Agenda and minutes

To consider any appeals in accordance with Procedure Rule 25* of the Access to Information Procedure Rules (in the event of an Appeal the press and public will be excluded).

(*In accordance with Procedure Rule 25, notice of an appeal must be received in writing by the Chief Democratic Services Officer at least 24 hours before the meeting.)

There were no appeals against refusal of inspection of documents.

1  To highlight reports or appendices which officers have identified as containing exempt information, and where officers consider that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons outlined in the report.

2  To consider whether or not to accept the officers recommendation in respect of the above information.

3  If so, to formally pass the following resolution:-

  RESOLVED – That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following parts of the agenda designated as containing exempt information on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information, as follows:

  No exempt items have been identified on this agenda.

There were no exempt items.

To identify items which have been admitted to the agenda by the Chair for consideration.

(The special circumstances shall be specified in the minutes.)

There were no formal late items. However, there was supplementary information in relation to the following:

·  Item 8 Mental Health Programme (covering report)

·  Item 9 West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health Care Partnership: Assessment and Treatment Units NHS England / Improvement assurance letter.

To disclose or draw attention to any disclosable pecuniary interests for the purposes of Section 31 of the Localism Act 2011 and paragraphs 13-16 of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests were made.

To receive any apologies for absence and notification of substitutes.

Apologies for absence had been received from:

·  Councillor Jim Clark – North Yorkshire County Council

·  Councillor Andy Solloway – North Yorkshire County Council

·  Councillor B Rhodes – Wakefield Council

·  Councillor L Whitehouse – Wakefield Council

At the discretion of the Chair, a period of up to 10 minutes may be allocated at each ordinary meeting for members of the public to make representations on matters within the terms of reference of the Joint Committee.

No member of the public shall speak for more than three minutes, except by permission of the Chair.

Due to the number and/or nature of comments it may not be possible to provide responses immediately at the meeting. If this is the case, the Joint Committee will indicate how the issue(s) raised will be progressed.

If the Joint Committee runs out of time, comments may be submitted in writing at the meeting or by email (contact details on agenda front sheet).

The Joint Committee received the following statements:

Dr John Puntis, Leeds Keep Our NHS Public – Made a representation on the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Improvement and Planned Care Programme. He raised concerns in relation to treatment access programmes which are modelled on the 17 evidence based interventions of NHS England. His view was that these were not evidence based in based in a way that was understood by all. He raised concerns that the 17 evidence based protocols were already causing issues and he referred to recent articles in the media.

Dr Puntis was of the opinion that it was import to include clinicians who know about procedures are involved with scrutinising recommendations. However in saying this he suggested that clinicians working in the private sector should not be used. He gave his reasons for this because the private sector was being increasing used for elective surgery procedures. He raised concerns in regard to the numbers of patients being treated within the private sector but paid for by the NHS, and for the model of care in private hospitals where the surgeon is not employed by the hospital.

In relation to the Mental Health Programme Dr Puntis raised concerns that children were being left out of consideration of out of area care. His view was that children with learning disabilities and autism were being placed in appropriate facilities. He queried how many children were currently in appropriate facilities.

Gilder Peterson – Health Campaigner – Made a representation in relation to staffing issues. Although she liked the honesty of the Programme Board in relation to the workforce issues it highlighted serious issues of how the gap was going to be closed between ambition and implementation. Her concern was that the Government had no plans to increase the nursing staff in the area of learning disability and autism, especially as there was already a limited number of staff within the area of assessment and diagnosis of autism.

Ms Peterson queried how the Programme intended to recruit skilled staff and were the funding would come from. She said that her concern was that the multidisciplinary teams would become ‘make do teams’ if enough skilled staff could not be recruited.

The Chair thanked both for attending the meeting and for their observations and questions.

To confirm as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on 19 November 2019.

The Joint Committee noted that positive comments had been received back from West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership and would be circulated to Members.

The draft 5 Year Strategy was available in a number of formats including summary, audio and could be accessed on the website. The Joint Committee noted that the 5 Year Strategy had remained in draft so that the new Government budget could be taken into consideration before implementation.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 19^th November 2019, be recorded as a correct record.

To consider a report from Leeds City Council’s Head of Democratic Services introducing an update on the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership’s Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism Programme; alongside the associated five year strategy.

The report of the Head of Democratic Services introduced a report from the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership regarding the Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism Programme. The Partnership’s report was attached as Appendix 2.

The Joint Committee had previously considered a report on the Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism Programme at its meeting in February 2019. An extract of the minutes from that meeting were attached at Appendix 1.

In attendance at the meeting were:

·  Helen Hirst – Chief Officer; Bradford City CCG, Bradford Districts CCG and Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven CCG and Programme Accountable Officer

·  Sara Munro – Chief Executive, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Senior Responsible Owner for the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism Programme

·  Karen Coleman – West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health Care Partnership Communication and Engagement Lead

·  Steven Courtney – Principal Scrutiny Adviser

The Mental Health Programme Board Chair introduced the report, which identified the following:

·  There is now a well-established Programme Board with representatives from across all the areas including commissioners, providers, voluntary and community sector, NHS England and co-opted members. The approach is including how to share best practice, where necessary how to standardise services and remodelling of services;

·  In relation to Autism and ADHD this has been challenging area for both adults and children with demand outstripping resources. There is a need to increase resources and shared learning across each of the places. It was noted that there had been joint working to open pathways for referrals;

·  Sought to access funding from NHS England to look at ways that people with autism to access crisis service and there is a research project for making services more accessible especially through digital means;

·  Successful work done on suicide prevention securing national monies to spread across the whole of West Yorkshire, putting funding into community and third sector organisation for targeted work for those most at risk especially young males;

·  Submitted wave three funding bid to further enhance support to at risk groups. This would be for West Yorkshire with money also available for each of the places;

·  Committed to reducing children and young people going out of West Yorkshire area for treatment. Currently only provision available at one centre in West Yorkshire, however building work is now underway to provide another unit for children and young people at St Mary’s Hospital in Armley to be completed next year and will provide a 22 bed unit for West Yorkshire and Harrogate. At the same time a pilot has been running with NHS England called New Care Models which seeks to reduce already the number of children that are going out of area. Numbers have been reduced by approximately 25%;

·  Reported that all adult eating disorder placements are kept within the area, it was noted that there is a clear process in place to respond to choice. The money saved has been redirected within the communities and there is now a multi-disciplinary team in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

To consider a report from Leeds City Council’s Head of Democratic Services introducing an update on West Yorkshire assessment and treatment units (ATU) for people with learning disabilities; and seeking the view of the Joint Committee on the proposals and the next steps including the presentation of the options, scope of further engagement/consultation and the decision-making process.

The report of the Head of Democratic Services introduced an update on West Yorkshire Assessment and Treatment Units (ATU) for people with learning disabilities and sought the view of the Joint Committee on the proposals and the next steps including the presentation of the options, scope of further engagement/consultation and the decision-making process.

In attendance at the meeting were:

• Helen Hirst – Chief Officer; Bradford City CCG, Bradford Districts CCG and Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven CCG and Programme Accountable Officer
• Sara Munro – Chief Executive, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Senior Responsible Owner for the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism Programme
• Andy Weir – Deputy Chief Operating Officer (Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust) and Senior Responsible Owner for the West Yorkshire ATU Project
• Karen Coleman – West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health Care Partnership Communication and Engagement Lead
• Steven Courtney – Principal Scrutiny Adviser

Councillor Jeff Ennis Chair, Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Barnsley MBC) had been invited to attend and participate in the consideration of this item due to Barnsley’s inclusion within the boundary for the Assessment and Treatment Centres.

Additional information was tabled at the meeting in relation to Assessment and Treatment Unit Bed Usage.

The Joint Committee had considered a report on Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism Programme at its meeting in February 2019. Assessment and Treatment Centres formed part of the Joint Committee’s discussions at the February 2019 meeting. The Partnership report was attached to the submitted report at Appendix.

The Joint Committee was informed of the following points:

·  Significant engagement work has already been undertaken;

·  Work has been ongoing to reduce bed numbers in line with the recommended ATU beds per population. Beds in West Yorkshire and Barnsley have reduced from 22 to 16. The service was confident that it could deliver a good service with the reduced occupancy;

·  There are currently 3 units within the West Yorkshire and Barnsley area but the proposal is to close the Leeds unit and provide the specialist care at units based in Bradford and Wakefield. It was noted that occupancy levels had significantly decreased at the Leeds ATU over the past 12 months. It was also noted that Bradford occupancy had remained at 100% with 50% of those users no longer requiring provision but remained there due to delayed transfers of care;

·  There were concerns that staff from the Leeds unit would start to look elsewhere for jobs although it was anticipated that the Leeds staff could be used at the ATU’s in Bradford and Wakefield.

Members’ discussions focused on the following points:

·  The number of beds across the two units;

·  The number of staff required to ensure safety of both patients and staff;

·  Community Services available across West Yorkshire;

·  A Communication Plan which includes who engaging with, where and timeline of consultation period;

·  Update on provision and any potential concerns to be provided to each place;

·  Requirement if any of the setting up of a Mandatory JHOSC to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

To consider a report from Leeds City Council’s Head of Democratic Services providing an opportunity for the Joint Committee to consider its future priorities and work programme.

The report of the Head of Democratic Services was presented by the Principal Scrutiny Adviser and outlined the Joint Committees priorities and future work programme.

Members were advised of a workshop and formal presentation of the 5 Year Strategy which would form part of the April Agenda.

The Joint Committee requested an update into maternity services also be brought to the meeting in April.

RESOLVED – To note the content of the report.

Tuesday 14th April 2020 at 10.30 am (with a pre-meeting for all members of the Joint Committee at 10.00 am). 

The meeting will be held at the Civic Hall, Leeds.

The next meeting of the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be on Tuesday 14^th April 2020 at 10.30am (with a pre-meeting for all members of the Joint Committee at 10.00am) This meeting will be held in the Civic Hall Leeds.

The meeting concluded at 13.10