Agenda item

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 Chair provided a comprehensive verbal update on activity since the Committee’s previous meeting in January.

• The Chair advised that a report containing the Committee’s recommendations on maternity services had been submitted to Oxford University Hospitals NHS (OUH) Foundation Trust on behalf of the Committee. The report was included within the agenda papers for transparency.

• A letter had been sent on behalf of the Committee to the Chief Executive and Chair of OUH seeking clarification in relation to errors identified in data presented to the Committee at its January public meeting item on maternity. The letter had also requested further information regarding engagement with families affected by maternity service concerns. A response had since been received from the Trust’s Chief Executive, which was published as an addendum to the agenda.

• Correspondence from the Committee had continued with families affecting by OUH maternity services since January, and the Committee had taken the unusual step of offering to facilitate an initial process‑planning discussion between families and the Trust to help establish an engagement approach that might be acceptable to all parties. The offer remained open and families had also been reminded of the standard routes through which they could continue to address the Committee directly in public meetings.

• The Chair updated Members on developments relating to joint health scrutiny arrangements. She reported that the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (BOB JHOSC) had met on 17 March 2026, and that, following the establishment of the new Thames Valley Integrated Care Board on 1^st April 2026 with an expanded geography, proposals would be brought forward to formally dissolve the BOB JHOSC and to establish a new Thames Valley JHOSC. Recommendations made by the BOB JHOSC remained available to Members and the public via the published minutes of its last meeting.

• There was currently one vacant cooptee position on the Committee. A recruitment exercise would be initiated with the aim of appointing an additional co‑opted member ahead of the Committee’s June meeting.

• The Chair reported on the work of the Primary Care Working Group, which had met four times since January, including sessions with officers of the Integrated Care Board, the Chair of the Local Medical Committee, and district council officers. She highlighted that scrutiny had focused in particular on primary care estates, including progress on the Didcot Great Western Park health facility, where a developer had now been appointed. She confirmed that further scrutiny, including visits to GP practices and additional working group sessions on estates in Didcot, Bicester and Wallingford, was planned, with findings to be reported back to the Committee in due course.

• Regarding the Substantial Change Working Group focusing on the redevelopment of Wantage Community Hospital; the Chair explained that, although negative media coverage had referenced delays, the working group’s scrutiny had identified that the primary cause related to asbestos and iron issues identified during surveys. She advised that these issues had now been addressed and that completion was anticipated in late summer or early autumn 2026.

• On eye care services, the Chair reminded Members that the Committee had previously written to the Department of Health and Social Care to express concern about the impact of independent sector provision on NHS ophthalmology services. In addition to ongoing local scrutiny, Freddie van Mierlo MP had offered to pursue a response at national level on the Committee’s behalf. Eyecare remained a live issue for the Committee’s future work programme.

The Committee NOTED the Chair’s update.