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Working Group Reports of the People and Health Scrutiny Committees - Councillors Claire Hiscott and Brenda Massey
Minutes:
The Board received reports from Councillor Brenda Massey (Chair of the Health Scrutiny Committee) and Councillor Claire Hiscott (Chair of the People Scrutiny |Committee).
Councillor Brenda Massey made the following points:
· There had been cross-party collaboration in this area which attempted to address concerns about the impact of the current pandemic on Planned Health Care
· The report provided a snapshot of the current situation with lots of different inputs concerning communication, impact on communities and changing ways of working
· The report had noted that there had been a fear amongst some communities of attending for planned health care in view of the risk of catching COVID-19 and who were therefore reluctant to attend
· Concerns raised included the gap between treatments, how people are contacted about changes and problems for people with a limited IT ability
· There were also language and culture difficulties for BAME communities and it was acknowledged that it was important for local communities to help out in this area
· There was an impact on mental health particularly for older people who were forced to stay at home
· The difficulties caused by school closures had made a particular impact on single parent families
· Changes to the way the NHS worked in the current situation resulted in people relying on the role of health providers even more
· Certain areas have been identified as being very good ie partnerships, social prescribing and advice by chemists
· Leaflets had been produced in a range of different languages to help provide information to all communities
Board Members made the following comments:
· It was important for the system to see the problems and be accountable for them and to be as well organised as possible
· It was also important for systems to be as well organised as possible
· One City had put together a Digital Exclusion Task Force to address the problems caused by Digital Exclusion. It was important that vulnerable people had access to machines
· This was a really good report. It could cross reference against work which was already happening in these areas
Councillor Claire Hiscott made the following points:
· The challenges of child protection in the first lockdown period were analysed in order to capture learning while it was still fresh in people’s memories ie what did you do, what went well and what didn’t go well
· She expressed her thanks to the wide range of participants who were all extremely helpful. Input was obtained from Avon and Somerset Police, Cirona, the Youth Service and Keeping People Safe. There were comments from experts and academics
· The Board’s attention was drawn to a diagram on Page 42 of the agenda papers. This helped to understand the risks and harms concerned. It identified how partners identified children at risk including the effects on schooling and attendance for those children who were at risk to begin with as well as those children who were not at risk to begin with but became vulnerable
· Community support had been looked at including the effect on Children and Young People’s Mental Health together with the harm from lockdown as children went back to school. An analysis had shown that the inequality was very obvious and that every contact with a Young Person or child was important
· The incredible stress on some families was noted and the need to help parents and carers to support young people
· Partnership work was vital during lockdown. It was important that these were strengthened and built on
· Some of the recommendations contained in the report had already been acted on
· The report had looked at children in foster care but did not look at young carers. This issues would be considered in future.
Board Members made the following comments:
· Councillor Hiscott and the Scrutiny Committee members were thanked for their work with many issues being pertinent. Both reports had captured the essence of very complex discussions
· The accountability of the Local Authority in CCG work was very important and helped as part of a policy development role
· The use of this report as a critical friend was very helpful. The formal response from Children’s Services to the report would be submitted to Scrutiny as part of an assessment of how Children’s Services can protect children
· This was a very good report in assessing feedback from young carers and helping find the right support
It was noted that any actions with clear organisational owners would be implemented as soon as possible. Those recommendations which required system changes would be submitted to the Healthier Together Executive Board for action and to Jacqui Jensen in her capacity as Chair of the Children and Young People’s Maternity Board.
It was also noted that these recommendations would be considered by the next meeting of the Joint Scrutiny meeting of North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
Supporting documents:
- 9a - Scrutiny Working Groups, item 142. PDF 130 KB
- 9b - Appendix 1 - Health Scrutiny Working Group Report, item 142. PDF 567 KB
- 9c - Appendix 2 - People Scrutiny Working Group Report, item 142. PDF 665 KB