that the committee has been looking at.
Catterick Integrated Care Campus.
The Committee was updated on the current position on Catterick Integrated Care Campus
and covered the following main points:
· A reminder that the vision was to deliver a purpose-built, state-of-the-art, health and
wellbeing campus which provides high-quality, safe and sustainable primary and
community care for the population of Catterick and the surrounding area
· Construction will now commence 4 months earlier than planned
· Community engagement events planned for Apr & May 2024
· The benefits of an integrated model
· The purpose of an integrated care system
There then followed a discussion around dentistry and pharmacy provision for military personnel and it was confirmed that the dentistry provision is provided by the Ministry of Defence, it is difficult to secure civilian dentistry, but the ICB do keep trying. It was asked if there would be appointments at weekends and in the evenings, and it was confirmed that all services will be based on need and will include enhanced and out of hours appointments.
Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Trust well led inspection.
The Committee received a welcome and informative update from Brian Cranna, Care Group Director of Operations & Transformation, Tees, Esk And Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust on the most recent CQC Inspection at West Park Lane Hospital, Darlington.
This covered a high-level summary of the inspection report and points to note were:
It was suggested that the committee keeps a close eye on this area along with the Care, Independence and Housing committee.
Acute Mental Health Services.
The Committee was pleased to welcome both representatives from TEWV and North Yorkshire Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism Partnership to update the Committee on the provision of mental health care in North Yorkshire.
This covered the following points:
· Partnership working
· The importance of treating people and keeping them a home where possible
· The vision and priorities for mental health care and how this would be achieved
· Increase in demand especially for young people and children
· Funding arrangements
· Lack of investment
· Key pressure areas
· CQC inspection outcome
· Dementia diagnosis and memory assessment services
· Crisis response
The Committee were pleased to receive this detailed presentation as it is a key area of focus for all Elected Members and the public.
North Yorkshire Hospice Care
The Committee was pleased to welcome the three Chief Executive Officers of the Hospices that cover North Yorkshire, they are Yorkshire Hospice Care, St. Leonard’s and St. Catherine’s.
The presentation served to update the committee on the position of the local hospices and end of life providers, the current service development, needs and risks.
This included
The cost of providing the services across the 3 hospices is currently circa. £20m with only 27% coming from the NHS, leaving the remainder having to be raised through fundraising.
The funding gap is widening rapidly and there needs to be a fairer funding method for hospices as its currently confusing and complex. There is an immediate need for short term support.
The Committee were concerned about the reduction in funding to support some of the county’s hospices and pledged their support to St Catherine’s Hospice in Scarborough, St Leonard’s Hospice in York, and Saint Michael’s and Herriot Hospices (merged as North Yorkshire Hospice Care) based in Harrogate and Thirsk in helping to raise awareness of the issues facing the trusts. They agreed to issue a press release in support of this, this can be viewed Here.
Committee Work Programme
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 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 also the Scrutiny Board to facilitate a County wide perspective. The Committee will also continue to work closely with the Care and Independence Overview and Scrutiny Committee allowing continued joint working around social care.
The next meeting of the committee will be at 10am on 8th March 2024.