NORTH EAST REGIONAL HEALTH SCRUTINY NETWORK
A meeting of representatives of the health Overview and Scrutiny Committees of the twelve local authorities in North East England.
10.30 a.m. Friday 26th February 2010
Council Chamber
Civic Centre
Newcastle Road
Chester-le-Street
DH3 3UT
Minutes of the meeting
Present
Elected Members
Cllr Marian Swift, Darlington Borough Council
Cllr Stuart Green, Gateshead Council
Cllr Jonathan Brash, Hartlepool Borough Council
Cllr Lawrence Hunter, Newcastle City Council
Cllr Margaret Richards, Northumberland County Council
Cllr Margaret Finlay, North Tyneside Council
Cllr Steve Kay, Redcar and Cleveland Council
Cllr Ann Cains, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
Cllr Graham Hall, Sunderland City Council
Officers
Darlington Borough Council
Durham County Council
Durham County Council
Gateshead Council
Hartlepool Borough Council
Middlesbrough Council
Newcastle City Council
Newcastle City Council
North Tyneside Council
Northumberland County Council
Redcar and Cleveland Council
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
South Tyneside Council
Sunderland City Council
Centre for Public Scrutiny
Apologies for Absence
Cllr Robin Todd, Durham County Council; Cllr Eddie Dryden, Middlesbrough Council; Cllr Ernest Gibson, South Tyneside Council.
Declarations of Interest
Cllrs S. Kay and G. Hall declared an interest in Item 7 – Joint Regional Scrutiny Review of the health of veterans 2010.
2.Election of Chair
Councillor Ann Cains, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council was elected as Chairman.
3.Minutes
The minutes of the meeting held on 12th January were approved as a correct record.
JB advised the Officers meeting planned for the 28th Jan had taken place and resulted in the programming of this meeting and the next meeting to take place on 31st March.
- Establishing a North East Region Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee – Protocols and associated issues.
SG gave a presentation which outlined draft proposals for protocol and associated issues for the establishment of a North East Region Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
Views were sought on the following:-
- Remit / Scope, aims and objectives
- Meeting frequency
- Agenda planning, work programming and urgent action
- Officer Support
Following a discussion on each of the above it was Agreed that:-
(i)There shall be a standing Joint Committee, with the host authority provided by the authority which chairs the committee, with the chair rotating on an annual basis.
(ii)Meetingsof the Joint Committee will follow a 6 monthly cycle, with the provision for task and finish working groups to be formed, which may meet on an ad-hoc basis.
(iii)Agenda and work programming is to be Member led with provision for a panel of Members including the chair and vice chairs to do this.
(iv)The host authority shall be responsible for providing Officer support and for liaising with all other authorities and the officer network.
It was noted that it may be beneficial to hold the annual meeting of the Committee after the Election period and after the AGM of each authority, to allow for changes in membership etc to be implemented.
Debate also took place regarding whether the Committee shall be politically balanced and how this may affect the Quorum. Although this was considered a legal issue it was the general consensus of the meeting that the Committee shall be non-political, and its members selected on the basis of who was the most suitable person for the job.
It was noted that the protocol should reflect the scope of organisations that the Joint Committee may wish to scrutinise in carrying out reviews and in delivering its work programme, but should not imply that all such organisations will be subject to scrutiny by the committee.
Members agreed that further revisions are to be carried out in line with the views expressed, and agreement of the protocol should be sought at the next meeting of the North East Regional Health Scrutiny Network on 31 March.
5.Sharing good practice and promoting innovation and learning across the region – Alcohol Misuse services light touch review.
SG provided a presentation to the group on the review and referred members to the recommendations within the report.
Following a discussion of the above the Committee Agreed:
i)the scope of the light touch review as proposed.
ii)the following organisations shall be invited to the next meeting:-
- NHS NE
- Balance
- The North East Public Health Observatory
- Total Place
6.CfPS Scrutiny Development Areas project overview.
SG provided the meeting with an overview of the CfPS Health Inequalities Scrutiny programme which would take place over a two year period, its aim to promote community well-being and assist Council’s and their partners in addressing health inequalities.
He advised that the Scrutiny Development Area would assist with the development of a Scrutiny Resource Kit, helping to provide Council’s with help, support and advice so as to encourage them to undertake such reviews.
It was expected that the reviews currently underway would conclude in November 2010 resulting in the kit being published early 2011.
7.Joint Regional Scrutiny Review of the Health of Veterans 2010.
SF presented the report and highlighted the scale of project and the need for a being clear on its focus in terms of taking the project forward.
He outlined the project timeframe and summary of decisions required for the next stages of the review as paragraph 42 of the report. The report further sought views on how the worksteams may be divided, and the report suggested the following options:
- By outcome
- By service
- By organisation
- By life-cycle
As it was recognised that the existing data available on the health ex-service personnel did not present the full picture, it would be useful to gain a better understanding and to hear first hand some of the experiences that had been encountered by ex-service personnel. The Committee further debated how these individuals should be approached to give direct evidence. It was suggested that this should be done through the Royal British Legion.
It was suggested that a clear methodology should be adopted for this work, with an ethical framework and some advice should be taken on this, possibly from the Regional Director of Public Health.
It was also suggested that the budget available for the project should be utilised to commission researchers where work directly to elicit the views of veterans, or their families, was required - in recognition of the specialist skills that such work may require.
Further discussion took place regarding the systems in place for identifying ex service personnel. It was noted that these many of these individuals were usually only identified once problems had arisen through ill health etc. and were not known by their GP’s until such a time.
It was also noted that any ex-service personnel involved in the review shall be made fully aware of what the outcomes of such were likely to be, and to ensure that expectations were not raised unnecessarily.
It was suggested that the Prison and Police services also be involved as it was noted that a number of ex-service personnel were currently serving time in local prisons and information on their offences and reasons for such would be useful to examine.
The following Council’s expressed an interest in the following research tasks:-
Gateshead Council – Studying experiences of veterans on discharge.
NorthumberlandCounty Council – Study of younger age veterans.
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council – Retraining of ex-service personnel.
Members were advised that in order to deliver the project with the timescale set out, officers will need to undertake the necessary preparatory work set out in the report.
It was suggested that ‘baseline’ day is organised for June.
It was Agreed that:
i)With reference to the options for division of workstreams - Options 1 and 4 should be selected - by outcome and by life-cycle - as it was felt that these offered the best options for producing rounded conclusions and recommendations. Of these two, option 4 was most favoured.
ii)The approach should be to produce recommendations which support the Dept of Health and Ministry of Defence key themes.
iii)the Project Board for delivering this project would be the North East Regional Health Scrutiny Network until such time as the Joint Committee is formally established.
8.Any Other Business
There were no further items of business discussed.
- Date and Time of Next Meeting
The next meeting was scheduled to take place on 31st March 2010.