Agenda item

2:55

A presentation to update the Board on the development of a strategy accompanied by a document with supporting information.

The Board had received a presentation on the development of a Community Services Strategy.

Councillor Jane Hanna stated that she was a member of a Task and Finish Group on a pilot in the OX12 area set up by Oxfordshire Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OJHOSC) and approved by this Board in November 2018.  The pilot involved a huge amount of work engaging the public and she was very disappointed to see no reference in the papers to the process and findings of the Task and Finish Group despite the fact that the paper had clear actions.  She asked that the Board decide that it cannot give proper consideration to this paper without the evidence that is the background to this paper and without the input of OJHOSC.

Dr Ben Riley responded that they had taken on board a lot of the actions from the last OJHOSC meeting including providing more detail on the engagement process.  The strategy will cover a wide range of services many of them aimed at increasing independence for older people, including a 2-hour crisis response system and the ‘home first’ reablement policy.  The delivery of community bed-based care will also be an important part – not just the number and location but the nature of those beds, including the question of whether to re-open the in-patient beds at Wantage Hospital or provide alternative community services there.

Councillor Jenny Hannaby noted that Wantage Hospital will have been closed for five years which could not be considered temporary.  She said that the closure was due to Oxford Health’s failure to maintain the hospital properly.  She asked if any other community hospitals were being engaged in the process.

Dr Riley confirmed that they will be talking to others as it was a county-wide process.  He noted that there had been a number of services operating from Wantage Hospital for some time.  They were still discussing outpatient options and many of those that they were pursuing had come from the engagement with the community.

Diane Hedges added that Oxfordshire had a higher usage of hospital beds on acute hospital discharge than the national average and needed to support more people in their homes to give a greater level of independence.  A step change was needed utilising the partnership working developed through the pandemic.

Councillor Hannaby agreed with the approach of supporting more people in their homes but believed that Wantage Hospital could play a valuable role in reablement, especially for those with no family.  She asked why Wantage Hospital was being singled out rather than having a county-wide picture.

Diane Hedges responded that the chief executives of the hospital trusts were visiting community hospitals across the county to consider the whole bed-based picture and how we could make the best use of resources.

The Chair asked when it was expected that a final decision on the beds at Wantage Hospital would be made.  Diane Hedges outlined the procedures to be followed which would include a public consultation process if it was proposed not to re-open the in-patient beds.  She stated that the final decision would be reached in November 2022.  In the meantime, work was active in ensuring that services were being provided.

On Stephen Chandler’s suggestion it was agreed to discuss the reform of Adult Social Care at the next meeting as it had many resonances with this discussion.

Sylvia Buckingham recommended consulting a series of books written by Alan Pearson in the 1980s on community care.  She asked about the 100 positions to be recruited and the specialities involved.

Dr Kerrin Masterman responded that as part of the new GP contract, additional roles could be recruited to support general practices such as physiotherapists, pharmacists, mental health workers.  These had been linked to training programmes to avoid destabilising other services.  Funding has been agreed up to 2024.

Diane Hedges noted that the strategy was also going before OJHOSC the following week.  Councillor Hannaby asked if it should not have gone to scrutiny first.

The Chair undertook to look at the sequencing of the meetings of the Board and the Committee going forward and reiterated the intention to take a wider view of adult social care across the county at the next meeting.