Agenda item
Questions from County Councillors
Any
county councillor may, by giving notice to the Proper Officer by 9 am two working
days before the meeting, ask a question on any matter in respect of the
Cabinet’s delegated powers.
The
number of questions which may be asked by any councillor at any one meeting is
limited to two (or one question with notice and a supplementary question at the
meeting) and the time for questions will be limited to 30 minutes in total. As
with questions at Council, any questions which remain unanswered at the end of
this item will receive a written response.
Questions submitted prior to the agenda being despatched are shown below and will be the subject of a response from the appropriate Cabinet Member or such other councillor or officer as is determined by the Cabinet Member, and shall not be the subject of further debate at this meeting. Questions received after the despatch of the agenda, but before the deadline, will be shown on the Schedule of Addenda circulated at the meeting, together with any written response which is available at that time.
Minutes:
Councillor Hards had given notice
of the following question to Councillor Hibbert Biles:
“Following the reply to the question which I addressed to Councillor
Hibbert-Biles at Cabinet on 25 February, I’ve been making enquiries about the “improved
integrated sexual health service” to which the Cabinet Member referred.
Although the services will be provided in what might loosely be
described as “premises in geographical locations where previous services were
in place”, I understand that only the Banbury contraception & sexual health
(C&SH) clinic will be in the same location as before and that many of the
new locations are less well provisioned.
Taking Didcot as an example:
The new integrated sexual Health service provided at the Oak Tree Health
Centre will:
- not have a
dedicated confidential reception area – the proposal is for a table in the
waiting area. Of course this may change in the future if pushed but has
implications for both staff safety and patient confidentiality.
- Have
a new computer system which will be unfamiliar to the genito-urinary
medicine (GUM) and C&SH staff, which is not yet running, and for which
no training has yet been given to staff in C&SH
- Have
considerably less storage facilities for pills, antibiotics, dressings etc than is currently available in Didcot Health
Centre despite the inclusion of GUM services in the clinic.
- Have
a limited number of clinical rooms which will not be sufficient to provide
the increased service and as well as accommodating the existing number of
C&SH focused staff. This does not look like an enhanced service – it
is an additional service for GUM but requires a contraction of the
C&SH service.
What steps did the Cabinet Member for Public Health take to ensure that
the tender specification was adequate, and that the contract which was signed
fully met that specification?”
Councillor
Hibbert Biles replied:
“The sexual health service will be
delivered from a combination of community and secondary care locations in
similar geographic locations to existing clinics. Unfortunately it is reported
to us by the new providers that while they wanted to lease existing sites, they
were not able to do so for all sites.
However, all the new clinics which will house the new service will be
based in the same towns as current services and meet the agreed specifications
to give a wide coverage across the county.
Access to services is a priority of the
commissioners and across the service as a whole there will be an increase in
hours of service compared to current hours. The commissioners of this service
believe that the new integrated service being implemented will provide improved
sexual health services across Oxfordshire and will meet the changing needs of
the residents of Oxfordshire.
Taking Didcot as an example:
The
new integrated sexual Health service provided at the Oak Tree Health Centre
will:
- Not
have a dedicated confidential reception area – the proposal is for a table
in the waiting area. Of course this may change in the future if pushed but
has implications for both staff safety and patient confidentiality.
Oak Tree Health Centre is CQC registered
and has been serving the local community since 1997 and has many satisfied
patients. We are not aware that staffs currently working at Oak Tree Health
Centre are at risk to their personal safety any more or less than any NHS
provider. Therefore we would have no concern that OUHT personnel operating out
of the same site would be at any more or less risk to their personal safety
unless the councillor is party to information we do not possess.
We have been assured that patient
confidentiality is of the highest importance and that the all staff will be
made aware of OUHT policy about confidentiality and information governance.
- Have a new
computer system which will be unfamiliar to the genito-urinary
medicine (GUM) and C&SH staff, which is not yet running, and for which
no training has yet been given to staff in C&SH
The NHS is comprised of several
organisations who will have decided on different systems to manage their data
and records. We have been satisfactorily assured by the new providers that they
have the appropriate data handling and governance systems in place in support
of their service. It is not uncommon for personnel moving to different
employers in healthcare have to learn to work with new computer software
systems. We are assured that staff transferring from OH to OUHT will receive
appropriate support and induction.
- Have
considerably less storage facilities for pills, antibiotics, dressings etc than is currently available in Didcot Health
Centre despite the inclusion of GUM services in the clinic.
In commissioning sexual health services,
the procurement and management of assets to deliver safe quality care are the
responsibility of the provider. We have no responsibility for the size of the
storage facilities to assist their asset management and would not consider this
a concern provided that all regulations and guidelines are met to ensure the
delivery of a quality service which does not compromise patient safety.
- Have a
limited number of clinical rooms which will not be sufficient to provide
the increased service and as well as accommodating the existing number of
C&SH focused staff. This does not look like an enhanced service – it
is an additional service for GUM but requires a contraction of the
C&SH service.
The Cllr is correct in the fact that this
is not an enhance service but an integrated service. The current services which
have been in place for some time have been split between two providers and the
contracts for these services are due to terminate 31 March 2014.
At the start of the procurement process the
sexual health needs of the population of Oxfordshire were examined and it was
apparent that the services could be redesigned to better meet the needs of the
population. The specified service which has been commissioned is in line with
national guidelines for best practice for delivery of sexual health services
and was designed in full consultation with all stakeholders including existing
providers.
Using
current activity for the service in Didcot as an indicator, we are assured that
the clinic secured by OUHT will provide sufficient capacity to deliver future
services for the local community.”
Supplementary:
In response to a further question from Councillor Hards, Councillor Hibbert Biles stated that in respect of the new computer
system staff had been trained, were positive about the new system and she was
confident that everything would be ready for 1 April 2014.
Councillor
Howson had given notice of the following question to Councillor Tilley:
“Can the Cabinet Member provide an estimate of how much
revenue was collected from students aged 16-17 in bus and other travel income
for journeys from home to schools and colleges in the first term of the current
school year when these young people were required to remain in education or
training as a result of the raising of the education participation age?”
Cllr
Tilley replied:
“The total: £69,148 total income for September – December 2013.
It would not be possible to estimate the
impact of the increase in the participation age as this would require an
interrogation of individual students to ascertain whether, had the
participation age not increased, they would have stayed on at school.”
Supplementary:
Councillor Tilley responding to a supplementary question indicated that the
Council would not be considering reviewing this charge.
Councillor
Fooks had given notice of the following question to Councillor Rose:
“As Oxfordshire County Council is actively
encouraging staff to use bicycles where possible, to reduce unnecessary car
use, why has the Bike to Work scheme to assist in the purchase of bicycles been
stopped?”
Councillor Rose replied:
“The Cycle to work scheme was withdrawn in 2012 due to the complexities
of administering the scheme and changes to VAT legislation which meant that potential savings made by employees were significantly
reduced. A number
of local cycle shops do offer discounts to Oxfordshire County Council staff on
the purchase of cycles and accessories.”
Supplementary: Councillor Fooks asked where the cycle shops
were located, how staff knew and what else could be done to encourage cycling.
The Councillor was advised that there was a dedicated web page on the intranet
about staff benefits and Councillor Rose added that the budget agreed in
February was totally taken up.
Supporting documents:
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