Agenda and minutes

The Chair introduced Members and officers

Councillor Calouri

None

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

§  if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

§  you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

*(a)Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

 (b)Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out

  duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

 (c)Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body

 in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

 (d)Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

 (e)Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

 (f)Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have

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 (g)Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

None

RESOLVED:

That the membership and terms of reference of the Committee be noted

A Member referred to minute 62 and enquired if the issue of pregnant BAME women being refused treatment had been added to the work programme. Members were informed that it had been added to the work programme and the revised work programme would be circulated to the Committee

RESOLVED:

(a)That the minutes of the meeting held on 9 May 2019 be confirmed as a correct record of the proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them

(b)That the revised work programme be circulated to the Committeee

The Chair informed the Committee that following on from discussion at the last meeting in relation to rumours of the closure of Whittington A&E she had been in touch with the Trust and had been assured that there is no substance to these rumours and there are no plans for closure

For members of the public to ask questions relating to any subject on the meeting agenda under Procedure Rule 70.5. Alternatively, the Chair may opt to accept questions from the public during the discussion on each agenda item.

The Chair outlined the procedures for Public questions, filming and recording of meetings and the fire and evacuation procedures

A Member of the Public expressed concern at the recent proposed changes to the contract for patient transport at the Royal Free, Moorfields, North Middlesex and Whittington NHS Trusts, and that this had been instituted to reduce costs. He added that the contractor DHL, currently operates this service for Royal Free, and that patients were presented with lengthy forms to complete, which deterred many from seeking transport, to which they should be entitled

The Committee were of the view that in view of the concerns expressed the Trusts that serve Islington residents should be contacted to ascertain and clarify the proposals mentioned above, which are due to come in on 1 July. The wider issue could be discussed at the NCL JOHSC

RESOLVED:

Accordingly

None

Jess McGregor and Jon Tomlinson Service Director Strategy and Commissioning, and Assistant Director Strategy and Commissiong, Adult Social Services, L.B.Islington, and Simon Bottery, Kings Fund, were present for discussion of this item, and made a presentation to the Committee, copy of which is interleaved

During consideration of the presentation the following main points were made –

·         Domiciliary/Home Care is the front line delivery covering personal care: (help with washing, dressing, and eating) to people with long term care needs is the core service provided by most local authorities. Home Care can also extend to re-ablement services for people leaving hospital, or receiving crisis interventions to avoid hospital attendance in the first place. This can include household tasks – mopping and shopping tasks to help people remain independent

·         The UK Homecare Association estimate that 249 million hours of home care are delivered in England each year

·         In 2015 more than 350000 older people in England were estimated to use the service – 257000 of whom had their care paid for by the Local Authority. A further 76300 younger people with learning disability, physical disability, or mental health issues were also estimated to be publicly funded home care

·         Home Care agencies employ around 680000 people but more people will be needed moving forward, there are around 11000 vacancies at any one time

·         The average package of care commissioned was 10.8 hours in duration. 7% of the packages of care were based on outcome focused commissioning

·         The average lowest price for a care package was £13.64 per hour, and the highest £21.69. The average price of homecare across the region was £16.63

·         4 Boroughs commissioned 50% or more of their homecare needs for the requested week to 2 providers

·         Domiciliary Care – basic facts across London – single week review 2018 – 624 providers were commissioned across the region. There were 32167 packages of care commissioned for the sample week. 11.7% of the care packages were double handed and circa 20% of the packages of care went to just 10 providers across the region

·         Domiciliary Care – Older Adults, some basic facts – L.B.Islington – Older adults, people aged 65 or above, make up 9% of the population of Islington. In 2017 there were an estimated 20786 older adults in Islington, and an estimated one fifth of older adults across Islington and Camden are from BAME communities. By 2035 the older adults figure is set to grow to 12%, a 605 increase in older adults

·         The sharpest increase is expected to be amongst the very old, people aged 85 or over

·         Package size – Large block and spot contracts > 14 hours per week or over have an annual cost of £9793071.49 with annual hours of 564068.39. Medium large and spot contracts > 7-14 hours per week have an annual cost of £3966272.50 with annual hours of 225.478.75 and small block and spot contracts 7 hours per week have an annual cost of £1993176.46 with annual hours of 113,276.88.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 78.

Rebecca Kingsnorth and Imogen Bloor, Islington CCG were present for consideration of this item.

During consideration of the report the following main points were made –

·         Reference was made to recommendation 7 and whether the NLHIE will be communicating by leaflet or an information campaign instituted to inform the public of the proposals, as many users did not have, or had limited access to a computer. It was stated that a response could not be given that evening but the situation would be looked at

·         Reference was also made to the recruitment/retention of GP’s and that this may have something to do with the pension changes reductions, and the need to create and more manageable work/life balance. Members stated that there were proposals to look at the way GP surgeries were organised, and that this was addressed in the report. It was noted that the issue of pensions was being looked at at a national level.

         RESOLVED:

         That the report be agreed and referred to the Executive for consideration

Members considered the scrutiny topics for the municipal year

The view was expressed that as the Committee were only just commencing the Adult Paid Carers scrutiny review, and that the Green Paper on Social Care scrutiny review would be commencing later in the year, the Eating Disorders scrutiny review which had been proposed, should be deferred at the present time

RESOLVED:

Accordingly