Agenda and minutes

Councillor O Donnell in as the Chair led on introductions and noted that apologies had been received from Councillor Pantling.

Members are asked to declare any interests they may have in the business on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chair took the opportunity to congratulate the Director of Public Health and his team for winning a national award.

The Chair further noted that due to technical issues with the remote link into the meeting, the Maternity Services item would be adjourned to a later date in the municipal year and shared his apologies with the UHL team that were expecting to present the item at the meeting.

The Chair further noted that item 10 on the agendas would be the first item considered on the agenda.

A representative from the Youth Council, read a letter that had been received by Councillor Pantling by a teenage resident in the City. The letter detailed how the young person benefitted from sports activities on the park and the positive impacts it had on the individuals mental health and mentioned some of the equipment which was in disrepair which was being followed up by Officers. It was suggested that the details could be further explored when the Menta Health Strategy was being considered.

The minutes of the meeting held on 11^th August 2022 have been circulated and the Commission will be asked to confirm them as a correct record.

AGREED:

that the minutes of the meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission held on 11 August 2022 be confirmed as a correct record.

To receive any update on outstanding actions of previous meetings of the Commission

There were no matters outstanding from the previous meeting. Members were asked to note that the minutes of the Joint Adult Social Care and Health and Wellbeing meeting held on 6 October will be taken to the next joint scrutiny meeting which is to take place in early 2023.  The details of this would be confirmed in the near future and there are some matters arising from the meeting on 6 October which are being followed-up. 

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

The Monitoring Officer reported that no petitions had been submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures.

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

The Monitoring Officer reported that no questions, representations and statements of case had been submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures.

The Chair will provide a brief position statement.

The Chair provided the following statement:

I wish to make a short statement in relation to this matter, that has in the past been featured at meetings of the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission.

Mr Bob Ball initially submitted a petition to our commission in November 2021 that expressed concern over fumes emitted from the factory operated by Colour Dyers Ltd. at the Riverside Dyeworks.  A response report was then taken to the commission meeting in March of this year and scrutiny members had the opportunity to examine this rigorously. It was confirmed that a series of further actions were to take place. 

Public questions on this matter have continued to be received and given that the strategy for dealing with textile factory pollution has since been examined in greater detail by the Neighbourhood Services Scrutiny Commission on 15 November, the further questions were taken to this meeting.

Responses to the questions were provided by Deputy City Mayor Councillor Clarke and officers in the Regulatory Services division as part of a comprehensive presentation on the pollution strategy associated with textile factories in Leicester.

I gather that assurances were given to the commission that there is no recorded health risk from this particular factory.  I also understand that there were several specific recommendations agreed by the Neighbourhood Services Commission and that it will be receiving a further progress report on the pollution strategy connected with textile factories in 2023. 

I am also pleased that the Deputy Mayor has been liaising with the society of dyers, and that the concerns of scrutiny are to be forwarded to the Environment Agency.

I am therefore satisfied that this matter is now being appropriately dealt with both by a relevant scrutiny commission and by the Deputy Mayor and senior council officers and therefore propose that the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission no longer leads on the scrutiny of this. 

AGREED:

That the Commission agree with the statement provided and that future matters be dealt with at the Neighbourhood Services Scrutiny Commission.

The Chair of the Task Group, Councillor Kitterick submits the report of the scrutiny review on the experience of black people working in health services in Leicester and Leicestershire.

Members of the Commission will be invited to support the recommendations of the Task Group.

Councillor Kitterick the former Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission provided a statement introducing the Task Group Report and listed the proposed recommendations for Members of the Commission to endorse.

David Williams from the UHL thanked Councillor Kitterick for the extensive report and considered the report very important for future progress.

It was noted that a response report on the recommendations will be brought to the Commission at a future meeting and that the Assistant City Mayor for Health welcomed the report to the Health and Wellbeing Board.

The Chair and Members of the Commission provided responses in support of the report and its proposed recommendations.

AGREED:

1)    To recommend that the commission endorses the work and recommendations of the task group review.

2)    The Commission request that a response report to the recommendations be programmed in for a future commission meeting. And that:

3)    The report and findings be sent to the Health and Wellbeing Board.

The Director of Public Health submits a report providing an update on the Public Health Nursing, School Nursing (5-19 year’s) service which delivers a universal public health and safeguarding provision.

Members of the Children, Young People and Education Scrutiny Commission are also invited to participate in discussion of this item.

Members of both the Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission and the Children, Young People & Education Scrutiny Commission will be asked to note the contents of the report and make any comments.

Representatives from the UHL delivered a presentation providing the Commission with an overview of the report submitted.

The Chair welcomed representatives from the Youth Council to participate on the item.

As part of the discussions, it was noted that:

·         Representatives from the Youth Council suggested that the best way to promote School Nursing and the services provided was through face to face attendance at schools.

·         Digital health contacts were being used and that people using the services were encouraged promote and drive up the uptake

·         The services were not available to year 13s, this had been recognised as an issue and it was suggested that due to resourcing and staffing issues

·         It was suggested that partnership arrangements allowed for change and the ability to deliver services that match the needs and requirements of the service users

·         Alternative funding means were being considered

·         Operating hours of Chat Health were to be reconfigured with current hours during the school day but suggestions had been made for the hours to change for further benefits for the service user.

·         UHL representatives noted that the suggestions from the young people were beneficial to improve the service.

The Director of Public Health thanked the Youth Representatives for their contributions to the discussions and noted that although there was limited funding, the funds were being used in the most effective way.

In response to Members concerns of school children receiving letters in relation to their weight, representatives from the UHL noted that they were unaware of whether letters went straight to the parents or if they went to the children. The wording of the letters had been softened to ensure that there are no negative impacts on the recipients and that work was underway of strengthening the process of parents understanding that their child may be weighed and improvements were put in place to take a step in the right direction.

As part of further discussions it was noted that Health Visitors and School Nurses were a universal service and additionally, Mental Health nurses were in schools to tackle health inequalities where these had been identified. Potential development around the lack of food and underweight children was considered as an area of concern and that all information was being collated to feed into the Winter Care Plan.

The Chair commended Health Visitors for the work they had delivered in supporting families by collecting food from food banks.

AGREED:

1)    That the Director of Public Health be requested to involve the co-producers in the consultation process, and

2)    That the report be noted.

University Hospitals Leicester (UHL) submits a report following the Ockenden review and Kirkup reports providing a consolidated overview of UHL’s maternity services, learning and progress.

Members will be asked to note the contents of the report in particular the progress to date and the areas where improvement is required and the plans to address these.

The Chair noted that due to the technical difficulties and UHL Officers joining the meeting, that the item be deferred to the next meeting and that it is heard in the presence of Councillor Pickering who had requested the item be brought to the Commission.

AGREED:

1)    That the item on the Maternity Services Update be deferred to the next meeting.

The Scrutiny Policy Officer submits a document that outlines the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission’s Work Programme.

Members of the Commission will be asked to consider the work programme and make comments and/or amendments as it considers necessary.

The Scrutiny Support Officer submitted a document that outlined the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission’s Work Programme for 2022/23.

It was noted that the next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 17 January 2023.

The meeting closed at 7.13 pm.