Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Nigel Knapton.  Councillor Peter Wilkinson attended the meeting as his substitute.

Councillor Heather Moorhouse arrived late to the meeting, arriving at 10:28am

Resolved – That the draft Minutes of the meeting held on 18 July 2025 be taken as read and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

All Members are invited to declare at this point any interests they have in items appearing on this agenda, including the nature of those interests.

There were no declarations of interest.

Members of the public may ask questions or make statements at this meeting if they have given notice to Melanie Carr of Democratic and Scrutiny Services and supplied the text (see contact details below) by midday on Wednesday 15 October 2025, three working days before the day of the meeting.  Each speaker should limit themselves to 3 minutes on any item.  Members of the public who have given notice will be invited to speak:

·            at this point in the meeting if their questions/statements relate to matters which are not otherwise on the Agenda (subject to an overall time limit of 30 minutes);

·            when the relevant Agenda item is being considered if they wish to speak on a matter which is on the Agenda for this meeting.

If you are exercising your right to speak at this meeting, but do not wish to be recorded, please inform the Chairman who will instruct anyone who may be taking a recording to cease while you speak.

No public questions or statements were received.

Richard Webb, Corporate Director for Health & Adult Services provided a verbal update on the expected timeline for receiving feedback on the CQC inspection.  He confirmed:

·          Approximately half of council inspection reports have been published nationally.

·          North Yorkshire’s report expected to be published on 30-31 October 2025.

·          Feedback from CQC suggested the council’s self-assessment was accurate.

·          It was anticipated the report would be positive with no major surprises.

·          A confidentiality agreement had been signed with CQC, allowing only limited information to be shared in the embargoed period.

·          The communications plan included internal briefings for key officers and members on 29 October 2025, with formal publication by CQC just after midnight on 30 October 2025.

·          There would be staff roadshows in November and December, with a joint informal session with Scrutiny of Health Committee on 8 December 2025.

·          There would be an in-depth session on a draft action plan at the committee’s meeting on 27 January 2026.

Richard Webb went on to provide an overview of the scoring system explaining that 87+ = Outstanding, 63+ = Good, 40+ = Requires Improvement, <40 = Inadequate.  He also confirmed that North Yorkshire was not expected to be rated “Outstanding”, and that the majority of Councils were being scored around 55-75.

Karen Gullon - Assistant Direct for Adult Social Care, provided insight from North Lincolnshire’s pilot follow up inspection, including CQC’s focus on case records and front door services.

The Chair thanked officers for the update, and it was

Resolved – That the timeline for the CQC Inspection findings and the communications plan be noted.

Considered – A presentation on the seven key improvement areas provided by Karen Gullon, Assistant Director for Adult Social Care.

Karen Gullon provided an overview of the positive progress made with carers as a result of the introduction of Living Well.  It was noted  that the areas of remaining focus included carers support, the Waiting Well initiative, and hospital discharge pathways.

Officers also confirmed:

·          A sustained increase in direct payments uptake

·          The planned introduction of Practice Leads to further drive forward uptake across all teams

·          The team outliers for Waiting Well

·          The planned staffing restructure to strengthen the front door offer

·          Plans for a new team to support individuals with complex needs.

·          The restructuring of the pathways to reduce long-term care dependency and focus on short stay beds and timely moves back home

·          The continuing challenge of equity in accessing some services e.g. in reablement provision

·          Mental health and substance use were areas needing further attention.

Members were pleased to note that it was no longer necessary to include Complex Care as an improvement priority, and rather that it was to be considered a Transformation project, with a number of areas of ongoing work involved.

A brief update was provided on the remaining six key improvement areas, and in response to members questions, Karen Gullon provided clarification on referral processes and carers assessments, and reasons behind fluctuations in waiting lists.

Members requested some comparative data in future updates on the six key improvement areas.

The Chair thanked officers for the update, and it was

Resolved – That the update on the key improvement areas be noted.

Considered – A presentation on supported housing programme of procurements delivered by Michael Rudd, Head of Supported Housing.

Michael Rudd provided an overview of extra care development over the last 20 years and of North Yorkshire’s future delivery model which included Extra Care Plus, Extra Care Mini, Supported Living, Village Models, Retrofit and Refurbishment, and Co-location with community assets.

The presentation also provided an overview of the delivery ambitions for the North Yorkshire’s model for supported housing, and an update on demand, finance, procurement strategy and governance.

Members noted:

·          Needs assessments had been commissioned for both Extra Care and LD/Autism Supported Housing, showing significant increases in demand and capacity requirements between 2025-40.

·          The comparison data on extra care and supported living units required per district

·          The benchmarking data on costs per unit nationally

·          The potential capital budget required for delivering 16 schemes (985 units)

·          The potential benefits generated through Extra Care

·          The proposed changes to the procurement structure and associated benefits

·          The geographic challenges e.g., Harrogate, Selby.

·          The use of priority lists instead of waiting lists.

·          Build costs had increased significantly.

In response to Members’ questions, Michael Rudd confirmed:

·          Extra care placements yielded long-term savings.

·          The funding opportunities that may arise as a result of the Social and Affordable Homes Programme (Homes England).

·          An analysis of demand had been undertaken by the Learning Improvement Network.

The Chair thanked officers for the update, and it was

Resolved:  That the presentation on Supported Housing’s programme of procurements be noted

Considered – A presentation on Hospital Discharges delivered by Josh Lumb, Head of Intermediate Care

The presentation provided an overview of:

·          The pressures on reablement from hospital discharges

·          The different discharge pathways

·          Discharge hubs activity and hospital alignment, and the associated pressures and mitigating actions

·          The new Intermediate Care workforce model from 5 January 2026 and its business case

·          The new Intermediate Care governance structure aimed at improving outcomes

Members were pleased to note the move towards an outcome-driven approach, and the delivery of integrated learning opportunities and improved performance management.

In response to Members’ questions, Josh Lumb confirmed:

·          The plan was to increase intermediate care beds by April 2026, as they delivered better outcomes and lower costs

·          The pushback on inappropriate discharges.

·          The shift from discharge-focused to preventative care.

·          There would be a period of transition, moving away from the spot-purchasing of beds.

·          The operational changes would provide more oversight and enable improved forecasting

The Chair thanked officers for the update, and it was

Resolved – That

i.       The presentation on hospital discharges be noted.

ii.      An update on implementation of the new model be added to the Committee’s work future programme

Considered – The work programme for the remainder of the 2025-26 municipal year presented by the Senior Scrutiny Officer.

Members took account of the discussions on previous agenda items and other developments taking place across the county and agreed a number of amendments to their work programme

For their meeting on 27 January 2026 Members agreed to receive an update on the financial management of HAS cost pressures. 

Noting the number of items already on the agenda for the January 2026 meeting, Members also agreed to defer their bi-annual performance update to their April 2026 meeting, and the Scrutiny Officer was asked to liaise with HAS officers to discuss the possibility of also deferring one or both of the planned updates on the Living Well Review and Complex Care to their April 2026 meeting.

For the meeting on 20 April 2026, Members agreed to add:

·         An update on Substance Use

·         A further update on Hospital Discharges

Finally, Members discussed the growing reliance on presentations at their scrutiny meetings and the move away from the provision of written reports.  They noted the time it took to go through presentation slides and the amount of additional information being provided verbally by officers at the meeting.  They agreed it was often difficult to absorb all of that additional information quickly and that written reports would provide them with sufficient time ahead of the meeting to identify appropriate questions.

Resolved – That:

i.      The work programme document be updated as above.

ii.     The Scrutiny Officer liaise with officers to ensure the provision of written reports for future meetings.