Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

An apology for absence was received from Cllr O’Leary.

To disclose any pecuniary, other registrable or non-registrable interest as set out in the adopted Code of Conduct. In making their disclosure councillors are asked to state the agenda item, the nature of the interest and any action they propose to take as part of their declaration.

If required, further advice should be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.

Cllr Ireland declared that he was a governor at Dorset HealthCare and his wife worked at Yeovil hospital.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 19 July 2022.

A member raised a grammatical error under the apologies.

Proposed by Cllr Taylor, seconded by Cllr Ridout.

Decision: That the minutes of the meeting on 19 July 2022 be confirmed and signed.

To receive any updates from the Chair of the Committee.

The Chairman provided an update on the Dorset Centre of Excellence. The full update is attached to these minutes.

Representatives of town or parish councils and members of the public who live, work or represent an organisation within the Dorset Council area are welcome to submit up to two questions or two statements for each meeting.  Alternatively, you could submit one question and one statement for each meeting.  

All submissions must be emailed in full to DemocraticServices@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk by 8.30am on Wednesday, 5 October 2022.

When submitting your question(s) and/or statement(s) please note that: 

·       no more than three minutes will be allowed for any one question or statement to be asked/read  

·       a question may include a short pre-amble to set the context and this will be included within the three minute period 

·       please note that sub divided questions count towards your total of two 

·       when submitting a question please indicate who the question is for (e.g. the name of the committee or Portfolio Holder) 

·       Include your name, address and contact details.  Only your name will be published but we may need your other details to contact you about your question or statement in advance of the meeting. 

·       questions and statements received in line with the council’s rules for public participation will be published as a supplement to the agenda 

·       all questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting.   

Dorset Council Constitution Procedure Rule 9 

There was no public participation.

To receive questions submitted by councillors.  

Councillors can submit up to two valid questions at each meeting and sub divided questions count towards this total.   Questions and statements received will be published as a supplement to the agenda and all questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting. 

The submissions must be emailed in full to DemocraticServices@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk by 8.30am on Wednesday, 5 October 2022. 

Dorset Council Constitution – Procedure Rule 13 

There were no questions from councillors.

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 receive an update on behalf of NHS England – South West, Direct Commissioning, following technical issues at the previous meeting.

Please use the following link to view the report and minutes from the previous meeting: Agenda for People and Health Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday, 19th July, 2022, 10.00 am - Dorset Council

The Chairman introduced the item and welcomed the representatives from NHS England, South-West.

The Head of Stakeholder Engagement and Programme Manager – Dental Services from Direct Commissioning, NHS England, South-West answered questions asked at the previous meeting following technical issues. The responses to the questions raised the following points:

·         All qualified dental care professionals have to be registered with the general dental council. They were bound by a code of practice.

·         Since July 2022 dental services have been a 100% capacity following the Covid pandemic.

·         There is no physical waiting list for dentists in Dorset. There was a need to check dentist’s websites to check if they were accepting places.

·         Patients do not register with dentists like they would with a GP.

·         There was clinical evidence that showed you did not need to have a check-up every 6 months. It was safe to have one every 24 months.

·         There would be communications to address misconceptions and anxiety about dental appointments.

·         Dentistry is only funded for 50% of the population. If there was 100% funding, then there wouldn’t be enough appointments available because of the number of dentists.

·         When an upcoming communication plan has been approved, a pack of information will be given to all places where people could ask about teeth, such as pharmacies, GP’s, hospitals, and the local authority.

·         There were contractual targets for units of dental activity.

·         There was a patient charter which showed common myths and what you can expect of dentists.

·         NHS England has responsibility for dental commissioning, but this will move to Dorset’s Integrated Care Board in March 2023.

·         The 111 service has a good dental helpline.

·         Mixed contracts and mobile dentists could help vulnerable people and people in deprived areas access dental care.

During the discussion, the following points were raised by members of the committee:

·         Communication with the public was key.

·         There was a lack of information around dentistry.

·         It was likely that there were people using NHS dental services who could afford private dental care.

·         Dentistry was an example of a service that has been failing for 20 years.

·         Some people were unable to travel to dental practices that they did not normally go to.

·         A member was disappointed that there were not more gateways like the Purbeck or Bridport Gateway.

·         Dentistry had some similar issues to other services in the NHS.

The committee would be invited to a webinar on dentistry, which would be open for all councillors across the South-West.

To receive a report by the Risk and Resilience Officer and the Service Manager for Assurance.

The Service Manager for Assurance introduced the risk register. Services reflected in the report regularly updated their risks, which could be viewed on a new dashboard with live information.

The committee asked questions and made comments related to:

·         Apprenticeships in the care industry

·         Short and long-term sickness

·         Team building and improving wellbeing through meeting people

·         Internal recruitment from within the same department

·         How CareDorset would benefit Dorset

·         Homelessness and working with neighbouring authorities

Officers responded to the committee’s questions and comments. The following comments were made:

·         There was a rise in the number of people coming into hospital as well as a rise in covid for staff.

·         Working with the Integrated Care System to ensure that people are paid for the job they do, have an opportunity to develop a career, and allowing people to move between the health and care sectors.

·         Exit interviews are done to see why people leave the council, but HR have also started interviews to see why people stay.

·         The council has a good offer around mental health and wellbeing.

·         The transition between Tricuro and CareDorset went very well. There has been additional recruitment. Over a longer term, there could be more services under the CareDorset umbrella.

·         CareDorset would be managed in a different way to Tricuro and there would be different conditions.

·         The council works with BCP council around homelessness.

·         It was a significant challenge to keep young people out of custody.

·         Toolkits are being developed around domestic abuse and harm.

The committee would receive written feedback, from the Executive Director of People – Adults, on homelessness and rough sleeping, then have an informal session to discuss the feedback.

Cllr Ireland left the meeting at 12.30pm.

A review of the relevant Dorset Council performance dashboard to inform the Scrutiny Committee’s Forward Plan and identify items for deep dives.

The following link is the dashboard for this committee:

People and Health Scrutiny Committee Dashboard

The Service Manager for Business Intelligence and Performance raised several topics which were identified by the committee while reviewing the performance dashboards. The topics were:

·         The percentage of children who have a child protection plan.

·         The number of active foster carers.

·         The percentage of looked after children placed outside the council area.

·         The percentage of adults with a learning disability in paid employment.

In response to children being placed out of the council area, the Corporate Director for Commissioning and Partnerships said that a new children’s home was being opened and unaccompanied asylum seeker children are more likely to be placed out of county because spaces were not available.

To consider the Committee’s Forward Plan and that of the Cabinet.

The committee’s and Cabinet’s forward plans were noted.

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

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

There was no exempt business.