The Chairman will provide the Board with an update on recent meetings he has attended and other matters affecting the Board.
Minutes:
Management Problems at South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb)
The Chief Executive of South
East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust has admitted
that, during last winter’s period of heavy load, the Trust
introduced additional delays to the dispatch of help to some
categories of call. It is understood
that this fact came to light through the action of a
whistle-blower.
The CEO has accepted the findings of an investigation by Monitor and has begun to implement changes that Monitor requires.
I will be inviting the CEO of SECAmb to 7 January 16 meeting of this Board to explain matters, and on 18January I will be meeting Chairmen of other HOSCs in the South East to compare impressions.
Patient Transport Service
The re-commissioning of this non-urgent service is in its Prequalification Questionnaire stage with Invitations to Tender and responses to take place between January and March 2016.
October Newsletter
We published our first Wellbeing and Health Scrutiny Board Newsletter in October. Please provide any feedback or suggestions to Ross or me.
Since our last meeting I have attended the Annual General Meetings of Surrey Heath CCG, NE Hants & Farnham CCG and Surrey and Sussex Hospital. All three achieved excellent involvement for the many members of the public who attended.
Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)
Margaret Hicks and I received a briefing on the joint work by the County Council and the CCGs to re-commission the CAMH Service. The documentation will be released in mid-November. The subject will be brought to this Board at our 7 January meeting.
Mental Health Crisis Concordat
I represented the Wellbeing
and Health Scrutiny Board at the most recent meeting of the Social
Care Services Board at which the Agenda include an update on
‘Mental Health Concordat and Mental Health Code of
Practice’. The
main points that I took from Item were:
· The Safe Haven Café in Aldershot is credited with reducing by 30% the number of people in crises attending A&E. Each Surrey CCG is introducing its own safe Haven Café.
· Mental Health staff are providing a 7 night support service to Surrey Police. In a single year Surrey Police and Surrey and Border Partnership Trust (SABP) have reduced the number of people in crises that are held Police custody by a factor of 3 down to 6%
· A plan has been agreed to develop an integrated communication and pathway between 111 and SABP, known as the ‘single point of contact’
· An out-of-hours assessment and respite service for young people in mental health crises is planned.
Musculoskeletal (MSK) Services in North West Surrey
North West Surrey CCG had intended to re-commission its MSK Services from a single supplier in order to facilitate improvement to the patients’ pathway. A suitable supplier did not step forward and so that line has been abandoned for the time being at least.
Re-commissioning of Community Services
The 6 Surrey CCGs and Surrey County Council have begun recommissioning of Community Services with some new contracts expected to come into operation in April 2017.
Review of Personal Medical Services (PMS) Contracts
Today, under Item 6 at Section 2.2.1 we will be hearing about work being undertaken by NHS England to review the PMS Contracts of GPs across Surrey. NHS England have written to me to state that they will write again in January to report on their analysis. At that point we can decide whether we need to schedule any item in the March or May Board Meetings.
Air Pollution
Members may recall that the
2013/14 Annual Report by the Surrey Director of Public Health,
Helen Atkinson, made the point that, across England, air pollution
is second only to smoking as a contributor to
ill-health. Road traffic is a major
contributor to air pollution in Surrey, especially in the more
urban areas.
There is evidence that fuel consumption and the generation of air pollution is highest during vehicle acceleration and increases with vehicle speed. The instantaneous fuel consumption meters fitted in many vehicles readily show that. The Highways Agency has recognised this evidence when planning how to limit air pollution from the managed motorway (SMART) being developed on the M3.
I believe that there is more to be done to limit air pollution on our Surrey roads, in particular by setting appropriate speed limits and in the design of road alterations.
Licensing of the Sale of Alcohol
The Surrey Director of Public Health’s Report pointed to excessive alcohol consumption as the third most significant determinant of ill-health. The Public Health Prevention Plans address this point and Members will have noted that the advice to limit alcohol consumption is being put across in GP’s surgeries, Hospitals, Pharmacies and generally across the media.
Educated individual personal choice will get the best results. However, there may be a role for the Borough and Districts’ Licensing function. Health professionals have held the view that some help could be forthcoming from Licensing Committees and Public Health is now one of the authorities that must be consulted on any application for the sale of alcohol.
Unfortunately, in my view, this is not a realistic expectation under the current Licensing Law in England (Licensing Act 2003). This Law is based on a presumption to grant a Licence unless certain Licensing Objectives are not satisfied, but these Objectives do not include anything to do with health. The Scottish Parliament has added a 5th Licensing Objective: ‘Protecting and Improving Public Health’.It would seem to be worthwhile to examine what has been the experience in Scotland with their tighter alcohol Licensing Laws