Agenda item

To receive questions or statements on the business of the committee from town and parish councils and members of the public.

The deadline for submission of the full text of a question or statement is 8.30am on Monday, 2 March 2020.

Details of the Council’s procedure rules can be found at: Public Participation at Committees.

The Chairman had received a letter from Swanage Town Council and this is attached in the Appendix to the minutes.

Public statements and questions from Mr Barry Tempest, Mr Philip Jordan, Ms Debby Monkhouse, and Mr Chris Bradey were made at the meeting and these are attached in the Appendix to the minutes.

Future Changes at Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Members agreed that they needed to know more about future plans for Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (DCH).  They asked that the Chief Executives from the Hospital Trust and the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) be invited to the June 2020 meeting to respond to questions and asked that a joint report be provided by them.  The Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Customer, Community and Regulator Services stated that he was the Council's representative on DCH's Board of Governors and would be happy to find answers to the questions raised.

Withdrawal of the Swanage Ambulance Car

The Chairman confirmed that assurance had been given previously that the Swanage Ambulance Car would not be removed, that 6 new ambulances would be activated in Dorset and that there was no intention to remove cover from the Swanage area.  Members were concerned about the withdrawal of the promised level of cover in Swanage as timely treatment could be crucial.  One member referred to an email he had received from the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWAST) Chief Executive who had confirmed that the reduction in cover at Swanage was due to CCG funding coming to an end on 1 April 2020.  However, the number of ambulances in Dorset was to rise from 36 to 45 and he had suggested that one be stationed in Wareham and one in Dorchester.  The Chief Executive had offered to ask his operations team to attend a future meeting.

The Chairman would formally write to the Chief Executive of SWAST to ask him to account for this change and copy this to the CCG Chief Executive.  She would circulate any response received.  If the response was not adequate, she would invite the Chief Officers to come to a future meeting.

Merger of Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The Chairman suggested that this item be scrutinised as a joint exercise with Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (BCP) and she asked officers to progress this as a matter of urgency.  One member suggested that the merger would be more beneficial to BCP residents and for this reason any scrutiny should be carried out by Dorset alone.  The Chairman reminded members of the recent guidance from the Minister that only responses from joint committees would be accepted as a full Dorset response.

It was noted that the deadline for comments on the merger was 12 March 2020 and that the Committee did not have enough information to comment at this stage. It was highlighted that anyone could respond to this consultation and that there would be further consultation in due course.

With regard to joint scrutiny, members were unclear as to how this would work.  The Chairman explained that agreed terms of reference would be needed prior to members being identified to sit on any joint committee.  She suggested that five members from each council might be appropriate and that any arrangements would need to be flexible enough to allow participation from councils outside of the Dorset area.  Given the forthcoming changes to the governance arrangements for Dorset Council and the two additional scrutiny meetings per year, members expressed concern that meetings dealing with people and health matters would not fit into two hours.  The Chairman would raise the concerns of the Committee with the Leader of the Council.

Letter from Swanage Town Council

The Chairman read out a letter from Swanage Town Council's Clerk concerning the A&E Local Model at Poole Hospital.  One member added that Weymouth Town Council had passed a similar resolution to ensure the local model consultant cover was for 18 hours.  The Chairman would write to the CCG asking for a response to this request.

The Chairman had also received a similar request from Corfe Castle Parish Council and would circulate this to members.

The Dorset Councillor for Portland was concerned about the loss of the ambulance car in Swanage and supported all moves to secure ambulance services in this area.  Knowing that the service was to be reduced in Swanage had spurred him to attend the meeting as he had similar concerns for ambulance coverage for Portland over a number of years.  The Chairman would seek clarification from SWAST and the CCG about the future of ambulance services in Swanage as set out above.

Members asked that in future public statements and questions be sent to them prior to any meeting.

Decisions

1. That the Chief Executives from Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group be invited to the meeting on 16 June 2020 to respond to questions about future plans for the Hospital and asked that a joint report be provided by them.

2. That the Chairman would formally write to the Chief Executive of South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust to ask him to account for the removal of the Swanage ambulance car and copy this to the CCG Chief Executive.  She would circulate any response received and if this was not adequate, would invite the Chief Executives to come to a future meeting.

3. That the merger of Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust be scrutinised as a joint exercise with Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council.  Officers were asked to progress this as a matter of urgency.

4. That the Chairman would write to the CCG asking for a response to Swanage Town Council's request.

5. That the Chairman circulate the letter from Corfe Castle Parish council to members.