Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Maisey. 

The Chairman will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report. 

There were none. 

(a)               Personal interests under the Medway Code of Conduct.

A Councillor who declares a personal interest in a matter, including the nature of the interest, may stay, speak, and vote on the matter.

(b)               Prejudicial interests under the Medway Code of Conduct.

A Councillor who declares a personal and prejudicial interest in a matter, including the nature of the interest, must withdraw from the room and take no part in the debate or vote on the matter.

Councillors who have declared a personal and prejudicial interest may make representations, answer questions and give evidence before leaving the room but only if members of the public are allowed to attend for the same purpose.

If an interest is not declared at the outset of the meeting, it should be disclosed as soon as the interest becomes apparent.

(c)               Whipping – the Council’s constitution also requires any Member of the Committee who is subject to a party whip (ie agreeing to vote in line with the majority view of a private party group meeting) to declare the existence of the whip and the nature of it before the item is discussed.

The Chairman, Councillor Avey, declared a personal interest in Marlowe Park surgery as it is in his ward.

Councillor Christine Godwin declared a personal interest in Medway Older People’s Partnership by virtue of being chair of the Partnership.

Shirley Griffiths declared a personal interest as she is a member of the Medway NHS Foundation Trust, the South East Coast Ambulance Trust a trustee for Crossroads and a patient at College Health.

Councillor Igwe declared a personal interest as he is a mental health practitioner working for the prison service and the NHS.  He also declared a personal interest in Marlowe Park surgery as it is within his ward.

Councillor Kearney declared a personal interest as she is a Member of the Medway NHS Foundation Trust and the South East Coast Ambulance Trust and she is a patient at Hoo St Werburgh medical practice.

Councillor Mackness declared a personal interest by virtue of operating café’s in the NHS including the PCT in Medway.

Councillor Murray declared a personal interest as her daughter works for NHS Medway.

Councillor Purdy declared a personal interest by virtue of a doctor from Beacon Hill surgery being a personal friend.

During the meeting Councillor Watson declared a personal interest by virtue of being a patient at the Bells Lane, Hoo surgery.

The Chief Executive Officer, Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust will give a powerpoint presentation and request the Committee’s support to the Trust’s application for Foundation Trust status. 

Discussion: 

The Chief Executive Officer from Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust  (KMPT) gave a presentation on the Trust’s aims for becoming a Foundation Trust. 

She explained the measures that the Trust had put in place including the importance of the clinical strategy with focus on the recovery model ensuring positive outcomes and improved feedback from service users.  In relation to the clinical strategy summary document she undertook to share this with the Committee after the meeting.  She also encouraged Members to sign up to become members of the Trust from the KMPT website.

Responding to a question she stated that the decision to apply for foundation trust status had not detracted from the Trust’s desire to achieve improvements in its service delivery.  Part of the process would be to ensure the Trust could deliver a high quality service and it would need to demonstrate this before authorisation could be granted.  Members generally felt that the Trust needed to concentrate on resolving some of the important outstanding matters affecting service delivery before making the application for foundation trust status.

Members referred to various sections of the report on adult mental health social care later on the agenda, which flagged up a series of difficulties between the Council and the Trust, some of which had resulted in safeguarding issues.  A number of these issues had been caused by the inability of Council mental health social care staff to access important records of service users from KMPT. The Chief Executive Officer stated that she understood this particular issue had now been resolved.

Christine Baker, Medway Pensioners Forum, referred to an engagement event she attended last year which had been hosted by KMPT and held in Gillingham and expressed her disappointment that the event had only been about services in Kent with no references to Medway.  She stated that she had asked questions about Medway at the event and not been able to get any answers. In view of this she left the event feeling that Medway was just an ‘add on’.

The Chief Executive Officer offered her apologies for this omission and emphasised that Medway was important as far as the Trust was concerned.  The Committee expressed their concern at the lack of Medway focus and emphasised that Medway residents/users were equally important as those living in Kent.

Following a question about the levels of support KMPT had been able to provide people facing cuts in housing benefit and challenges in today’s economic climate the Chief Executive Officer referred to developments in the Trust’s engagement strategy.  She also, in response to a further question, undertook to let Councillors know further details of the voluntary sector partners that KMPT worked with.

The Chief Executive Officer asked the Committee to put forward the specific improvements they were looking to measure the trust against.   A suggestion was then made that commenting on the foundation trust status was deferred to the Committee’s meeting on 21 August 2012 to allow a meeting to take  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

This report updates the Committee on details relating to Marlowe Park Medical Centre following the last meeting.  It advises about a withdrawal from a practice in Sterling House, Luton and attaches a completed protocol regarding the closure of a medical practice at Hoo St Werburgh.

Discussion:

The Co-Medical Director and Head of Medical Quality from NHS Kent and Medway introduced the update on medical centres in Medway.  The Co-Medical Director referred to continuing, confidential, negotiations with Dr Juneja relating to the Marlowe Park Medical Centre and stated that discussions had been positive and he would be in a position to update further in a few weeks. 

In relation to Sterling House he set out the reasons behind the decision of Malling Health to withdraw from that property and stated that no concerns had been received from patients or any formal complaints about the proposal to withdraw.  Concern was then expressed that the ward councillors may not have received emails, which had been sent to them by Democratic Services at the request of NHS Kent and Medway, notifying them in advance of the proposals prior to the drop in sessions taking place.  The Democratic Services Officer stated that if ward members had not received the documentation this was a matter for which she was responsible and therefore undertook to look into this and report back. 

The Co-Medical Director undertook to confirm back to Members that the local Police And Communities Together Group (PACT) had been notified of the plans. 

Discussion then took place about the proposed closure of the St Werburgh Medical Practice in Grain and the LINk representative confirmed that the LINk had not been consulted on the closure.

Decision: 

(a)   The update in relation to Marlowe Park Medical Centre was noted;

(b)   The closure of the practice at Sterling House, Luton was noted;

(c)   The Committee agreed with NHS Kent and Medway that the proposed closure of the Hoo St Werburgh Medical Practice did not constitute a substantial variation or development in accordance with the agreed protocol;

(d)   the Democratic Services Officer undertook to check why the email she sent to ward Members had not reached them, if this was the case and it was agreed in future that the NHS will email Members direct.

The report presents the options available to the Council to set the longer-term strategy for mental health social care in Medway.

Discussion:

The Council’s Principal Officer Mental Health introduced the report on options for the future of the adult mental health social care service supported by the Council’s Mental Health Social Care Commissioning Manager. 

He explained the background to the decision to take into Council management the adult mental health social work staff from KMPT on the grounds that KMPT did not deliver adequate social care outcomes.  He referred to ongoing problems with KMPT since February 2012 and stated that social care staff were still unable to access the KMPT patient information system (RiO).   A commitment had been received from the KMPT Chief Executive Officer that access would be available with effect from next Monday.  Members requested to be notified in the event that this did not happen.

Tributes were paid to officers and staff about the way in which the transfer to the Council had been managed and the improvements which were evident as a result.  Members felt it was important to ensure some stability for the service before any longer term solution was sought.  They felt that any change at this point would be retrograde in that it was too early in the process of improvement for it to be beneficial.  The Committee suggested that after a period of twelve months a further report be brought back to them, prior to a Cabinet decision, to look in more depth at options, which should be weighted, in relation to advantages and disadvantages, to allow Members to assess the impact of each option.  Officers explained that the interoperability of any IT systems would be vital in the event of any option being considered.  A request was made that the report should be explicit as far as risk assessments and necessary control measures for the protection of both employer and employees involved.

Discussion took place about the recent team activity and Members expressed their thanks to both officers and the staff involved in adult mental health social care for their hard work and dedication.  Officers were also urged to bring about improvements to the delivery of day resources.

Decision: 

(a)   It was agreed to recommend Cabinet to agree to option 1 in the report, to retain the service in Council management and to review the matter after a twelve month period, setting out the weightings on the advantages and disadvantages of any options put forward for future delivery of the service;

(b)   The Committee requested that their thanks be passed to relevant officers and staff for their hard work and dedication in making improvements to the service.

To consider whether any changes need to be made to the work programme. 

Discussion:

The Chairman reminded Members that the report back on adult mental health social care needed to be added to the work programme for this Committee along with an update on the outcome relating to the Hoo St Werburgh surgery closure.

Decision: 

It was agreed that the following be added to the work programme:

(a)   A report back on adult mental health social care prior to decision by Cabinet

(b)   An update on the Hoo St Werburgh surgery