To receive apologies for absence, including notifications of any changes to the membership of the Board.

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Kennedy and it was reported that, in accordance with the wishes of the Conservative Group and Independent Group, the membership of the Board had been amended to include Councillors Hill, David Thomas and Johns in place of Councillors Barrand, Foster and Brown respectively.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 14 April 2021.

The minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 14 April 2021 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairwoman.

The Board considered the item in Minute 5, and not included on the agenda, the Chairwoman being of the opinion that it was urgent by reason of special circumstances i.e. the matter having arisen since the agenda was prepared and it was unreasonable to delay a decision until the next meeting.

1.         to receive an update on local policing matters in Torbay including current crime statistics; and

2.         to receive and update on how the Police Community Support Officers are working with the Council and the community.

(Note:  Brent Davison, Superintendent Local Policing and Partnerships, Devon and Cornwall Police has been invited to attend the meeting for this item.)

Superintendent Brent Davison, Devon and Cornwall Police, gave the submitted presentation on local policing matters in Torbay, provided the context surrounding the statistics and responded to questions in relation to:

·                levels of vehicle crime following a previous waive in part of Torquay – this had remained fairly consistent at around 17.4%;

·                increase in the number of racial hate crimes by 17.9% and what action was being taken to address this – a number of strategies had been introduced including a local reference group for the wider Devon area, whose purpose was to engage and gain understanding from communities of the issues and to encourage increased reporting to enable the Police to address the issues with communities.  There had been an increase in dedicated Police Officers from one to two, with a new Sergeant being appointed to be in post from September 2021 to help drive forward activity around hate crime;

·                numbers of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in Torbay and what had being done to fill any vacant posts – a Force-wide decision had been taken to reduce the number of PCSOs to 150 and as this target had not yet been met they were unable to recruit into vacant posts. Whilst it was important to have visible policing on the street there was also a lot of other types of crime which need to be addressed such as cyber-crime, domestic abuse etc.  PCSOs were members of police staff who were contracted to work from a particular police station and it was difficult to move them from one area to another.  Torquay had 8.5 out of 9.5 PCSOs and Brixham had 6.5 out of 7.2 PCSOs.  The police did have access to a wider team of police officers who responded to emergencies;

·                anti-social behaviour around the streets off of Paignton seafront, which formed part of the tourism area and contained a high number of houses of multiple occupation which was not always being fully reported – members were encouraged to report incidents and link in with the Council Advocates who worked closely with the sector Inspectors to bring forward intelligence which in turn helped to allocate appropriate resources to tackle incidents;

·                issues around domestic violence and preventative and investigative work – the Police continued to engage in preventative and intelligence led work with partners and Superintendent Davison was now Chair of the Youth Offending Team Management Board.  Where major crimes occurred the police could call on other resources such as the Force Major Incident Teams and Public Protection Unit;

·                work with action fraud to help local residents who had been victims of fraud and how much money had been taken from our residents – Superintendent Davison agreed to provide a written response to this point; and

·                what more could be done by the Police and Council to encourage residents to report incidents – Superintendent Davison agreed to follow this up with Tara Harris, Assistant Director of Community and Customer Services.

Resolved:

That the Overview and Scrutiny Board explores the opportunity  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Liz Davenport (Chief Executive) and Chris Knights (Programme Director) of Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust gave the submitted presentation on the proposed approach to developing a strategic outline business case for the Building a Brighter Future Programme at Torbay Hospital.  They responded to questions in relation to:

·                the new digital offer and if it would replace all the stand-alone digital platforms which currently did not link – the aim was to ensure that all the systems for primary and secondary care and adult social care would be integrated across the peninsula.  Progress had been made via the national care records approach. The best options for our health and social care services were necessary to enable sharing of information in real time to make good decisions on clinical care with an end-to-end pathway;

·                how the proposed reprovision of medical and emergency services related to the current number of beds available – there were currently 550 beds available in Torbay within Torbay Hospital and other community provision.  Without implementing changes modelling based on age profile would result in an increase in demand by 150 beds.  The overall plans proposed building 408 new beds excluding same day emergency beds within the Emergency Department.  The Programme included enhancing digital options and supporting people to monitor their own health and wellbeing at home with a focus around prevention and early intervention to reduce the need for hospital admission;

·                how climate change and carbon offsetting would be achieved – they were required to deliver the build at net carbon zero and have already been in discussions with the Council on potential use of solar energy.  This was difficult to achieve due to the age of some of the older buildings but options such as triple glazing, heat pump technology, building a facility for staff to cycle to work and demonstrating a commitment to support the health and wellbeing of staff were all being explored;

·                the level of disruption to the Emergency Department – discussions were ongoing in respect of the phasing of the Programme and there would be some disruption to existing services. However, this was being delivered by an experienced team and there was likely to be three or four significant phases with the element affecting the Emergency Department being undertaken at the end of the programme.  There would be ongoing improvement and work has already started on a new medical receiving unit;

·                how achievable was the programme and what was being done to address health inequalities and wider place shaping to work together to regenerate Torbay – collaboration had already started to be developed and innovations were already changing the shape of how people access services to enable them to be supported at home.  There was a commitment to work together to improve health outcomes for people through prevention and early intervention, help with housing and supporting people to improve their own health.  Recruitment and retention of staff was important to create a highly skilled and committed workforce, the proposal would realise  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To monitor the progress of the Cabinet’s response to the Overview and Scrutiny Review of Anti Poverty and to consider the next steps.

The Cabinet Member for Adults and Public Health (Councillor Stockman) and Director of Public Health (Lincoln Sargeant) outlined the submitted report which provided and update and proposed way forward following the Cabinet’s response to the Anti-Poverty Task and Finish Group Review.  The Director of Public Health responded to questions in respect of the following:

·                the impact of Long-Covid affecting our recovery – NHS clinicians were looking into the impacts of Long-Covid and the Council was using the Contain Outbreak Management Funding to fund a number of projects to support people who require additional support, including those with Long-Covid;

·                decrease in smoking and levels of people vaping – there were a number of people who had moved from smoking to vaping as an alternative nicotine delivery method and longer term this was a concern but use of vaping had its benefits as there were less potential side effects and harms than smoking;

·                the details in respect of the number of job losses and people on furlough – the Council monitors the number of people on furlough and who had lost their jobs and looks at options for providing support, especially in respect of security of housing, this formed part of the economic recovery strand;

·                the economic impacts and some of the assumptions – the response policy identifies potential risks to the economy and had to take into account the longer-term impacts on the economy.  There were low levels of Covid-19 in Torbay and we have a good reputation to give our visitors confidence they can come to Torbay and stay safely over the Summer but we are still in a global pandemic and the situation could change rapidly.  At some point the additional support from the Government would be moved and there was a need to further review the economic predictions again.

Resolved:

1.         that the Overview and Scrutiny Board supports the alignment of the Turning the Tide on Poverty with the Torbay Recovery Strategy; and

2.         that the Board endorses further refining of the action plan following focussed workshops on the Marmot themes.

To review the draft Quality Account for 2020/21 and provide feedback to the Trust to be included in the final account (responses due by 10 June).

The Board considered the draft Quality Account for 2020/21 for Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust which was before Members for them to provide their feedback for inclusion in the final Quality Account report for 2020/21.  The Board was required to respond by 10 June 2021.

Resolved:

That the following feedback be provided on behalf of the Overview and Scrutiny Board in respect of the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust’s Draft Quality Account for 2020/2021:

The Board acknowledges the commitment of staff and engagement with partners and the community to support local people throughout the global Covid-19 pandemic and the personal impact that this has had upon everyone supporting people through these difficult times, many of whom have suffered personal loss themselves.

The Board recognises the improvements highlighted in respect of certain elements of practice and care; strengthened and enhanced emergency care pathways and work towards improvements in infrastructure and supports the proposed focus on recovery of staff and restoration and recovery of services for 2021/22.

However, the Board sought assurance that relevant action would be taken to:

1.         improve the performance of the stroke unit;

2.         provide greater assurance that appropriate support was being put in place to support ongoing staff welfare;

3.         ensure that the operational ratio of staff to patients is sufficient, in light of current working practices;

4.         ensure that staff receive relevant in person training, wherever possible, to enable them to be kept up to date with current working practices and processes;

5.         provide greater assurance as to how the Mental Capacity Act 2007 is being embedded into daily practices, including understanding and awareness of issues surrounding people with a learning disability;

6.         provide greater assurance that feedback from patients who have been discharged from hospital is being taken into account and that appropriate community support is being secured to support people leaving hospital to ensure that they are safe and cared for;

7.         address the number of medicine incidents and the number of bulling, harassment or abuse incidents towards staff;

8.         address the standards not being met for Standard 2 – emergency admission seen by a suitable consultant within 14 hours of admission;

9.         address the standard not being met for Standard 8 – high dependency patients seen twice daily and other patients once daily by a suitable consultant;

10.       reduce waiting times for referral to treatment; and

11.       increase feedback and engagement with inpatients.

The Board would welcome a written response to the above points.

To agree the initial work programme for Overview and Scrutiny for 2021/2022.

Members received the Initial Work Programme for Overview and Scrutiny for 2021/2022 as set out in the submitted report.

Resolved:

1.         that the Initial Work Programme for Overview and Scrutiny for 2021/2022 set out in the submitted papers be approved; and

2.         that the Overview and Scrutiny Board monitors the Forward Plan to help inform the Work Programme as part of its monthly work planning meetings (unanimous).