Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Allcock, Choudhry, Smith and Taylor.

Members to declare any interests in matters to be discussed at the meeting.

Councillor Akpoteni declared a pecuniary interest in the matter referred to at Minute No. 05/23 and 06/23 (Primary Care Update and Adult Social Care Annual Feedback Reports 2020/21 and 2021/22) in that she worked within the adult social care sector.  This interest had previously been declared on her central declaration of interest, however was being declared as a precaution due to the nature of the agenda item referenced.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 5 December 2022.

Resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on 5 December 2022 be approved as a correct record.

To determine whether there are any additional items of business which, by reason of special circumstances, the Chair decides should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent additional items of business.

To consider and comment on the Primary Care Access update.

The Board received an update in relation to the current position of Primary Care within the borough.

Pressures continued to be faced across the whole health and social care sector due to widespread staff shortages. Sandwell had the lowest WTEs per 100,000 patients when compared to the national average. This was mainly down to a surge in population growth and an increased demand. New roles had been introduced into the primary care system that supported the usual traditional working roles seen.

Investment had been secured to support primary care through time-limited funding by increasing the number of appointments. NHSE/ICB winter capacity funding of £499,060 was utilised to create an additional 10,833 appointments across all practices in Sandwell. NHSE Acute Respiratory Hub funding was used to deliver approximately 2,959 additional appointments between December and March at the hub established in Tipton and a total of 2,032 additional appointments in the same period at the hub established in Smethwick.

              An update was provided on General Practice Appointment Data. Since July 2022, data had been available to the public domain however members were minded that not all of the appointment data was included. Further work was taking place with practice to improve data quality and to determine how best to utilise the date.

              The following statistics were provided to the Board:

·      Across BC ICB, 46% of appt’s were same day in Jan 2023, this was more than the national average (45%). In Jan 2023 Sandwell Place also had 46% (75,411) appt’s on the same day.

·      Across BC ICB 73% of appt’s were F2F, this was higher than both the regional average (71%) and national average (69%) for Jan 2023.

·      Across BC ICB 50% of all appts in Jan 23 were carried out by a GP, this was line with the national average.

In response to questions from members, the following points were made:-

·      Demand was expected to reduce during the winter months and therefore, it was expected that the need for funding would also reduce

·      Work was underway to developing the services across the 6 towns within the borough by working with practices and integrating further.

·      The Hubs were only accessible by director referral from the patients’ own service.

·      Further reports could be provided regarding “Did not attends” and F2F appointments.

·      Detailed ward/town data would be provided once the data quality was adequate.

Further discussions detailed the changes to the GP contract for 2023/24. More focus would be made on improving patient experience and satisfaction, patients would now be able to better access health information online and the offer of assessment of need would be at the forefront during first contact.

Further detail was to be provided once the publication Plan for Recovering access to Primary Care was announced by the Chancellor.

Members were reminded that any queries, concerns or compliments could be directed to the Time 2 Talk website. It was confirmed that many practices had access to social prescribers through their PCNs, however, capacity issues may be a concern.

To consider and comment upon the Adult Social Care Annual Feedback Reports for financial years 2020 – 2021 and 2021 – 2022.

Regulation 18 of The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Services Complaints (England) Regulations 2009 required the council to produce an annual report detailing:-

·      The number of complaints received and processed by Adult Social Care Services in line with the regulations:

·      The outcome of complaints responded to;

·      A summary of the subject matter of the complaints, any matter of general importance and improvements that had been made as a result of the complaints; and

·      The number of complaints which the Council had been informed had been referred to the Health Service Commissioner to consider under the 1993 Act or the Local Commissioner to consider under the Local Government Act 1974.

Adult Social Complaints had a single stage process before going to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO), in the case of an individual being dissatisfied with the Council response. This was handled differently to the Council’s complaints procedure which consisted of two form stages.

At the close of the reporting period (31 March 2021) 30 of the 57 complaints received during 2020 -2021 had been concluded. The data was based on the 30 complaints that were formally investigated and concluded in the period. Each complaint could consist of multiple elements and it was noted that 50 complaints elements were concluded. 14 of the elements were upheld, 13 partially upheld, 19 were not upheld, 1 was unable to reach a conclusion and 3 were not complaints.

At the close of the reporting period (31 March 2022) 11 of the 38 complaints formally investigated during 2021 - 2022 had been concluded. The data was based on the 11 complaints that were formally investigated and concluded in the period. 21 complaint elements were concluded. 2 of the elements were upheld, 5 were partially upheld, 12 were not upheld, 1 was unable to reach a conclusion and a further element was not a complaint.

Members were notified that the reduction in complaints may have been due to the reduction of people accessing services during the pandemic which, as a result, would lead to less complaints. Complaints were dealt on an individual basis with varying timeframes depending on the particular case.

Standing item to consider the Scrutiny Action Tracker.

The Board noted progress on previous actions and recommendations.