Agenda item

4.1

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 17^th July 2013, were approved as a correct record, subject to the amendment of item 6 - Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group - Commissioning Intentions 2013/14, which was amended by the substitution of the word ‘relationship’ for the word ‘role’ in paragraph 6.6(c)(i) and, arising therefrom, it was reported that:-

(a)       in the light of the refurbishment works at St Luke’s Hospice being completed in October/November 2013, it was suggested that Members visit the Hospice in January 2014, and the Policy and Improvement Officer was requested to contact the Hospice to discuss a convenient date and time for the visit, and to inform Members accordingly;

(b)       further to the Committee’s request, at a previous meeting, for a response from Councillor Mary Lea, Cabinet Member for Health, Care and Independent Living, in connection with the Council’s proposal to no longer provide, free of charge, individual small items of daily living equipment costing less than £50, and regarding the setting aside of funds, for a hardship fund, to assist those who could not afford daily living equipment, a response had been received from Jan Sutton, Service Manager, Housing, Care and Support Service, indicating that, after further analysis of this proposal, it had become clear that it was not possible to make the anticipated savings on equipment under £50 and the proposal had not been implemented, and was currently under review; the Service was considering alternative ways to achieve the required savings within the Equipment and Adaptations budget and discussions had commenced with the Sheffield Community Equipment Learning Service (SCELS) to look at value for money; the Service was also looking at the Council’s policy of equipment and adaptations to review whether this was fit for purpose;

(c)        a response had been received from John Reid, Director of Nursing and Clinical Operations, Sheffield Children’s Hospital Foundation Trust, indicating that the Asthma Audit would be repeated in November 2013, to pick up those children with acute exacerbations that resulted from upper viral infections, which generally did not start until winter, and that he would arrange for a copy of the Audit to be forwarded to the Policy and Improvement Officer, who would then forward it to Members;

(d)       a response had still not been received to the letter sent to the Secretary of State for Health, expressing the Committee’s concerns regarding the lack of a national framework and regulation for male circumcisions;

(e)       it was agreed that the Policy and Improvement Officer would try and arrange a briefing session for Members and Sheffield Healthwatch representatives, in connection with the joint Yorkshire and Humber Health Overview and Scrutiny exercise on the review of adult congenital heart disease services;

(f)        the Policy and Improvement Officer had recirculated the report containing an update on End of Life Care for Children provided by the NHS Care Commissioning Group, which had previously been sent to Members by Emily Standbrook-Shaw  on 6^th June, 2013, and it was agreed that no further action was required on this matter;

(g)       the Policy and Improvement Officer would chase up a response from the Health and Wellbeing Board with regard to the contracts that have been let to voluntary and faith sector organisations around offering help and advice to patients with mental health, drug and alcohol problems;

(h)       in the light of the confusion as to the precise nature of Councillor Adam Hurst’s inquiry, relating to the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool, Councillor Hurst indicated that he was prepared to let this matter rest;

(i)         a discussion on communication issues between the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust and Sheffield Healthwatch had taken place; and

(j)         Tim Furness, Director of Business Planning and Partnerships, Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) had forwarded the CCG’s Communications Plan in terms of its commissioning intentions for 2014/15, outlining when the Group planned to involve the public and patients, to the Policy and Improvement Officer, who had subsequently circulated it to Members of the Committee; the full Communications Plan would not be available until October 2013, and the Policy and Improvement Officer would circulate this to Members of the Committee.