Agenda

To APPROVE the minutes of the meeting held on 29 January 2026 and to receive information arising from them.

Members of the public who wish to speak on an item on the agenda at this meeting, or present a petition, can attend the meeting in person or ‘virtually’ through an online connection.

Requests to present a petition must be submitted no later than 9am ten working days before the meeting.

Requests to speak must be submitted no later than 9am three working days before the meeting, i.e. Monday 13 April 2026.

Requests should be submitted to the Scrutiny Officer at omid.nouri@oxfordshire.gov.uk AND scrutiny@oxfordshire.gov.uk.

If you are speaking ‘virtually’, you may submit a written statement of your presentation to ensure that if the technology fails, then your views can still be taken into account. A written copy of your statement can be provided no later than 9am on the day of the meeting. Written submissions should be no longer than 1 A4 sheet.

The Committee has received Acceptances and Responses to recommendations made as part of the following item(s):

1.    Oxfordshire Neighbourhood Health Plan.

2.    Adults Autism and ADHD Services

The Committee is recommended to NOTE the responses.

The Chair will provide a verbal update on relevant issues since the last meeting.

A request for information has been submitted on behalf of the Oxfordshire Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee seeking assurance regarding the timeliness and oversight of Learning from Lives and Deaths of people with a learning disability and autistic people (LeDeR) reviews. The request was for a brief written update from the Integrated Care Board to the Committee covering:

1.    Current performance against NHS England LeDeR Key Performance Indicators (including completion timescales) and the current backlog position.

2.    Governance and accountability: where LeDeR sits in Oxfordshire/Thames Valley quality governance; and how learning/actions are tracked to completion.

3.    Capacity and resilience of the LeDeR function (local area contact/reviewer capacity; Quality Assurance arrangements).

4.    Recovery actions and milestones for bringing timeliness back on track (if applicable), and evidence of impact from learning.

The Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Berkshire West Joint Health Overview Scrutiny Committee (BOB JHOSC) convened its last meeting on 17 March 2026. Given the establishment of a new Thames Valley Integrated Care Board (ICB) with a new geography, a proposal will be submitted to all the local authorities within the new ICB boundaries to formally dissolve the BOB JHOSC and to establish a new Thames Valley JHOSC.

A letter was sent to the Chief Executive and Chair of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on behalf of the Committee in relation to maternity services. The letter includes a request for clarification regarding errors in the data submitted in the report to the Committee on maternity services. This letter can be found in the agenda papers for this item.

A HOSC report containing recommendations on maternity services was submitted on behalf of the Committee to Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. This can be found in the agenda papers for this item.

Given that there remains one vacant cooptee post on the Committee, a formal recruitment exercise will be initiated, with the aim of recruiting a third co-optee member of the Committee by the next meeting in June.

The Committee is recommended to NOTE the Chair’s update having raised any relevant questions.

The purpose of this item is to address the Mental Health Motion passed by Oxfordshire County Council at its meeting on 9 December 2025. Oxfordshire County Council passed a motion requesting that the Health & Wellbeing Board (HWB) invite the Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee (JHOSC) to investigate and report on how mental health services provided by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and wider system partners are addressing the rising prevalence and impact of poor mental health among adults and children in Oxfordshire.

The wording of the motion agreed was as follows:

“This Council being deeply concerned by the impact of poor mental health on adults and children in the County asks the Health and Wellbeing Board to request the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee to investigate and report back to them and to the County Council on how Mental Health services provided by Oxford Health and other organisations are tackling this issue.

Such an investigation of issues needs to include addressing accessibility to services including:

·       Prevention

·       Assessment

·       Therapeutic support

·       Medication

·       Emergency intervention such as "sectioning"

·       Inpatient beds

How these issues impact on other public services such Community Safety, Public Health, Housing, Schools, Fire and Rescue and the Police also needs to be assessed and understood. Most of all poor mental health impacts on individuals, families, and communities around the County and this must be addressed.

Council requests that the outcome of the investigation be sent to the appropriate Secretaries of State.”

The Oxfordshire Joint Health Overview Scrutiny Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

a)    NOTE the request from the Health and Wellbeing Board for the Committee to undertake scrutiny of adults and childrens mental health services as outlined in the wording of the motion detailed in paragraph 3.

b)    AGREE that the Committee will continue its scrutiny of adults and children's mental health as outlined in its work programme, and that it will report back within its annual report to Council, details of the adults and children's mental health scrutiny undertaken

Dan Leveson (Director of Places and Communities, Thames Valley Integrated Care Board) and Rob Bale (Chief Operating Officer for Mental Health and Learning Disability, Oxford Health NHSFT) have been invited to present a report with an update on Adult and Older Adult Mental Health Services in Oxfordshire.

The Committee is invited to consider the report, raise any questions and AGREE any recommendations arising it may wish to make.

Karen Fuller (Director of Adult Social Care, Oxfordshire County Council) has been invited to present a report on the ongoing development of an All-Age Autism Strategy for Oxfordshire.

The Committee is invited to consider the report, raise any questions and AGREE any recommendations arising it may wish to make.

PLEASE NOTE: The report for this item is to follow and will be published as an addenda.

Veronica Barry (Executive Director, Healthwatch Oxfordshire) has been invited to present the Healthwatch Oxfordshire Update report.

The Committee is invited to consider the Healthwatch Oxfordshire update and NOTE it having raised any questions arising.

Ansaf Azhar (Director of Public Health, Oxfordshire County Council) and Emma Leaver (Chief Operating Officer- Community Health Services, Dentistry & Primary Care, Oxford Health NHSFT) have been invited to present a report on Health Visitor Services in Oxfordshire.

The Committee is invited to consider the report, raise any questions and AGREE any recommendations arising it may wish to make.

The Committee is recommended to AGREE to the proposed work programme for its upcoming meetings.

The Committee is recommended to NOTE the progress made against agreed actions and recommendations having raised any questions.