Agenda and minutes

Resolved: that Councillor Caroline Cherry be elected Vice-Chairman.

To receive written submissions from any person who wishes to address the Committee.  The Chairman will select the order of the matters to be received. 

Please ensure that any submissions meet the required time limits and would take no longer than five minutes to read out. 

Requests and full statements must be submitted in writing to the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, or to the officer mentioned at the top of this agenda letter, by noon on the day before the meeting. 

There were four (attached) requests for public discussion – three from Dot Agassiz, Brian Sheldrake and Alan Rice regarding the Weston Primary Care Facility (Graham Road Relocation Proposal, Agenda Item 9) and a statement from Dr Martin Hime about the Performance of the NS based Test, Track and Trace system.

The statements were read out by the Scrutiny officer, and it was agreed that the first three be addressed under agenda item 28 (Minute HEA 28 below refers) while the fourth be forwarded to the appropriate political group at the Council for response.

Copies of these statements were published with the agenda for this meeting.

None.

8th October 2020, to approve as a correct record (attached).

Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting of 8^th October 2020 be approved as a correct record.

None.

Report of the Director of Public Health (NSC).

North Somerset Council’s Director of Public Health provided a broad overview of the current position of North Somerset’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including an update on the most recent infection and vaccination figures. Cases of infection had dropped from 423 per 100 000 in January to 40 per 100 000 population currently, and there had been 87 000 people vaccinated in North Somerset as of the 11^th March 2021.

Questions and comments from members were responded to as follows (with replies in italics):

·       There was concern from Members that close contacts of people being told to self-isolate due to testing positive for Covid-19 were not themselves allowed to a test. The Public Health team had to follow national guidance on close-contact testing.

·       Was guidance on ventilation of premises being offered to businesses that were due for reopening? The Public Health team was proactively communicating with businesses to ensure that they received the appropriate guidance.

·       Members thanked the Public Health team, as well as GP surgeries and primary care networks for their work in the rollout of the vaccine.

Concluded: That the report be received and that Members’ comments be provided to officers and health colleagues in the form of minutes.

Report of the Area Director (North Somerset) BNSSG Clinical Commissioning Group

The Area Director for North Somerset from the BNSSG Clinical Commissioning Group presented an update report on the project to build a new primary care facility to replace the existing Graham Road surgery. There had also been an election for a new Patient Participation Group at Graham Road surgery.

He responded to Member’s comments and queries as follows:

·       Dolphin Square seemed like a good fit for the replacement surgery. Why had it been taken out of consideration? Natural daylight, which was needed to obtain some diagnoses, was an issue. The landlord also withdrew as another commercial venture had become more viable for the site. In the second round of investigations, a different location within the site had been offered, but it had the same issues with natural daylight, being deeper within the structure as well as being further from the car park. There was also a problem with emergency services vehicles being unable to park immediately outside.

·       What had been the issue with the land adjacent to Dolphin Square? Homes England was unable to release the land, because of the long-standing issue of needing to relocate the electricity sub-station on the site.

·       Would there be a problem with the covenant on the Rugby Club land? This had been held by the Council. The covenant restrictions had been removed several years ago. The Council would retain some land for the planned primary school on the site.

·       Access to the proposed site was the main concern coming from the public discussion items, which it was felt would put obstacles in the way of vulnerable groups of individuals seeking medical care. Were there any plans for remediating this? The site was part of wider regeneration plans in the area, and conversations had been had with Council officers about public transport into the area. Easier routes of travel would be forthcoming.

·       Was there a possibility to have a satellite clinic in the town centre? There was no money in the current budget for this, but the CCG was happy to investigate all proposals that could mitigate issues with the site.

Concluded: 

1) that the report be noted and that Members’ comments be provided to officers and health colleagues in the form of minutes; and that

2) a (Central Weston) Primary Care Estate Review task-and-finish working group be set up to allow HOSP Members to investigate the potential impacts on the accessibility to the Weston Rugby Club site for patients.

Report of the Area Director (North Somerset) BNSSG Clinical Commissioning Group.

The Area Director for North Somerset from the BNSSG Clinical Commissioning Group presented the report on the progress of the Healthy Weston review, and requested that Members agree the proposed approach to monitoring the impact of the changes agreed in the Healthy Weston Decision Making Business Case for the purposes of the HOSP’s review, now rescheduled for 3rd June 2021.

Although the impact of Covid-19 would skew the metrics as a result of uneven demand for services at Weston Hospital, the evening closure of the Emergency Department would also be looked at (with caveats in the final report stating this).

Concluded:

1) that the report be noted and that Members’ comments be provided to officers and health colleagues in the form of minutes; and

2) that the proposed metrics be adopted for the June 2021 review.

Report of the Director of Public Health (NSC).

The Director of Public Health presented the report, which gave an overview of how the service had adapted through the pandemic and examined the key challenges involved. This was followed by a presentation from HealthWatch on access to mental health support for people in recovery from substance misuse.

Members received the following responses (as italicised below) to the following questions:

·       The average length of time of non-opiate recovery was double in North Somerset compared to national levels – was there an indication of what was driving this? Non-opiate clients had received less support for mental health during the pandemic, but this would hopefully be addressed as Covid-related pressures on the service eased.

·       What strategies were in place to provide mental health support for drug users? Safe Haven on the Boulevard in Weston was providing support, and were in contact with Public Health team. Webchat and remote services had proved very effective through the pandemic, but it was acknowledged that a different client group engaged best with this kind of service.

·       What was the Timeline for incorporating mental health support into the service? Officers would have initial discussions and then take those ideas to the CCG for further work on implementing this.

Concluded:

(1) that the report be noted and that Members’ comments be provided to officers and health colleagues in the form of minutes; and that

(2) the Panel supported the recommendation that North Somerset Council officers continued to work with partners to improve access to mental health assessment and treatment for people with substance misuse problems, which would be scrutinised at a future HOSP meeting.

Report of the Director of Public Health (NSC).

The Public Health Consultant presented a report requesting Members to consider and comment on the proposed review and timelines of the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy and Action Plan.

There was discussion on whether the target date of July 2021 was too soon for people exiting shielding and lockdown, but officers reassured Members that they were already capturing the impacts of Covid and would continue listening to people after the deadline of July 2021.

Concluded: That the report be received and that Members’ comments be provided to officers and health colleagues in the form of minutes.