Agenda item

12:15

To include an update on:

·         Health and social care liaison

·         Terms of Reference for a Task Group on community services.

·         Discussion reports following HOSC Committee Member research.

Prior to their consideration of this item, the Committee was addressed by Councillor Jane Hanna.

Councillor Hanna noted that the last meeting had endorsed two of the recommendations from the OX12 Task and Finish Group but took the other three recommendations as background comments.  She asked if that was still the Chairman’s position as she felt that it would be helpful for HOSC to endorse the three recommendations in advance of the item coming up again at the April meeting.

The Chairman responded that nothing had changed and that it was more a matter for the Forward Plan than the Chairman’s Report but that he would speak with Councillor Hanna on the matter after the meeting.

The Chairman noted that the Terms of Reference for a Task and Finish Group on Community Services had been deferred to the April meeting.  He confirmed that the report of the OX12 Task and Finish Group would be discussed at that meeting before the new Terms of Reference so that any relevant recommendations could be incorporated.

Barbara Shaw introduced the First Thirty Days report (Appendix 1) which was the outcome of a decision of the November meeting to gather information on the first thirty days of the pandemic and the impact of national decisions on the discharge of patients from acute hospitals.

The Director for Public Health and the Corporate Director for Adult and Housing Services met with Barbara Shaw and Dr Alan Cohen on the matter and she thanked them for their time.  The discussion expanded to include measures currently in place to protect people in care homes and the issue of stranded patients.  The report set out some suggestions for consideration by the Committee.

Stephen Chandler, Corporate Director for Adult and Housing Services, responded that the report contained an accurate account and was very helpful as a basis for discussion.

Councillor Alison Rooke asked if there were enough care workers available for the current and future increased demand for care in the community.  Stephen Chandler responded that he believed that there were sufficient numbers now.  Work was ongoing to grow the sector by improving retention and attraction of new staff to cope with expected future demand.

Dr Alan Cohen added that he believed that the case had not been made strongly enough that care was changing and becoming better and more efficient.

The report’s recommendations were agreed and it was further agreed that the Director for Public Health and the Corporate Director for Adult and Housing Services will come back with a plan for how and when the four points will be addressed by the Committee.

RESOLVED:

1.      That Senior Officers provide further information on the reporting of people who have experienced a delayed discharge from acute hospitals, and how some of the successes in reducing that number can be maintained into the future.

2.      That Senior Officers provide further information as to the consequences of implementing national guidance associated with the discharge of patients to care homes in the early stages of the pandemic.

3.      That Senior Officers provide further information on the emerging pattern of community and home-based care, and how this can be linked to current developments in the County.

4.      That Senior Officers are able to re-affirm a commitment to a review of the response of the system partners to the pandemic, in so far as this would provide a plan of what would be included and a reasonable time scale, given the unpredictability of the current situation.

The Chairman noted that the document on Katharine House Hospice (Appendix 2b), Banbury, would be discussed at the April meeting.  Jean Bradlow added that it would be useful to have more detail on how the services will be made financially sustainable.

Barbara Shaw asked if it would be possible to look at end-of-life services across the county.  The Chairman responded that he would check if there was capacity to bring that to possibly the June meeting.  The discussion on Katharine House in April could inform that discussion.