Agenda item

4.1

Responses were provided to six  questions asked by Deborah Cobbett on behalf of Sheffield Save Our NHS, as follows:-

(a)       What input does this Scrutiny Committee have into the work of the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee for South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw/Mid-Yorkshire and North Derbyshire Scrutiny Committee, the Chair, Councillor Pat Midgley, advised that she had attended every meeting of the Joint Committee and she would arrange a meeting with Ms. Cobbett and Councillor Chris Peace, Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care, to discuss this.

(b)       Greg Fell (Director of Public Health) had made a statement that 60% of children in some parts of Sheffield were living in poverty, and Ms. Cobbett asked how can small changes outlined in the Prevention report come anywhere near to “solving social issues” and changing health chances.  In reply, Greg Fell said that he would provide a written response to Ms. Cobbett.

(c)        How can we be sure that managing demand for care will not simply reduce people’s expectations, which, the report suggests, were already low? Also, what will be done to monitor people managed away from social care to ensure that their needs are met in a proactive way and what would be done to address the pressures on staff, as outlined on page 84 of the report?  Does the Committee understand the maths of focused reablement outlined on page 79?  In response Sara Storey (Head of Access and Prevention) stated that there were successes and challenges and maybe some administrative errors had been made, but ongoing support to those who needed it, was still being given.

4.2

The Chair, Councillor Pat Midgley, stated that Prevention will by no means solve all the issues regarding health, but one of the major issues is health inequalities, which was something the Council needed to tackle.