Agenda and minutes

People Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Thursday, 25th July, 2024 7.00 pm

Venue: Committee Room 2, Civic Offices, New Road, Grays, Essex, RM17 6SL. View directions

Contact: Carly Parker, Senior Democratic Services Officer  Email: direct.democracy@thurrock.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for Absence

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Apologies were received for Nicola Cranch, Kim James, Michele Lucas and Janet Simon.

2.

Items of Urgent Business

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Minutes:

The Chair raised one item of urgent business. Advising the committee of concerns regarding waiting times for treatment and appointments for children and young people. The committee were advised of the disparity between the regions; Brentwood, Southend, and Thurrock, advising that he wanted a report with further detail from our NHS colleagues at the next meeting.

 

The Chair also provided an update around the removal of young people’s services like Duke of Edinburgh and the Princes Trust. Funding for these projects were considered as part of budget cuts. The funding is related to staff salaries of and costs to deliver both programmes. The Chair advised the committee that this is part of the political arena and not part of scrutiny that the committee could have any impact on.

3.

Minutes for the Health and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee Meeting 7 March 2024 pdf icon PDF 129 KB

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Minutes:

The minutes were approved subject to minor changes. This included the full list of councillors and officers to be added to the in attendance section.

4.

Minutes for the Children's Overview and Scrutiny Committee Meeting 12 March 2024 pdf icon PDF 150 KB

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Minutes:

The minutes were approved subject to minor changes. This included the full list of attendees in the attendance section.

5.

Declaration of Interests

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Minutes:

The chair declared that he is part of Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, and if necessary he will recuse himself.

6.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee Responsibilities pdf icon PDF 272 KB

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Minutes:

There were no further comments on this item.

7.

Thurrock Scrutiny Committee Protocol- Working Document pdf icon PDF 80 KB

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Minutes:

Members raised the protocol document states there is no power to appoint substitutes. The Overview and Scrutiny Officer advised that there have been several changes since the document was produced and this will be amended. Currently there is a full list of substitutes appointed.

8.

Childhood Obesity Task and Finish Group Scoping Report pdf icon PDF 1 MB

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Minutes:

The Director of Public Health provided a brief overview of the report to the committee. Advising that Thurrock has the highest rate of childhood obesity for children in Reception year and second highest in the East of England region for children in year 6 and is significantly worse than the rate for England.

 

Thurrock has adopted an entire system approach to tackling obesity and produced a Thurrock Whole Systems Strategy 2018-2021. The Committee was asked to set up the Task and Finish Group, agree the scoping document and Terms of Reference, to appoint a chair and to seek nominations of who is going to sit on the group. The numbers should be between 4-7 members.

 

The proposed outcome is to provide a report on themes with recommendations to be reported back to the health and well-being board.

 

Members questioned the section of the report that stated that officers plan to meet with children to get their views and asked for clarification is parents and carers view would be sought also. It was confirmed that parents and carers views will also be collected during this process.

 

Members questioned whether historical data for Thurrock and whether previous initiatives worked or did not work. Wanting further qualitative analysis and evaluation on including what can be done differently. The Director of Public Health advised there is historical data, however previously there was no targeted weight management programs with no investments.

 

Thurrock have rolled out the Health, Exercise, and Nutrition for Really Young ‘HENRY’ programme which is a targeted programme. Thurrock will evaluate the programmes to find out if they are achieving outcomes.

 

Members questioned whether the task and finish group were necessary if Thurrock are already rolling out programmes. The committee were advised it is necessary to gain insight and identify gaps.

 

The Chair stressed that the task and finish group need to do more for it to be successful. Including having a progress and RAG rating report to evaluate the effectiveness. The Chair proposed officers provide a timeline of all the initiatives dating back to 1994 with detail and honest data and facts.

 

Members questioned whether a bespoke 1-2-1 programme would be more appropriate. The committee were advised that the ‘HENRY’ and weight management programme has been running in various parts of the country and has only been in Thurrock for approximately two years. Therefore, it will need time before any substantial data. 1-2-1 work would require costing and would be difficult to measure its success in the short term.

 

Members questioned what success looks like. The Director of public Heath confirmed this would be dependent on whether it was excellent value for money and whether meaningful outcomes were achieved.

 

Councillor Heath joined the meeting at 19.38.

 

The Chair questioned whether the portfolio holders had any awareness of the programmes and if information was shared between them.

 

The Portfolio holders confirmed they were willing to meet with officers to discuss further as it is an important part of Thurrock’s strategy with long- term  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

9.

Integrated Medical and Well Being Centres (IMWC)- Witness Session- Verbal Update

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Minutes:

The Executive Director for Adults Health along with the Partnership Director and The Associate Director System Programmes (NHS) provided a verbal update on the Integrated Medical and Well Being Centre’s (IMWC).

 

The committee were advised that there are adults with overlapping complex needs including housing issues, addiction, mental health, and social isolation. As a result, they are historically bounced around to different services having to go through several layers of red tape. The IMWC’s aim is to bring all these services together as an alliance. It has coordinated services including adult mental health, housing, addictions and the voluntary third sector, all under one roof. They work together to provide a bespoke service to meet people’s needs. Their input is included, and they are provided with a holistic approach to their care.

 

The committee were advised that one of the four centres has been delivered. The Corringham business case was submitted to the NHS however it was deemed unaffordable. Thurrock Clinical Commissioners Group (CCG) and Mid and South Essex CCG has an enormous deficit. Therefore, they have been forced to consider plan B.

 

The Partnership Director added that minor changes were made to the original plans for the building drawn in 2019. These were reviewed and altered during planning stages and there was on-going engagement with the wider Integrated Medical Centre (IMC) programme and the IMC board during this time. Key changes were noted with regards to the Clinical Commissioning Group being replaced by Integrated Care Boards (ICB) in July 2022.The final building plans were agreed in 2022 and these were implemented.

 

Since opening one staff interview room has been repurposed to offer prayer/ wellbeing room for staff to use. One original office room is now used to see residents for consultations.There are over twenty-seven teams utilising the centre. This includes Phlebotomy, Thurrock Council, Anti-Social Behaviour Teams, Mind, and Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT). On average there are 559 people attending weekly excluding the drop-in/walk in sessions. The Overall daily usage 95% plus capacity. There are more patients who choose to have virtual appointments. The centre is open on the weekends and evenings. Community nurses and sexual health teams use the centre over the weekends. In addition to this there is an Alzheimer’s support group, Health Watch and Artism (Autism art support group). Members were invited to visit the centre.

 

Members questioned if there were any minor eye condition services available at the centre. It was confirmed this was not an intended offer from this site.

 

The Associate Director System Programmes (NHS) added that they have created an estates group to investigate underused facilities and spaces that could deliver the other IMWC’s. Some work has commenced, and the options will be brought back to the committee. A wider model of how things can operate with the other IMWC’s, and the framework will be ready by July 2025.

 

Members praised the IMWC’s and wanted clarification on who will be leading operationally with the set-up of the other centres. The committee  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

10.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 112 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair went through the work programme, and requested the following be added to the work programme.

 

·       A brief report from the chair of the Task and Finish Group regarding any progress that may have been made.

 

·       Report on the Mid and South Essex waiting times for children to access treatment.

 

·       Cabinet Member- Portfolio Holder’s position on IMWC’S

 

·       Report on Budget and Finance and how it affects services.

 

The meeting finished at 21.28.