Agenda and minutes

The Minutes of the meetings held on 22 May and 13 June 2006, having been printed and circulated were signed as a correct record.

            It was confirmed that no public questions had been received.

         The Board considered the Minutes of the meetings of the Executive Board and Executive Board Sub Committee relevant to the Healthy Halton Policy & Performance Board.

 

         In relation to EXB15 the Board expressed concern that there was little evidence that North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust had sought to provide transport services to support patients without the means or ability to get to and from Halton and Warrington Hospitals. 

  

     RESOLVED: That

 

(1)         the minutes be received; and

(2)         the concerns raised be referred to the Executive Board.

(NB: Mr Bryant declared a personal interest in the following item due to being Chairman of the Lets Go Club).

            The Board received an update on the Carers Strategy for 2006-8. Previously the Council had produced Carers Strategies for 1999-2002 and 2003-2006, which corresponded to three-year periods of notification from the Department of Health in relation to the provision of a Carers Grant.

 

            The Council was notified in December 2005 that the Carers Grant would be available for a further two years and that the level of funding had been increased to £490,000 for 2006/7 and to £503,000 for 2007/8. The increased allocation of funding would be used to:

 

§         continue the work of the two Carers’ Centres in Halton;

§         provide increased funding to voluntary sector organisations and teams within Health and Community and Children and Young People’s Directorates.

 

        In developing the carer’s strategy all partner organisations that provided services to carers and with carers themselves were consulted about the content of the strategy. A carer’s consultation event was held on 26 January 2006 and was described in more detail within the report.

 

         The strategy reflected a collaborative and multi agency approach to the delivery of improved services to carers. The key agencies involved in this improvement were the Primary Care Trust, 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Trust, key voluntary sector organisations and both the Health and Community and Children and Young People’s Directorates.

 

         Arising from the discussion reference was made to:

 

§   the difficulty in identifying and engaging carers, especially young carers;

§   the locations and type of services which were offered at the carers centres; and

§   how assessments could and were shaping the type of services offered.

 

The Service Development Officer responded to the issues raised and it was suggested that HITS be invited to a future meeting of the Board to give an outline of its work with young carers.

 

         RESOLVED: That

 

(1)         the Carers Strategy 2006-8 be noted; and

(2)         HITS be invited to a future meeting of the Board to give an outline of its work with young carers. 

   The Board received a presentation on the Annual Report of Halton’s Multi-Agency Adult Protection Committee (APC) by the Adult Protection Co-ordinator. This had been submitted for the Board’s consideration and gave an outline of the operation of the APC and multi-agency arrangements for the protection of vulnerable adults in Halton, along with details of the work undertaken between April 2005 and March 2006, a summary of the planned activity for 2006/7. 

 

Arising from the discussion the Board raised and discussed a number of issues to which the Adult Protection Co-ordinator responded, in particular:

 

§         who assesses private care homes and how often;

§         who sets the criteria for categories/referrals and whether this may have a negative impact on some vulnerable adults i.e. homeless or care leavers;

§         whether frontline workers were receiving the necessary information to enable them to direct vulnerable adults to services;

§         the limited amount of historical information/data available and whether enough information was now being collected;

§         whether partners on the APC had agreed protocols on supporting vulnerable adults and whether they produced their own strategies.     

 

 

 

RESOLVED: That the Annual Report of Halton’s Adult Protection Committee be endorsed.

            The Board was asked to ratify the process of responding to the Royal Liverpool Children’s NHS Trust Consultation on proposals to become a Foundation Trust.

 

            As the proposal had implications for both children and young people and health it was suggested that a consultation meeting be arranged with representatives from both Policy and Performance Boards (PPB’s) present, during the consultation period, which ran from 31 July 2006 to Monday 23 October 2006.

 

            A representative of the Executive from the Royal Liverpool Children’s NHS Trust would attend the meeting to present the details of the consultation ‘Your Alder Hey, Have Your Say’.

 

            RESOLVED: That

 

(1)   a joint meeting be held between the Healthy Halton and Children and Young People PPB to consider ‘Your Alder Hey, Have Your Say’; and

 

(2)   the following members be appointed to the Joint PPB:

 

Councillor E. Cargill

Councillor S. Blackmore

Councillor M. Hodgkinson

Councillor E. Jones

Councillor K. Loftus

 

The Board was presented with the draft terms of reference for the review of Adults with Learning Difficulties (ALD) Day Service redesign, which had been identified as part of the Board’s 2005/06 Scrutiny Programme and it was agreed that a working group be established to undertake this review, as detailed in the appendix to the report.

 

RESOLVED: That

 

(1)   the terms of reference be agreed; and

 

(2)   the following members be appointed to the working group:

 

Councillor E. Cargill

Councillor S. Blackmore

Councillor K. Loftus

The Board received a report outlining the need for a Local Area Agreement (LAA) to be negotiated with Central Government by April 2007.  A LAA was a three year protocol which set out the priorities for a local area, as represented by the lead local authority and other key partners through the Local Strategic Partnership. The Board was updated on the progress made to date in this respect and an updated copy of the draft LAA was circulated.

 

         The idea was that LAA’s would join up, focus and simplify the administration of neighbourhood renewal activity which would enable utilisation of external funding streams. Whilst at present LAA’s were based on four blocks established around the Governments shared priorities, as detailed within the report, there was an indication from the Government that this may be extended to cover elements for mainstream and statutory activity.

 

Within the report an outline was given of:

 

§       how LAA’s would be formed,

§       how they would align with national priorities,

§       the reward element,

§       the Government timetable leading to the adoption of an LAA, and

§       the building blocks already in place at Halton, which would enable a strong and robust LAA to be put in place,

 

It was reported that a draft agreement would be submitted to Executive Board on 21 September 2006 for comments.  A final version of the agreement would go to the Executive Board in December.

 

Arising from the discussion reference was made to whether elected members would fit into the process as facilitators and leaders in the community and whether LAA’s would make a difference to the issues faced in the borough. In addition an amendment was suggested to one of the columns to include a reference to the relevant key strategy(s).

           

RESOLVED: That

 

(1)   the report and outline of the process be noted; and

 

(2)   the comments made, as listed above, on the draft Agreement be referred to the Executive Board.

         The Board was informed of the new process for reporting on performance monitoring. The first quarter monitoring reports were published in August to enable Members to review performance within service areas at the earliest possible opportunity.

 

         A number of emerging issues and key developments that would impact upon the service or where any action was required to address performance were detailed within the report, for the following services:

 

§       Older Peoples

§       Adults of Working Age

§       Health and Partnerships

 

The Operational Director, Adults of Working Age outlined a number of reports in respect of the issues raised in the report, which would be submitted to the Board at the next meetings in November 2006 and February 2007.

 

RESOLVED: That the service performance and progress towards achieving objectives and targets be received.