Agenda and draft minutes

All Members who believe they have a Disclosable Pecuniary or other Interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting must declare that interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in Section 4 paragraph 4.6 of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter is discussed.

None were declared.

Resolved –  That the minutes of the meeting held on 23^rd September 2020 be approved as a correct record.

The Better Care Fund Programme Manager, Mike Wooldridge, introduced a report that informed the Board of the key areas of activity and outturn position of the Better Care Fund (BCF) programme for Slough in 2019-20.

The plan for 2019-20 included the investment and activity towards further personalising and integrating care to make significant improvements for Slough’s residents.  The programme had been delivered in line with the plan agreed by the Health and Social Care Partnership Board in September 2019 and received by the Slough Wellbeing Board in November 2019.

Slough Borough Council hosted the pooled budget of £14.4m in 2019-20 and was funding was spent on 42 schemes grouped into Proactive Care; Single Point of Access & Integrated Care Services; Strengthening Community Capacity; Enablers; Grant Funding and Out of hospital services.  Progress of key BCF projects was summarised including Local Access Points, hospital in-reach/discharge and the work of Community Multi-Disciplinary Teams.  There were several additional funding lines incorporated into the BCF during the year to support the delivery of high impact changes.  These included a GP in A&E supporting discharge to the community, paediatric hotline supporting GPs, end of life care advice and continuity health care service to carry out assessments and commission appropriate care placements.

Performance measures were reviewed as follows:

·  Non-elective admissions – Slough continued to perform well achieving lower than planned non-elective admissions, with a marked reduction from previous years, partly due to the impacts of Covid-19.

·  Residential care admissions – BCF plan set a target of no more than 78 care home admissions and this target was met with an actual figure of 74 admissions.

·  Reablement – the target success rate was 90% and outturn was 70%.  This was partly attributed to standard variances throughout the year, but it was also noted that there was an increase in complexity and acuity of the frail and older people leaving hospital.

·  Delayed transfers of care – Slough was consistently reporting under or close to the target delayed days up until counting stopped in February due to Covid-19.

In conclusion, the Board noted that the programme was being well managed and was delivering strong performance.  Dr O’Donnell highlighted that due to the significant amount of work undertaken by partners, Slough now had a good track record in avoiding hospital admissions.  It was noted that that hadn’t historically been the case and the improvements in performance since 2012/13 was evidence of the strong partnership working in place.  Members asked a number of questions about the financial profile and it was responded that some contingency was being held to deal with winter pressures.

At the conclusion of the discussion the report was noted.

Resolved –  That the report outlining the progress and delivery of the BCF Programme for 2019-20 be noted.

The Safeguarding Partnership Manager, Betty Lynch, summarised the Safeguarding Partnership Annual Report for 2018-19.  The report had been delayed due to Covid-19 and so the update provided including both a summary of the annual report for 2018-19 and more current issues. 

The report presented was the Safeguarding Children’s Annual Report for 2018-19.  Since the reporting period a single Slough Safeguarding Partnership had been established for children’s and adults and the work of the new strategic partnership would be reflected in the 2019-20 annual report which was expected to come to the Board in the first quarter of 2021.  The benefits of this approach were outlined, including cross-working between leaders in children’s and adult services and an holistic strategy to tackle exploitation.  Progress against the specific objectives for the reporting year were summarised and this included a new comprehensive neglect strategy and neglect tool for practitioners.  Dr O’Donnell commented on the increased alignment between GP practices and safeguarding leads which was an important step forward.

The Board noted the report.

Resolved –  That the Safeguarding Partnership Annual Report 2018-19 be noted.

The Board received a verbal update from the Policy Insight Analyst, Tiran Khehra, on Priority One - Starting Well – Children and Young People Partnership Board.

The update focused on the work underway to refresh the Youth Offer in Slough.  As part of the Offer, the Council was looking at opportunities for a new Youth Centre.  The scope of the proposal was outlined and it was aimed to ensure services were coordinated and potentially co-located with partners.  The new Centre would build on the existing youth service offer and be aligned with the Council’s localities strategy.  A briefing note had been provided to the Children and Young People Partnership Board recently and a report would be considered by the Education & Children’s Services Scrutiny Panel in December.  It was expected that the Business Case would be developed by January.

Members of the Board were supportive of the concept and asked whether mental health services had been considered as part of the offer.  It was responded that mental health was being considered as part of the process and had been raised in workshops that had been held with young people.  Discussions with partners was a key part of refining the proposal.

At the conclusion of the discussion the update was noted.

Resolved –  That the update be noted.

The Council’s Executive Director People (Adults), Alan Sinclair, introduced a report that updated on the work of the Health & Social Care Partnership Board (HSCPB) to the deliver on Priority Two of the Slough Wellbeing Strategy relating to Integration.

(Councillor Nazir joined the meeting)

This was the first update the HSCPB had provided since it had been tasked with leading on the Integration priority following the adoption of the refreshed Slough Wellbeing Strategy in the summer of 2020.  Covid-19 had caused some disruption to the work of the HSCPB initially as partners were focused on the Covid-19 response.  However, the core partners began meeting again in May 2020 and had then returned to holding meetings with all partners receiving reports on issues such as the work of Slough Healthwatch, CCG winter preparations and the impact of Covid-19 on mental health services in Slough.  The HSCPB was working to develop a new Health & Care Plan which would set out how partners could deliver greater integration.  A task group had been established and whilst Covid-19 had had an impact on its early work some key areas for the plan to focus on had been identified including working with the newly established Primary Care Networks to tackle health inequalities, strengthened working between public health and the voluntary and community sector, building on the integration of services already undertaken and integrated mental health services.  To support the work an insight dashboard would be produced for the HSCPB which would set out progress on six key indicators.

Members of the Board asked a number of questions, including about the indicators selected for the dashboard and when it would be ready.  It was responded that the proposed use of the discharge to assess indicator was preferred to the delayed transfer of care (DToC) measure previously used as it focused on how people could be supported in their homes.  Slough performance on DToC had been good overall, but it measured a failure in the system whereas discharge to assess was a more positive and relevant indicator.  The initial six indicators could be added to as the plan took shape and it was hoped the first dashboard would be ready for the HSCPB meeting in early December.  The Board discussed the impact of Covid-19 on integration and it was considered that the fact there were strong pre-existing relationships in place between partners had been evident in the close working that took place in the Covid-19 response, for example some of the projects in place had helped avoid hospital admissions.  The work on integration over several years had put Slough in a strong positive to respond to the challenges of Covid-19.

The Board recognised the good work that was taking place on integration.  The report was noted.

Resolved –  That the work of the Health & Social Care Partnership Board to deliver the second priority of the Slough Wellbeing Strategy on Integration be noted.

The Board noted an information report that updated on the potential merger of the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in East Berkshire, North East Hampshire & Farnham and Surrey Heath.  A detailed report had been provided to the Slough Wellbeing Board in September.

The merger would, if agreed, create a single CCG in the Frimley Health & Care ICS from 1^st April 2021.  It was noted that member practices had voted in favour of the merger on 15^th September 2020 and worked continued to agree details of the changes on the constitution.

Resolved –  That the update on the potential merger of CCGs be noted.

The Board considered and agreed the Work Programme for the remainder of the municipal year as set out in Appendix A.

Resolved –  That the Work Programme, as set out in Appendix A to the report, be agreed.

Resolved –  That the details of the Attendance Record be noted.

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as 12^th January 2021 at 5pm.