Agenda item

To consider proposals to add further services to the long-standing Co-operative working agreement with Sandwell West Birmingham Hospital.

Agreed;--

1.1    That the Director of Public Health be authorised to add further services to the long-standing Co-operative working agreement with Sandwell West Birmingham Hospital (within the time frames necessary based on their current agreements) as follows:-

•  School Nursing and vision screening– currently provided by Sandwell West Birmingham Trust until 2024 following successful tender

•  Pilot a 2-year Healthy Pregnancy Service – a new service with mutual contribution between SMBC, Integrated Care Board Tobacco control and the Trust to target those most at risk of poor maternity outcomes, and in the event this is successful at reducing poor birth outcomes, to continue the programme.

1.2    That the Director of Public Health be authorised to review and increase the financial contribution to the co-operative agreement with Sandwell West Birmingham Hospital in line with current inflation and (max 15% over 3 years) to bolster service areas or invest in wider quality improvements identified as requiring extra resource due to local pressures.

1.3    That the Director of Public Health be authorised to increase contribution to the Co-operative working agreement with Sandwell West Birmingham Hospital where necessary, in accordance with the Scheme of Delegation to Officers.

Approval was sought to authorise the Director of Public Health to add further services to the long-standing Co-operative working agreement with Sandwell West Birmingham Hospital (within the time frames necessary based on their current agreements).

The Chair of the Budget and Corporate Scrutiny Management Board asked for clarification on what mechanisms were in place to ensure the Council was getting value for money from the agreement given the sums involved.

The Cabinet Member highlighted that the contract worked on an open book process regarding costs. Anything not spent was reinvested back into the contract and utilised where needed to best advance the agreement. Therefore, this operated at cost with no one taking away a profit. The agreement was seen as a transparent jointly committed programme of work which was also held within the governance of the Health and Care Partnership.

The Cabinet member for Finance and Resources, on behalf of the Cabinet, thanked the Director for Public Health, Lisa McNally for all of the work done for the Council and wished her well in her future endeavours.  

Reason for Decision

The cooperative working agreement enabled joint working to get the best service for Sandwell residents. As such, the Council sought to benefit further from the agreement by adding more services to it. The Cooperative working agreement was due a review of costs as it had not been updated since its inception 6 years ago. The increase in costs were necessary as the Council operated transparently regarding expenses and understood the outlay for the service was going beyond its budget.

Alternative Options Considered

The team continued to retender the School nursing programme. Over the last ten years the service has mainly been provided by SWBHT, the contract was awarded to another provider, but then provided by SWBHT at the next two commissioning rounds.

Tendering out the healthy pregnancy service, which would lose the cooperative element, the combined staffing options and the opportunity to run the service

Agreed:--

(1)     that the Director of Public Health be authorised to add further services to the long-standing Co-operative working agreement with Sandwell West Birmingham Hospital (within the time frames necessary based on their current agreements) as follows:-

·               School Nursing and vision screening– currently provided by Sandwell West Birmingham Trust until 2024 following successful tender;

·               Pilot a 2-year Healthy Pregnancy Service – a new service with mutual contribution between SMBC, Integrated Care Board Tobacco control and the Trust to target those most at risk of poor maternity outcomes, and in the event this is successful at reducing poor birth outcomes, to continue the programme;

(2)     that the Director of Public Health be authorised to review and increase the financial contribution to the co-operative agreement with Sandwell West Birmingham Hospital in line with current inflation and (max 15% over 3 years) to bolster service areas or invest in wider quality improvements identified as requiring extra resource due to local pressures;

(3)      that the Director of Public Health be authorised to increase contribution to the Co-operative working agreement with Sandwell West Birmingham Hospital where necessary, in accordance with the Scheme of Delegation to Officers.