Agenda item

5.1

The Committee received a report of the Director of Public Health, which provided a summary of proposals to establish a Joint Commissioning Committee between the City Council and the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).  The report also summarised proposals for a joint commissioning plan and identified the priority areas for commissioning new preventative services, seeking to reduce inequalities, increase the capacity of community based services and reduce demand on acute services.

5.2

Present for this item were Greg Fell (Director of Public Health), Brian Hughes (Director of Commissioning, CCG), and Councillor Chris Peace (Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care).

5.3

Members made various comments and asked a number of questions, to which responses were provided as follows:

·                     Building on the Preventative Model, Sheffield has the ability to move forward so that health and social care can be integrated, to improve health outcomes and reduce inequalities for the people of Sheffield.  To achieve this, proposals are being developed to strengthen the way health and care is jointly commissioned between the CCG and the City Council.

·                     It is proposed that the Joint Commissioning Committee will be comprised of four Cabinet Members and four members of the CCG Governing Body, working towards a single voice, a single plan.

·                     The three main priorities for 2019/20 are to consolidate and build on the integrated mental health work; develop a partnership approach to special educational needs and disabilities; and develop a service improvement framework for frailty to encourage preventive interventions.

·                     There are no firm plans yet regarding accountability.  The Cabinet would still make executive decisions and the role of this Scrutiny Committee would remain unchanged.

·                     The Voluntary, Community and Faith (VCF) sectors are not yet involved, although VCF representatives do form part of the Accountable Care Partnership Board.  It is recognised the vital role the VCF sector plays within communities.

·                     There would be no duplication between the roles of the Joint Commissioning Committee and the Accountable Care Partnership as the focuses are very different, but with the same outcome of developing and delivering the best possible health and social care for the people of Sheffield.

·                     The proposals for the Joint Committee are very much in the infancy and any issues that have been raised at this meeting will be put forward and presented in a report to Cabinet at its meeting to be held on 20^th March, with a view to the Joint Committee being in place by April.

·                     The recently published Green Paper by NHS England outlining healthcare plans for the future did not include social care and it is felt that by establishing a local Joint Commissioning Committee, this would go some way towards tackling some of the problems.  When people need help, they just want to access the best possible care available.

5.4

RESOLVED: That the Committee:-

(a)       thanks Greg Fell (Director of Public Health), Brian Hughes (Director of Commissioning (CCG) and Councillor Chris Peace, (Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care) for their contribution to the meeting;

(b)       notes the contents of the report and the responses to questions; and

(c)        requests that an update report on the work of the Joint Commissioning Committee be brought back to the Committee in six months’ time.