NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNCIL

 

13 NOVEMBER 2024

 

STATEMENT OF THE CHAIR 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.

 

Since the last Full Council meeting in July, the Committee has met in person on 13th September 2024, to consider the following items.

 

NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board: Annual Report 2023/24

 

The committee welcomed the opportunity to look at the ICB’s performance and progression through its annual report.  A broader theme which dominated the committee’s observations was around access to services.  It was noted that access to mental health care in particular requires improvement but the committee were advised of a significant piece of work on this via a mental health collaborative which sits across the ICB and includes Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV).  The committee will return to this issue in more depth in due course. 

 

Members heard that 600,000 extra GP appointments have been provided by the ICB in the last year.  However, further detail has been requested by the committee around the proportion of in-person versus telephone appointments available to residents and the types of consultation appointments available.

 

The committee was also concerned to discuss dental services and commissioning in North Yorkshire, following the ICB taking responsibility for this in 2023.  The ICB is working at pace to support existing practices to expand their capacity and also supporting the establishment of new practices. 

 

CQC Maternity Inspection Outcomes: Progress Update from York and Scarborough Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

 

The committee invited representatives from the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to speak to their response to the maternity CQC inspection undertaken between October 2022 and March 2023.  The committee were advised how a maternity and neonatal improvement plan had developed, ensuring the engagement of frontline clinicians in maternity but also service users and partnerships.  The workplace culture has improved since inspection and there is clear, risk-assessed prioritisation around clinical care for women. 

 

The committee discussed the various pressures on resource such as an increasing number of requests for home births.  There is a significant funding gap so the Trust are working with the Trust Board, ICB colleagues and maternity and neonatal system to work within this. 

 

The committee was reassured by the approach taken by the Trust to address the concerns of the inspectorate and noted their expectation to have fulfilled all actions early next year.

 

Airedale Hospital Development Update

 

An update was provided by the Airedale NHS Foundation Trust regarding the development of the new hospital.  The Trust is developing its plans for a multi-storey car park and has been seeking views from communities on this.  The hospital build may require the Trust to relocate some services temporarily from the site in which case there will be further consultation with stakeholders. 

 

The committee were concerned to establish whether the planned build will definitely go ahead in view of the fact that the new government had highlighted that some hospital builds will be scrapped.  It was reassuring to hear the week following the committee meeting that the government had confirmed that the build in Airedale would go ahead and we look forward to further engagement as work progresses.

 

Healthwatch England Annual Report 2022/23

 

The committee invited Healthwatch North Yorkshire to outline the kind of work undertaken by them in the area and to consider how the organisation may contribute to the work of the committee.  Members heard a number of examples where they have reported on ‘deep dive’ issues in order to try and influence better outcomes around health and social care, including recommending improvements in some care homes to ensure quality of life.  It was agreed that it would be helpful to continue to invite Healthwatch to sit in on Mid-Cycle Briefings in addition to attending committee meetings to observe.  Where there are links with areas of interest to the committee it may be helpful in future to bring in linked reports or studies from Healthwatch to complement our scrutiny work. 

 

Committee Work Programme

 

The next meeting of the committee will be at 10am on 18th December 2024 when the items currently scheduled for discussion include:

 

·         Autism Strategy Implementation Update

·         Referral of motion from Full Council regarding the council’s use of glyphosates

·         Director of Public Health’s Annual Report 2023/24

 

COUNCILLOR ANDREW LEE