Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to appoint a Chair for the Committee in accordance with its working arrangements.

Leicester City Council has nominated Councillor Allen for this post.

Members were asked to appoint a Chair for the Committee in accordance with its working arrangements. It was reported that Councillor Allen had been nominated by Leicester City Council for this post.

RESOLVED:

that Councillor Allen be appointed Chair of the Committee for the period June 2007 – May 2009, in accordance with the working arrangements.

Members are asked to appoint a Vice-Chair for the Committee in accordance with its working arrangements.

Leicestershire County Council has nominated Mr D Houseman CC for this post.

Members were asked to appoint a Vice-Chair for the Committee in accordance with its working arrangements. It was reported that Mr D Houseman CC had been nominated by Leicestershire County Council for this post.

RESOLVED:

that  Mr D Houseman CC be appointed Vice-Chair of the Committee for the period June 2007 – May 2009, in accordance with the working arrangements.

Apologies were received from Councillors Bhavsar and Joshi (Leicester City Council), Mr. Coxon, Mr. Hyde, Mr. Liquorish and Mrs. Newton (Leicestershire County Council) and Mr. Wakeman (Director of Health, Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Primary Care Trust).

Members are asked to declare any interests they may have in the business on the agenda and/or declare that Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act applies to them.

The following members declared general personal non-prejudicial interests: -

Mr. A. Bailey - His son and daughter in law were employees of the Leicestershire Partnership Trust

Councillor Hall            -            Was an employee of the National Health                                                             Service

Mr. Legrys- His wife was a General Practitioner

Mr. J. Moore -            His daughter was a nurse employed by             NHS

Members are asked to note the working arrangements and Terms of Reference for the Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Please note that minor amendments have been made to the document adopted by the Committee on 22 March 2005. The original document is appended for comparison purposes only.

Members were asked to note the working arrangements and Terms of Reference for the Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Members expressed a view that it would be desirable if members of the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee could also have a pre-meeting, on similar lines to that provided for the Chair, Vice-Chair and Spokespersons, one hour before the actual meeting.

RESOLVED:

that the working arrangements and Terms of Reference for the Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, as reported, be noted, subject to the inclusion of a pre-meeting for members as outlined above.

The Town Clerk to report on the receipt of any petitions submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures.

The Town Clerk reported that no petitions had been received.

The Town Clerk to report on the receipt of any questions, representations and statements of case submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures.

Pathway Project

The Chair read out the following statement prepared by Mr. G. Smith, Co-Chair, Patient and Public Involvement Forum for University Hospitals of Leicester, prepared for the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee: -

“The Patient and Public Involvement Forum for the University Hospitals of Leicester is a statutory body appointed by the Commission on Patient and Public Involvement in Health and its duties include monitoring the plans and performance of the Trust and bringing matters to the attention of the Joint Health Scrutiny Committee.

Since its inception in 2003 the Forum has been involved in the discussions on the Pathway Project to build the urgently needed new hospitals for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland. At its recent meeting the Forum resolved to bring to the attention of the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee its concerns over the continued delay to the scheme, the changes that are being made in it, and the consequential impact on the care of patients now and in the future. The Forum is also concerned over the costs that will fall on the taxpayer as a consequence of the delay.”

It was reported that the Pathway project was on the Committee Work programme for Autumn 2007 and Mr. Smith had been notified of this fact.

RESOLVED:

                        that the information be noted.

Tim Rideout, Chief Executive, Leicester City Primary Care Trust, will give a presentation on the Primary Care Trusts/Leicestershire Partnership Trust Service Redesign.

At the request of the Chair of the Committee, Caroline Trevithick, Deputy Director of Infection Prevention and Control, and Dr Peter Reading, Chief Executive, University Hospitals Leicester, will give a presentation outlining action being taken to control healthcare acquired infection.

At the request of the Chair of the Committee a verbal report will be given by Helen Gordon, Director of Human Resources, University Hospitals Leicester (UHL) and Dr Peter Reading, Chief Executive, UHL, on the current situation with the recently introduced payroll contract.

At the request of the Chair, Councillor Allen, Helen Gordon, Director of Human resources, University Hospitals Leicester (UHL) and Dr. Peter Reading, Chief Executive, UHL, gave a verbal report on the current situation with the recently introduced payroll contract.

Members were informed that events over the past few weeks had caused serious concerns both to staff and the employers. In April the system operated by the newly appointed contractor in charge of the payroll failed to record ‘out of hours payments’ and some 3,500 staff employed by UHL were affected. The ‘help desk’ operated by the contractor became flooded with calls and callers could not get through. Since April the situation had improved and there were now regular daily telephone conferences at Director level and the ‘help desk’ had been improved.

It was further stated that it was also hoped to resolve all of the legacy problems caused by the previous payroll contractor and it was stated that overall this was a completely unacceptable situation for UHL, and more particularly the staff. Strenuous efforts were being made to resolve all of the outstanding issues.

Members questioned how long the contract with the current provider was, and whether there were penalty clauses that could be invoked, and also whether any investigations took place regarding the potential contractor prior to the contract being awarded.

Trust representatives stated that the contract was for 3 years and penalty clauses had already been invoked. A number of investigations and site visits to the potential contractor had taken place prior to the contract being awarded.

Members questioned whether any help was being offered to help low paid workers who had incurred additional charges/costs as a direct result of the correct wages not being paid.

Officers stated that an internal system had been set up to pay back charges and/or costs incurred as well as action to restore credit ratings.

RESOLVED:

that a report be submitted to the next meeting on the progress made to resolve the issues with the payroll  as outlined.

Members are asked to agree dates for future meetings of the Committee for the rest of the municipal year 2007-2008. The following dates are suggested:

Monday 24 September 2007

Monday 26 November 2007

Monday 21 January 2008

Monday 31 March 2008

All meetings to start at 10.30a.m.

RESOLVED:

that the dates for future meetings of the Committee for the remainder of the municipal year 2007/08, as reported and set out below, be approved: -

Monday 24^th September 2007

Monday 26^th November 2007

Monday 21^st January 2008

Monday 31^st March 2008

All meetings to start at 10.30am.

The following item was considered as a matter of urgency on the grounds that the Minutes of the previous meeting of the Committee, held on 23^rd March 2007 required approval before the next meeting.

Minutes of Previous Meeting

RESOLVED:

that the Minutes of the meeting held on 23^rd March 2007, as previously circulated, be agreed as a correct record.

The Chair declared the meeting closed at 12.48pm.