Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meetings held on 26 January and 8 March 2021 as an accurate record.

The minutes of the meetings held on 26 January and 8 March 2021 were agreed as an accurate record.

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act, Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that it is a requirement to register disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and gifts and hospitality to the value of which exceeds £50 or multiple gifts and/or instances of hospitality with a cumulative value of £50 or more when received from a single donor within a rolling twelve month period. In addition, Members and co-opted Members are reminded that unless their disclosable pecuniary interest is registered on the register of interests or is the subject of a pending notification to the Monitoring Officer, they are required to disclose those disclosable pecuniary interests at the meeting. This should be done by completing the Disclosure of Interest form and handing it to the Democratic Services representative at the start of the meeting. The Chair will then invite Members to make their disclosure orally at the commencement of Agenda item 3. Completed disclosure forms will be provided to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion on the Register of Members’ Interests.

There were no disclosures of interest made at the meeting.

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no items of urgent business.

The Health and Social Care Sub-Committee is asked to review the information provided in this report and at the meeting, to reach a conclusion on the following:-

1.    Do the budget savings within Adult Social Care remain achievable?

2.    Does the leadership team have sufficient line of sight over the savings programme?

3.    Is there sufficient political oversight over the savings programme?

4.    Are the financial monitoring systems in place allowing effective tracking of the budget?

5.    Are the performance monitoring systems in place allowing any unforeseen impact, as a result of the savings programme, on vulnerable residents to be picked up and addressed at an early stage?

6.    Is the Sub-Committee reassured that the voices of service users and carers are being heard during the development of changes to service delivery and across the service as a whole?

The Health & Social Care Sub-Committee is asked to note the latest update provided by the Healthwatch Croydon Manager.

The Sub-Committee considered an update presented by the Manager of Healthwatch Croydon, Gordon Kay, on two reports they had recently completed. This update was provided for the information of the Sub-Committee and to allow consideration of any issues that may be in need of further scrutiny.

The first report concerned the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the mental health of residents. There had been 115 individual responses from the public received in the development of this report and these suggested that mental health issues had increased during the pandemic including concerns around isolation. It was found that those who had family around them did better during the lockdown that those who lived on their own.

The second report looked at the performance of Croydon’s care homes under Covid-19. This report had been informed by surveys completed by residents, their family and staff. It was highlighted that there may have been less incentive for underperforming care homes to complete the survey, which needed to be considered when reviewing the outcomes in the report. As a result of the report an action plan had been created with the Council to address the issues raised.

At the conclusion of this item, the Chair thanked Mr Kay and the Healthwatch team for the work they carry out on behalf of the residents of Croydon.

The Health & Social Care Sub-Committee is asked to:-

1.            Note the current position of its Work Programme for 2021-22,

2.            To consider whether there are any other items that could be added to the work programme.

The Sub-Committee considered updates from health and care partners on their priorities for the year ahead. This purpose of this item was for the Sub-Committee to use the information provided to help prioritise its own work programme.

Representatives from the South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) advised that they were working towards completing a new strategy, with the engagement process due to be launched in September 2021. The ambitious aim for the strategy was to make SLaM the best mental health care trust by 2026, which was acknowledged would be challenging. Themes covered by the strategy included working with partners in preventions to avoid hospital admissions, tackling public health issues, improving outcomes for patients, and ensuring SlaM was a sustainable organisation.

Other priorities for SLaM included building greater resilience within the organisation through focusing resources and upskilling staff. A key priority was to improve the interconnection with primary care and strengthen the relationships within Croydon University Hospital through the Clinical Assessment Unit.

Prior to the meeting Croydon Health Service NHS Trust circulated a summary of their strategic outcomes and two year objectives. These included improving health care provision and reducing health inequalities, improving how the Trust monitored and controlled data to improve healthcare, maximising the uptake of vaccinations and improving services during the recovery from the pandemic. Other priorities included a focus on supporting staff, delivering continued financial sustainability and developing leadership.

At the conclusion of the item, the Sub-Committee agreed that the priorities outlined by the health partners were in line with its own. As a next step, it was agreed that the Chair and Vice-Chair would continue to work outside of the meeting to schedule the work programme, which would be presented to the next meeting of the Sub-Committee for approval.

The Health & Social Care Sub-Committee is asked to note the comments submitted to Croydon Health Service NHS Trust on their 2021 Quality Account.

The Chair advised the meeting that the Sub-Committee had meet informally on 11 June to review the Quality Accounts for the Croydon Health Service NHS Trust. The meeting had been held informally to ensure the comments of the Sub-Committee could be taken into account within the timescales for publication.

A summary of the comments submitted by the Sub-Committee was included in the report published with the agenda for the meeting. The Chief Executive for Croydon Health Service NHS Trust, Matthew Kershaw, thanked the Sub-Committee for the time they had taken to review the Quality Accounts and confirmed that the comments submitted had been incorporated in the final version.

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

This motion was not required.