Agenda item
Public Participation
- Meeting of Dorset Council - Health Scrutiny Committee, Thursday, 5th March, 2020 10.00 am (Item 34.)
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.
Minutes:
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.
Supporting documents: