Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from James Vaughan, Patricia Miller, John Sellgren and Simone Yule.  They were represented by Julie Fielding, Kate Harvey, Karyn Punchard and James Jackson respectively.

To receive any declarations of interest.

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests were made at the meeting.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 27 November 2019.

The minutes of the meeting held on 27 November 2019 were confirmed and would be signed by the Chairman at the earliest opportunity.

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

Please note that public speaking has been suspended during the Covid-19 crisis. Each question or statement is limited to no more than 450 words and must be electronically submitted to helen.whitby@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk by the deadline set out below. The question or statement will be read out by an officer of the Council and a response will be sent to the person submitting the question or statement following the meeting.

All questions/statements and the responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting.

The deadline for submission of the full text of a question or statement is 8.30am on Monday, 22 June 2020.

There were no statements and questions from Town and Parish Councils and members of the public.

To consider a report by the Director of Public Health.  To follow as an urgent item.

The Board considered a report by the Director of Public Health on the development of Dorset's Local Outbreak Management Plan (LOMP).

The Chief Executive thanked all involved in the development of the Plan which had been created at pace.  The Plan set out action to be taken should a local outbreak of Covid-19 (C19) occur and had been the result of good partnership working.  The key to its success would be good communication with residents, communities and businesses should a local outbreak occur.

The Director of Public Health reminded members of the low number of cases of C19 in the Dorset and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council areas.  National funding of £1.28m had been provided for the Plan's development and this had to be completed by the end of June 2020. The Plan was built on work undertaken during the lockdown period and identified gaps in capacity and support actions which might be needed in response to any local outbreak.  The draft Plan set out initial thoughts over seven themes and would be published as an on-line toolkit of actions, strategies and responses for different scenarios and risks.  Should a local outbreak occur, the importance of residents and communities have a clear understanding of what they were being asked to do and why was highlighted.  The Plan also included a resources and capacity plan with resources being allocated to the highest risk settings.

The Board was asked to agree to being used as the Local Outbreak Engagement Board to communicate to the public any actions that needed to be taken and for what reason.  The Board was also asked to agree to a sub-group being established to come together quickly to consider any urgent issues on behalf of the Local Outbreak Engagement Board.

The draft Plan and its governance arrangements would be sent to members following the meeting for comment.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health, Dorset Council, the Chairman of the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group and the Leader of Dorset Council all supported the recommendations and thanked all involved in the Plan's development.

Decisions

1. That the development of the Local Outbreak Management Plan, with the Board taking the role of the Public Engagement Board be approved.

2. That the set-up of a sub-group, that can be called together at short notice if required, to include as a minimum the Chair, Dorset Council Leader and Chief Executive, the Director of Public Health and a CCG clinical representative be approved.

To receive a verbal update from the Interim Executive Director for People - Adults, Dorset Council.

The Board considered a report on Dorset Council's Care Home Plan and received a presentation from the Head of Commissioning (Market Relationships, Major Contracts, Over 65's), Dorset Council.

The Chief Executive explained that the Minister of State had asked local authorities to submit a planning return for a Care Home Support Plan by 29 May 2020.  This had been developed at pace and he thanked all involved.

The presentation highlighted the collaborative working across all system partners in order to provide a full view of care home support in place and future plans and meet the submission date.  It provided detailed information of what was included in the Plan - financial information, care home feedback and how the capacity tracker was being used to monitor the impact of additional support and/or changes to national guidance and numbers of infection control grant applications and homes who had decided not to apply.  A return on how the first grant was spent was to be submitted on 26 June 2020. A full statement to certify usage was due to be submitted by 30 September 2020 with funding being reclaimed if it was not used appropriately.

A copy of the presentation would be emailed to members following the meeting.

Members commented on the speed at which both the Local Outbreak Management Plan and the Care Home Support Plans had been created and the amount of integration that had been achieved in a short space of time.  They fully supported the Care Home Plan and thanked all involved.

One member drew attention to the fact that some care homes had not received test results, or they were void and had to be repeated.  Some were not receiving confirmation that residents discharged from hospital had been tested.  This information would be fed back to the Head of Commissioning so that it could be addressed at the regular system partner meetings.

Members noted that lessons learned had been taken on board and that trust with providers had developed and they were working jointly with the local authority to remodel future needs.

The Chief Executive explained that the Plan needed to be signed off between the meetings of the Dorset and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Health and Wellbeing Boards.  He welcomed comments made and stated that updates would be provided.

Decision

That the Home Care Plan be agreed.

To discuss future items for the Board's Forward Plan.

The Board considered items for future meetings and the following were to be added to the Forward Plan:-

prevention work and links to the integrated care system

the Health and Wellbeing strategy before and post Covid 19 and links to recovery, transformation and reset work

Joint Strategic Needs Assessment to support the Strategy and Physical Strategy

discussion of the Board's future priorities

Reference was made to the work done during Covid 19 to identify vulnerable people.  The Board were reminded that the Chief Constable had previously agreed to explore data sharing across organisations with regard to identifying vulnerable people.  The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health would raise this with the Chief Constable.

Decision

That the above items be added to the Forward Plan.

To consider any items of business which the Chairman has had prior notification and considers to be urgent pursuant to section 100B (4) b) of the Local Government Act 1972. The reason for the urgency shall be recorded in the minutes.

There were no urgent items.

To move the exclusion of the press and the public for the following item in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph 3 of schedule 12 A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

The public and the press will be asked to leave the meeting whilst the item of business is considered.

There was no exempt business.