Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 13th June 2017.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 13th June 2017 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive from Members declarations as to disclosable pecuniary and other interests in relation to any Agenda item.

No declarations of interest were received.

A copy of the current Notice of Key Executive Decisions is attached. Members are invited to note the Plan and to comment as appropriate on any items contained therein.

The Panel received and noted the current Notice of Key Executive Decisions (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) which has been prepared by the Executive Leader for the period 1st July 2017 to 31st October 2017.

A Member raised a question regarding the Car Parking Strategy Task and Finish Group – Vision report to be presented in September. The Executive Councillor for Operations confirmed that the final strategy won’t be presented in September just the vision. In addition, Members were informed that the Task and Finish Group are currently focused on establishing who uses the Council’s Car Parks before producing a strategy.

Mr Ian Weller from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group will be in attendance to present an update to Members on the Urgent and Emergency Care Vanguard.

With the aid of a report by Ian Weller, Head of Urgent and Emergency Care, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Urgent and Emergency Care Vanguard was presented to the Panel.

The Panel were informed that the Clinical Commissioning Group sought approximately £7m of funding from NHS England however due to national funding constraints were only allocated £1.3m of non-recurrent funding. The vanguard is one of eight vanguards throughout the country and is focused on the delivery of two key projects: the integrated urgent care and the mental health first response service (FRS).

Mr Weller added that when the CCG were informed that they would not receive the £7m it decided to focus on the most important projects. Members were informed that the money was pump primed into the pilot schemes and that if the scheme was successful then it would be funded out of the CCG budget in subsequent years.

A Member welcomed the work of the urgent and emergency care vanguard and asked for reassurance that work was being carried out on prevention. The Panel were informed that there is a substantial amount of work being carried out with the schools. The purpose of the FRS is enabling patients to recognise the mental health issue and then make the phone call because the phone call can help de-escalate the issue. If patients don’t get help at that stage then they may need intervention at a later stage.

Following a question asking is the plan realistic and will it be delivered, Members were informed that yes it is realistic however there is a cost. The service needs to access what resources are needed for the delivery. Mr Weller confirmed that the plan will be delivered and on time.

In response to a question regarding resourcing, the Panel were informed that the CCG did not always have the required resources and the example of funding out of hours access to GPs was given.

The Panel asked had the CCG informed mental health patients of the 111 service to which the response was that the service has been well advertised and mental health patients know that if they are to ring the 111 number they would receive the care required.

Following a question of what used to happen to children and young people with mental health issues, the Panel were informed that nothing happened however, the CCG have used some of its funding for a solution. There is now a sanctuary in each region of Cambridgeshire for children and young people to go and that once a child has been to a sanctuary they can go back if the mental health issue reoccurs.

In response to a query regarding the web address for NHS 111 online, Members were informed that the 111 online offer will be a web based application that can diagnose common conditions and provide advice and guidance to manage those conditions.

The Panel were informed that opportunities  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

Mr Luke Squibb, Senior Locality Manager (Interim) – North Cambridgeshire, East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust will be in attendance to present an update to Members on the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

Mr Luke Squibb, Senior Locality Manager – North Cambridgeshire, East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust was in attendance to present an update to the Panel on the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

Mr Squibb’s presentation covered the following areas: Key Facts, what the EEAST do well, Call Volume, Hospital Delays, what the impact of the delays, what EEAST are doing about the delays, what else can be done, 111 in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and what does the future hold for EEAST.

The Panel were informed that the EEAST is the only regional ambulance service provider, there is a high conversion rate of 111 to 999 calls in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Red 1 performance across EEAST is above the national average with North Cambridgeshire the 8th highest performance area in the Trust.

Members were informed that on average there are six ambulances working a day shift to cover Huntingdon, St Neots and St Ives and that over last four weeks nearly 200 hours of ambulance availability has been lost at Hinchingbrooke as a result of delayed handovers. When a Member asked about why there were delays at Hinchingbrooke, the Panel were informed that it is a smaller hospital which does not have enough resources to process patients quick enough.

Mr Squibb informed Members that the impact of these delays is that if a major incident happens then it would significantly challenge the resilience of the service.

The Panel were informed of the Early Intervention Vehicle (EIV) pilot. This scheme is funded and run by EEAST on a trial basis. The trial proved that 150% more patients can safely remain in their own home following a fall without the need for a hospital conveyance, if attended and assessed by the EIV. It is estimated that this scheme has the potential to save the system £3m if additional funding is secured and it becomes operational 12 hours per day, 7 days a week..

Members welcomed the presentation, the preventative measures and the whole systems approach. A question was raised in regards to how the decision is made to which hospital the ambulance should go to. In response, the Panel were informed that the regional coordination centre will coordinate at peak times however, normally the ambulance would go to the nearest hospital with those equidistance choosing which hospital to go to themselves.

In response to the question, is there a process to reduce ambulance waiting times, Members were informed that there is an escalation measure to ensure ambulances are not waiting too long. The key is making people aware and if an ambulance is delayed for 2 hours the situation can get escalated to NHS England.

A question was asked what happened if the IT systems fails, in response the Panel was informed that there are regular testing on paper as well as three different control centres in the region which could take over if IT at one centre fails.

Mr Squibb invited Members to ride out in one of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

The Executive Councillor for Community Resilience and Wellbeing will be in attendance to present to Members an update on the Community Resilience Plan.

The Executive Councillor for Community Resilience and Wellbeing, Councillor Mrs A Dickinson was in attendance to update Members on the progress made to the Community Resilience Plan.

The Panel was given an update on the Town and Parish Council Conference that took place on 30th March. The Conference consisted of a number of workshops and in total 42 Town and Parish Council Chairman and Clerks attended the Conference. Another Conference is planned for 9th October and that the final agenda has not been finalised.

The Executive Councillor explained to Members that the problem with developing a Community Resilience Plan is defining Community Resilience. The Executive Councillor defined Community Resilience as ‘involving public, private and voluntary sectors to develop a cohesive working relationship within the community’.

Members were informed that the Executive Councillor is working on getting Members to become ambassadors for the Council in their communities as well as advocates for their residents at the Council.

In response to a question regarding the Town and Parish Council Conference, the Executive Councillor confirmed that currently the event is restricted to the Chairman and Parish Clerk.

Following a question, the Executive Councillor confirmed that the Plan is currently at a draft stage and that the Panel will receive the Plan when it is ready.

It was noted that the Council started working with the Community Safety Partnership last autumn and a Member asked what progress had been made. In response, the Panel was informed that there had been no progress however there is now a scoping document.

A Member complemented the building of relationships with the Town and Parish Councils however stated that it is repairing damage that has already been done.

The Panel thanked the Executive Councillor and asked for an update in six months.

The Post-Implementation Review of the Waste Round Reconfiguration and Closure Report is to be presented to the Panel.

With the aid of a report by Head of Operations (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the post-implementation review of the Waste Round Reconfiguration and closure report was presented to the Panel.

The Executive Councillor for Operations gave Members an update of the Waste Round Reconfiguration. He stated that the drivers had to learn new routes, the change had been difficult but necessary and that he commends the service for the reconfiguration. The Head of Operations added that the service has driver shortages which aren’t to do with the reconfiguration.

The Executive Councillor added that due to the anticipated housing developments, the service will need reviewing annually with changes being made to rounds as required. In addition the data gathered to support the project will be continuously kept up to date.

In response to the question, will the £276k savings target be achieved, Members were informed that the Panel was informed on 10th January 2017 that the service would not make the anticipated £276k savings due to the high recycling rate in the District and would only make £180k savings. The Panel were informed that the savings are to be achieved by reducing the number of refuse vehicles required to collect the residual waste and green waste, therefore reducing the fuel and staffing costs associated with them.

Members were informed that the savings on the green waste collection round will be achieved by scaling back the resources deployed as the volume reduces in winter, therefore meaning that the number of refuse vehicles in use could be reduced during this time period.

A Member mentioned that small number of bins in their ward had been regularly missed during a period of eight weeks. In response, the Member was informed that it has taken the drivers a while to learn the new routes. In addition, the Head of Operations added during future reconfigurations, the service will look to improve communication with the drivers to ensure they understand the new routes.

In response to the question regarding the use of technology to assist the drivers, the Panel was informed that only the rounds are generated using technology and that currently the teams have no in-cab technology. A project is underway to procure in-cab technology in partnership with Cambridgeshire City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council.

The Panel commended the staff who supported the reconfiguration project and have asked Cabinet to investigate the potential savings opportunities with the green bin waste collections.

(At 9.21pm, during the discussion of this item, Councillor J W Davies left the meeting.)

(At 9.24pm, during the discussion of this item, Councillor J W Davies returned to the meeting.)

Members are to receive the work programmes for all Overview and Scrutiny Panels.

With the aid of a report by the Democratic Services Officer (Scrutiny) (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book), the Panel reviewed all the Panels’ work programmes since the last meeting.

The Panel requested an update report on Grounds Maintenance. The Head of Operations confirmed that a report can be written for the Panel meeting in October.

(At 9.25pm, during the discussion of this item, Councillors Mrs A Dickinson and J White left the meeting and did not return.)