Agenda item - Public Involvement

To consider the following items raised by members of the public:

(a)       Petitions: To receive any petitions presented by members of the public to the full Council or to the meeting itself;

(b)       Written Questions: To receive any questions submitted by the due date of 12noon on the (insert date) 2017.

(c)       Deputations: To receive any deputations submitted by the due date of 12 noon on the (insert date) 2017.

11.1    Two public questions were received. One questioner, Christopher Tredgold asked for his question to be submitted as a written question. The other questioner, Valerie Mainstone, was unable to join the meeting call, so her question was also dealt with as a written question.

11.2(a)            The following question was received from Ms Valerie Mainstone:

Dame Marianne Griffiths, CEO of West Sussex Hospitals Trust and of Brighton & Sussex Universities Hospital Trust, now wishes to merge them into a single entity. Meanwhile, Sir Simon Stevens, CEO of NHS England "hopes" that there will be only one CCG corresponding to each Integrated Care System by April 2020. Does the HOSC share my concern that these proposed mergers will be the death knell of local decision-making, and result in a democratic deficit, whereby Brighton & Hove GPs currently serving on our CCG, and Brighton & Hove Councillors currently serving on our HWB and HOSC, will find it very hard to represent our local interests on enormous regional bodies?

11.2(b)            The Chair responded:

The short answer to your question is that yes, I do share your concern, particularly at the proposal from NHSE to end up with only one CCG per Integrated Care System, which in our case would be the whole of Sussex, as opposed to the three the region has currently.

The more nuanced answer is I do accept that there can sometimes be good arguments for NHS bodies merging, whether this is to ensure the very best leadership; to save on management costs; or to realise the benefits of working at scale in terms of sharing workforce, procurement and so on. However, there is a real risk that large regional NHS organisations, whether they are commissioners or service providers, will lose focus on the issues affecting local areas.

This is a particular concern for Brighton & Hove as we are a compact urban area surrounded by large suburban and rural areas. The city faces distinct ‘urban’ problems, in terms of deprivation, a high prevalence of mental health issues, high substance abuse rates and many other factors, and I am worried that an NHS operating on an increasingly regional basis could lose sight of these problems – and also some of our unique local strengths such as our really significant community and voluntary sector resources.

As a HOSC, we can’t stop NHS organisations merging even if we want to, but we can challenge them, seeking assurance that they have robust processes in place to ensure that their local focus is not diluted. I’m happy to commit the HOSC to doing this.”

11.3(a)            The following question was received from Dr Christopher Tredgold:

'Care Home residents have been the most severely affected by Covid-19 - accounting for over 40% of England’s high death rate.

Age and undiagnosed infected patients discharged from hospital have been causes of this - but so have a lack of testing and adequate PPE.

Testing is at last planned - weekly for the staff, monthly for the residents. Homes and Local authorities need the results quickly.

How will the HOSC ensure that all staff and residents in Care Homes receive clear test results and that all staff have access to adequate PPE?'

11.3(b)            The Chair responded:

“There is regular testing in city care homes, and overall in recent weeks the system has improved but there are still issues. Over recent months, complaints from care homes about aspects of the testing system have reduced. This is echoed by dialogue that the Council has had directly with care providers – e.g. through the Care Homes Forum.

However, whilst many aspects of the system have seen improvements, there are still concerns about how quickly tests are being processed. We are currently seeing some tests results reported in around 4-5 days with some providers reporting of a small number of results not being returned at all. This is well above the Government’s promised turnaround time of 48 hours. We remain concerned that timeliness of test results isn’t sufficient and are concerned how this might impact detection of particularly asymptomatic cases.