Up to 30 minutes of the meeting is available for members of the Committee to put questions to the Portfolio Holder: Councillor Margaret Bell (Adult Social Care and Health) on any matters relevant to the remit of this Committee.
Minutes:
Councillor John Holland had given notice of the following questions: The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) divided Warwickshire into 23 areas and identified the needs of each. How many of the areas have action plans in place to address inequalities? What progress is being made in meeting the needs identified?
Councillor Margaret Bell responded that three place-based partnerships had been established as part of the Integrated Care System (ICS) to look at local issues and feed into the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWBB). The Place Partnership Boards had taken on the JSNA activity and all were working on their respective action plans. She had attended a lot of their meetings. The priorities for each area would be based on the JSNA data and other data. This fed into the HWBB and on to the Integrated Care Partnership. Some of the priorities had changed post Covid. There continued to be updates for each area from available JSNA data. This work was fundamental, informing both priorities and the inequalities agenda.
Councillor Holland viewed it that nothing had been implemented and linked this to ‘levelling up’. He gave an example from his local area of a priority to provide a new community centre, in a joint scheme involving both the District and County Council. This remained a priority for the Place Partnership. The Chair suggested that this local issue could be discussed outside the meeting, which the portfolio holder agreed to do. She did not agree with Councillor Holland’s view that nothing had been done. The action plans were in place, some had been fulfilled and there had been delays impacted by the Covid pandemic.
Councillor Kate Rolfe referred to the shortage of care staff, using an example to show the challenges faced in arranging care packages. She asked the portfolio holder if this was happening more than should be the case. Councillor Bell agreed there was a challenge in getting care packages, which could impact on hospital discharges. End of life care was prioritised and once in place, the health and care support were excellent. There were workforce challenges and endeavours to address this. Councillor Rolfe then referred to the difficulties faced by carers through the current cost of living increases. She asked if there was any statistical data on the impact for carers in Warwickshire. Councillor Bell did not have such data to hand. It was suggested that these items could be raised under the later agenda item which would give a workforce update.
Councillor Chris Kettle thanked the Portfolio Holder for pursuing with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) an issue about provision of a new health centre linked to residential development. Councillor Bell added that this concerned the need for a broader consultation. The CCG had agreed to undertake that consultation and no decisions had yet been taken on the final scheme. This was followed by a discussion about planning and infrastructure contributions through Section 106 agreements. In Nuneaton, at Weddington an additional 5,000 homes would be built following a number of planning consents. The separate planning applications avoided contributions towards infrastructure costs, such as highways. There needed to be a holistic approach. It was clarified that Section 106 contributions from smaller sites could now be amalgamated and it was important that the planning authority had a dialogue with CCGs about impact and to give a strategic overview. Discussion took place about attracting the GPs / clinical staff to work in the new premises. Sometimes they were linked to an existing practice or GPs were employed through an alternate provider contract. There was an ongoing task and finish group on GP services looking at the issues raised, which would report in due course. Further points on the current planning system and the need to consider planning applications individually.