Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence and to note the attendance of any substitute members.

Apologies were received from Councillors Harrison and Welch

Members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary or affected interests and the nature of that interest, including the existence and nature of the party whip, in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting. Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days. Any Member with an Affected Interest in a matter must disclose the interest to the meeting. There is no requirement to withdraw from the meeting when the interest is only an affected interest, but the Monitoring Officer should be notified of the interest, if not previously notified of it, within 28 days of the meeting.

There were no Declarations of Interest.

The Chair of the Health and Care Panel will provide a summary of the Sexual Health review.  Members of the Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny panel will discuss the review recommendations and report.

The agreed recommendations and report will be presented at the next Overview and Scrutiny Commission on 29 August 2024.

The Chair of the Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny panel provided a brief overview of the review into sexual health services for young people in the borough.

Each draft recommendation was then discussed in turn.  Some minor amendments to the wording of recommendation four were made to reflect concerns raised and discussed about limitations of services provided at Skimped Hill in Bracknell.  There was a concern raised that the report didn’t go far enough in identifying failures within the services.  However, it was agreed that this approach was not appropriate without more specific data around attendance at the clinics in Bracknell and Slough which is addressed within recommendation four.

 The following recommendations were voted on:

1.     Advise schools to change website restrictions to allow young people to access services including NHS Choices, Brook and Safe Sex Berkshire. (Review in 6 months)

2.     Make sure the OxWell student survey includes questions to obtain the views of young people regarding sex education they receive. This will be fed back to individual schools to be taken into consideration when reviewing policies. (Review in 12 months)

3.     Make sure young people’s views of the services are sought by public health as part of the service development improvement plan with Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust (BHFT).

Take this information forward for consideration in the next contract tender process.  Make sure views captured in the survey in April 2024 are used to inform service development.  Use an engagement plan to make sure a representative sample of young people will be reached (Review in 6 months)

4.     Request Garden Clinic attendance data from BHFT that is specific to Bracknell residents for review by the Executive member. 

To differentiate those patients referred from Bracknell due to medical needs and those who went to Slough due to lack of availability in Bracknell.  This will be reviewed by the Executive member within 6 months ahead of the next contract renewal which is due 1 July 2026. (Review in 6 months)

5.     Improve promotion and awareness of sexual health services for young people.

A key aim is to help to normalise sexual health and reduce the stigma around it through:

·        Promoting sexual health services on school websites.

·        Increasing leaflets and signage in pharmacies.

·        Greater visibility of information on Safe Sex Berkshire Website

·        Improve promotion of the services that pharmacies offer regarding sexual health. (Review in 6 Months)

RESOLVED – unanimous votes were received for all recommendations and they would be presented to the Overview and Scrutiny commission for approval on 29 August 2024.