Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllrs. Flynn and Hegenbarth. Cllrs. McCloskey and Wheeler substituted for them.

Cllr. Nelson declared an interest as the spouse of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Minutes of last meeting held on 4^th October

The public minutes of the meeting held on 4^th October were approved and signed as a correct record.

There were none.

Presentation by representatives from the Integrated Care System

Objective: To enable Members to gain a clear understanding of the pressures facing the NHS Trust and its partners, how these are being addressed, and to inform Members of the winter plan and how Members may be able to support the Trust going forward.

Mark Walkingshaw (Deputy Accountable Officer, NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group) (MW) gave a presentation on the pressures facing the NHS Trust and its partners and how these were being addressed, and informed Members of the winter plan and how they could support the Trust going forward.

He acknowledged that the NHS and social care system were undergoing significant pressure, and they the need to be open and honest about the challenges faced and the responses needed. The winter plan had been pulled together with all partners, as it was on an annual basis, but was different this year due to the ongoing impact of Covid-19 on a wide range of actions. This was set alongside the normal winter challenges, such as seasonal flu and respiratory diseases like respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

They also needed to plan for significant workforce challenges across the health and social care system, which were even more pronounced as a result of the pandemic as the economy recovered and different sectors competed for staff. There had been particular pressures this year on recruiting and maintaining nursery, domiciliary and care home staff – part of a wider national issue which had received significant media coverage.

The focus was increasingly on joint work with adult social care services, which had significantly changed in terms of the scale of pressures. There was a build-up of patients who could be discharged but lacked proper pathways like returning home or moving into a care home. They needed to work closely with the adult social care system to solve this.

He reflected on what they had learned from the first phases of the pandemic, and emphasised that the system would succeed if it worked together and escalated together. A series of metrics was reviewed hourly to inform actions that they needed to take as system partners, across general practice, the ambulance service and more. He highlighted the increased importance of digital technology and the ways in which staff deployment and flexible working had been affected by the pandemic.

He acknowledged that there were risks within the winter plan, including demand possibly exceeding capacity, workforce pressures, risks related to increased Covid cases, difficulty in maintaining operational performance standards, increased activity in NHS 111 and out-of-hours, and patients deconditioning. Despite this, the vaccination program continued to be key, with Gloucestershire and its primary care networks performing excellently.

The winter plan would be supported by system-wide capacity and demand modelling, with detailed work having taken place with business intelligence teams to model this and set up the Single Health Resilience Early Warning Dashboard (SHREWD) system.

Key actions taken to reduce ambulance handover delays included identifying new cohorting areas, referring sub-acute cases to Community Hospitals, incorporating senior clinical advice and enabling additional back door capacity. Meanwhile, the expansion of the Cinapsis service supported patients diverted away from the emergency department and delivered care in alternative settings. A system-wide information sharing service had been developed.

He concluded by outlining the next steps. Additional recruitment for key schemes  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Gloucestershire Health O&S Committee (12^th October 2021) – update from Councillor Barrell.

Gloucestershire Economic Growth O&S Committee (20^th October 2021) – update from Councillor McCloskey.

Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel (3^rd November 2021) – update from Councillor Brownsteen to follow.

Cllr. Barrell’s update from the Gloucestershire Health O&S Committee on 12^th October 2021 was taken as read.

Cllr. McCloskey’s update from the Gloucestershire Economic Growth O&S Committee on 20^th October 2021 was taken as read.

Cllr. Brownsteen’s update from the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel on 3^rd November 2021 was taken as read.

Councillor Hay, Leader

Objective: An update from the Cabinet on key issues for Cabinet Members which may be of interest to Overview and Scrutiny and may inform the work plan.

The Leader did not have anything to report.

There were no comments from members on the scrutiny workplan.

17^th January 2022.

17^th January 2022.

The committee is recommended to approve the following resolution:-

“That in accordance with Section 100A(4) Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the remaining agenda items as it is likely that, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, if members of the public are present there will be disclosed to them exempt information as defined in paragraph 3, Part (1) Schedule (12A) Local Government Act 1972, namely:

Paragraph 3; Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular

person (including the authority holding that information).

Exempt minutes of 4^th October meeting

Members resolved to move into exempt session.

The exempt minutes of the 4^th October meeting were approved and signed as a correct record.