Agenda item

To consider the parts of the Quarter 2 2015/16 (July to September) quarterly service report of the Adult Social Care, Health and Housing Department relating to health.

Please bring the previously circulated Quarterly Service Report to the meeting.  Copies are available on request and attached to this agenda if viewed online.

The Panel received and noted the Quarterly Service Report for Adult Social Care, Health and Housing for Quarter 2, 2015-16.

The Director drew attention to the mention of delayed discharge on page 4 of the report, and acknowledged that the delayed transfer of care was a concern. Delayed transfers could occur due to a delay in treatment, a delay in choice of nursing home to which patients are entitled, or a delay in the provision of domiciliary care. The year 2014/15 had been a challenging year for bed occupancy and referrals to local authorities, and the Director had met with Andrew Morris, Chief Executive of Frimley Health Foundation Trust in the summer to discuss what could be done. As a result of developed domiciliary care, in November and December 2015 there had been no delayed transfers which was celebrated. The Director highlighted that while in September there was a red icon for delayed transfers, the situation was now very different. Looking ahead, there would be challenges arising from growing demand and reducing funding.

There had been a £1 billion investment from the government into Mental Health services and re-arranging the care pathway. An important development was giving parity of esteem for mental and physical health. In Bracknell Forest, there was a focus on Dementia with the recruitment of a Dementia co-ordinator. The co-ordinator was working with GPs and underpinning the Dementia Action Alliance. The Mental Health team was also focussing on enhancing the service provided for people experiencing their first psychotic episode.

Health and Wellbeing as promoted through Public Health was documented in section 6.8 of the report. This reflected a shift from demand management to asset based approaches. The focuses for the future would be to review the out of hours response, and to avoid unnecessary admissions to hospital. It was commented that once people are in an acute position in hospital, they become dependent and it is more difficult to discharge them.

Lisa McNally was glad to report that in Quarter 3, 191 Bracknell Forest residents had stopped smoking, creating a 78% quit rate. This was the highest rate ever achieved in Bracknell Forest, and the highest in the country.

Arising from the panel’s questions, the following points were noted:

• Frimley Health Trust were looking into becoming a registered home care provider to aid discharge.
• Bracknell Forest Council was working with private care homes to boost recruitment where maintaining the workforce had been difficult.
• Assistive technology was being researched to aid discharge to homes
• A 7 day working week for the NHS would not necessarily aid delayed discharge as people were generally not discharged at the weekend. Although the Emergency Duty Service and Out of Hours service were available on Saturdays and Sundays, discharges had not been arranged at the weekends. The pilot of a 7 day working week in a Bracknell Forest GP surgery had shown that GPs were unused at the weekend, and that patients preferred weekday appointments.
• The panel noted advances in the use of technology to diagnose via Skype and other technologies.
• People’s fears about the MMR vaccine, and the perceived link to autism, had been successfully addressed. Apathy was a more significant issue affecting take-up. 

The Chair thanked all panel members and officers for their contributions and presentations.