Apologies had been received from Tanya Miles, Executive Director for People.

Members are reminded that they must declare their disclosable pecuniary interests and other registrable or non-registrable interests in any matter being considered at the meeting as set out in Appendix B of the Members’ Code of Conduct and consider if they should leave the room prior to the item being considered. Further advice can be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting held on 10^th July 2023 and 21 September 2023

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meetings held on 10^th July 2023 and 21^st September 2023 were confirmed as a correct record.

To receive any questions, or petitions from the public, notice of which has been given in accordance with Procedure Rule 14. Deadline for notification is not later than 5.00 pm on Tuesday 14^th November 2023

There were no public questions.

To receive any questions from Members of the Council. Deadline for notification is not later than 5.00 pm on Tuesday 14^th November 2023

There were no member questions.

To receive the report of the Task and Finish Group

Councillor Heather Kidd, Chair of the Rural Proofing in Health and Care Task and Finish Group, gave a presentation on their findings over the past six months. Members were advised that the members of the task and finish group had been clear from their first meeting about the topic, that addressing any inequalities of service provision between rural and urban areas required a system wide understanding of the opportunities and challenges. Having this would help to identify the most suitable and effective options that need to be explored and implemented to effectively ‘rural proof’ the amendment or introduction of strategies, plans, policies and service design and provision in health and care in Shropshire.

The Group made 14 recommendations which they believe will contribute to addressing inequalities of service provision between rural and urban areas including recommendations:

· to Shropshire Council 

· to the Integrated Care Board

· promoting a system working approach across all Integrated Care System stakeholders

· promoting a consistency of approach with local and regional partner Councils

These were as follows:

1.     Recommendation: That an end-to-end evaluation of the travel and transport infrastructure which supports the Shropshire health and care system should be completed by the Integrated Care System to understand how effective the current provision is and to identify current and future demand. The evaluation should include:

·       Patient Travel Support

·       Public Transport

·        Concessionary Travel

·       Community Transport

·       A review of how health and care transport is co-ordinated at a system level

·       A mapping exercise to identify community capacity available to deliver voluntary community transport schemes, and whether there are sufficient services available and how best to provide an equitable service closing the gaps overall and in specific locations.

2.     Recommendation: The group recommends that rurality and the accessibility factors that are associated with it becomes a key consideration for Shropshire’s health and care system (including Shropshire Council) when adapting or introducing a new service or policy and recommend the use of the Rural Proofing for Health Toolkit to achieve this.

3.     Recommendation: That an evaluation be undertaken by Shropshire Council to understand the impact of digitalisation on protected and vulnerable demographics (including those living rurally.) Understanding more about the current and future needs in different communities and investigating alternative delivery models to provide the infrastructure, access to equipment and support to enable all communities to benefit from the advantages which digital services can provide. The evaluation should include: o Mapping mobile coverage and broadband access and use across Shropshire. o Developing/strengthening partnerships with broadband providers to help identify and support people experiencing digital exclusion? o Working with telecoms providers to ensure that vulnerable people are not left without the means to seek help in an emergency through line outages o Identifying the impact to vulnerable users of the plans to remove all analogue copper phone services nationally by 2025 o Working with other council departments, NHS partners, voluntary and/or faith organisations and district councils, to build on the model of an integrated services hub to enable people to access a number  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Members were advised that at the last meeting of JHOSC, members reviewed the performance level of SATH. Members were pleased with the engagement from the trust and were keen to see the outcome of the Quality Care Commission Inspection report which was expected shortly.

Members noted that SATH had highlighted issues regarding emergency urgent care, winter pressures and delays to patient discharge into the community and that this would be looked at at a local level by HOSCs. It was hoped that dialogue with the Trust would continue.

Members raised concerns that there was no consistency in inspections and that the council needed to understand why.

Members noted that the government were reviewing the Hospitals Transformation Plan but an update had not yet been received.

Councillor Cecilia Motley, Co-Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board, provided an update on recent changes to the way in which the Board works.

At the last meeting, Members discussed:

·       a report from Healthwatch on complaints received and the way in which these are handled;

·       a strategic housing report to ensure housing linked up with the work of the ICS;

·       a report from Citizens Advice Bureau which explored the learning from their research into the local support system in Shropshire during the cost-of-living crisis along with recommendations for how partner organisations could work together to best support residents facing financial crises;

·       an update from the ICS

·       the ongoing work with smoking cessation and vaping, where a task and finish group were collating a response on behalf of the Council to the national policy paper ‘Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation’;

·       the Shropshire Healthier Weight Strategy 2023-28 and its endorsement in Shropshire.

·       the first draft of the Prevention framework and final action plan which would be brought back to the next meeting of HWBB;

·       the acceptance of the Better Care Fund and Winter Planning update.

Members discussed the topics raised and noted that the report from the smoking and vaping task and finish group could be brought to a future meeting.

Members raised concerns regarding issues at a Connexus housing development where contractors had left residents with no heating and damp issues which were resulting in mental health issues. The Executive Director for Health confirmed that she would look into this matter.

To confirm how this topic should be progressed

Members were reminded that this topic had been agreed on a previous work programme but not enough Members came forward for the Task and Finish Group. This was then put on hold and the committee instead chose to look at Primary Care Access, which had been done as a whole committee piece of work. Two informal meetings will be held via Teams with the ICB to inform the Members understanding ahead of the Committee on the 29/01/24.

Members noted that this topic would now be considered at the meeting in April 2024.

To consider the future work programme of the Committee

Members noted the work programme which had been agreed at the previous meeting.

It was noted that the Local Care Transformation Programme would now come to committee in April and not January, and that a joint piece of work was taking place with the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee regarding mental health.

Members also noted the upcoming briefings.

To note that the next meeting of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be held at 10.00am on 29 January 2024

Members noted that the next meeting of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee was scheduled for 29 January 2024.