Agenda and draft minutes

None.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting held on 12 December 2024.

RESOLVED – that the minutes of the meeting held on 12 December 2024 be confirmed and signed by the Chair. 

To receive an update on the work of the Joint Health & Overview Scrutiny Committee.

The Telford & Wrekin Co-Chair of the Joint Health & Overview Scrutiny Committee (JHOSC) provided Members with an update on the work recently completed by the Joint HOSC.

On 24 January 2025, the Committee formally wrote to the Secretary of State and local MPs to express their concerns about the poor performance of SaTH and its impact on staff and the community as highlighted in the Dispatches programme which was aired in May 2024. The issues which had arisen as part of the programme were formally discussed at a meeting of the Joint HOSC in August last year and it was agreed to allow SaTH the opportunity to work with the Joint HOSC to understand how improvements could be made.

The Chairs of the Joint HOSC had also written to Simon Whitehouse, Chief Executive of the ICB in February regarding the out of hours GP contract which outlined their concerns and requested a report to be provided to the Committee. A response to the request was provided which had expressed willingness for the ICB to work with the Joint HOSC in the future. However, due to the upcoming election period for the Shropshire county, engagement was unlikely to take place until June and it was suggested that these issues be addressed through the work of other committees whilst the Joint HOSC is unable to meet.

The Chairs of the Joint HOSC had been invited to visit the Emergency Department at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital on 7 March 2025 to review the improvements that had been made so far.

To receive an update on the work of the Health & Wellbeing Board.

The Director: Health & Wellbeing provided Members with an update on the recent work of the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWBB). The Board had not met since its last meeting held on 28 November 2024 and a further meeting was scheduled to take place on 20 March 2025. The agenda included several items such as the Standing Strategy Update, summaries from Priority Leads on main interventions, the upcoming Joint Strategic Needs Assessment which would include demographic updates and life expectancy data.  It had been a year since the last Annual Health Report was presented and the Board would look to review the impact of the recommendations over the past 12 months. The meeting would also cover items around CYP Mental Health and GP surgery access.

To receive an update on the outcomes following the recent CQC assessment of Adult Social Care.

The Assurance, Transformation and Financial Management Adult Social Care Service Delivery Manager presented the report to the Committee following the recent inspection undertaken by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) into the Council’s Adult Social Care service.

The report outlined the findings from the CQC Assessment of the Council’s ability to meet its Adult Social Care duties under Part 1 of the Care Act and the actions the Council would be required to take as part of its continuous improvement plan.

From April 2023, the CQC took on new responsibilities under the Health and Care Act 2022 for assessing how local authorities met their Part 1 Care Act duties for people accessing care and support. The assessment used a subset of 9 quality statements from the new single assessment framework which was structured specifically around the context, aims and roles of a local authority and focused on 4 themes:-

• How local authorities worked with people;
• How local authorities provided support;
• How local authorities ensured safety within the system; and
• Leadership styles.

By December 2025, the CQC had aimed to complete initial formal assessments on all 153 local authorities. This included reviewing published data including Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and national data collections to help identify themes and insight on access, commissioning, market shaping, workforce and personalisation. Telford and Wrekin were one of the earliest councils to be assessed and receive a published report and at the time of the meeting, only 26 reports had been published with over 50 authorities undergoing assessment.

The CQC assessment was an in-depth and rigorous approach, which analysed evidence from multiple sources including:-

• Obtaining feedback directly from service users, community organisations, groups and local user groups on their experiences;
• Obtaining feedback from staff and leaders through interviews and holding drop-in sessions to share experiences;
• Obtaining feedback from partners and care providers;
• Reviewing the effectiveness of the processes including policies and strategies, audits, performance data and waiting times; and
• Focusing on outcomes and the impact of processes on individuals and communities.

The outcome of each assessment was formally published as part of a report which included an overall rating for the Local Authority of either Inadequate, Requires Improvement, Good or Outstanding. The overall findings of the assessment judged the Council’s ability to meet its Part 1 Care Act duties for people accessing care and support as ‘Good’. Among the published reports, on local authority had been rated as ‘Outstanding’, 14 had been rated as ‘Good’, 11 had been rated as ‘Requires Improvement’ and no authorities had been rated as ‘Inadequate’.

On 19 February 2024, the Council received notification from the CQC of its Local Authority Assessment. At the same time, the CQC requested for completion of the full information return which formed the first part of CQC’s assessment and included a series of documents to assist the CQC in starting their assessment and plan for their onsite visit. The Council were notified on 24 May 2024 that the onsite element of the CQC assessment would take place  ...  view the full minutes text for item HAC-20

To review the updated Work Programme for the Health Scrutiny Committee.

The Senior Democracy Officer (Scrutiny) presented the updated work programme to the Committee. The next formal meeting was scheduled to take place in May 2025 and would include a report outlined the results of the Healthwatch GP Access survey.

Members were also reminded that suggestions could be made to be included as part of the next two year Scrutiny work programme which would commence in the new municipal year.

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