To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.
Minutes:
The Chairman made three announcements:
Membership of SP23 Working Group:
The Chairman confirmed that following agreement at the last meeting to establish this working group, membership of the group had been established as follows:
Cllr Neville Penman – Chairman
Cllr Nick Adams-King – Vice Chairman
Cllr Ann Briggs
Cllr Lesley Meenaghan
Cllr Sarah Pankhurst
Cllr David Harrison
Cllr Kim Taylor
Cllr Andy Tree
Future Meeting Dates
The Chairman confirmed the recently announced dates of meetings for this committee in 2022/23:
5 July 2022
27 September 2022
29 November 2022
24 January 2023
14 March 2023
23 May 2023
Statement regarding Southern Health Item at last meeting
At the Committee’s last meeting on 19 October, item 6 on that agenda was the Stage 2 Independent Investigation Report on Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust. Members heard from 3 deputations in relation to this topic. It was agreed that Southern Health would bring a further report on their action plan to the meeting in January.
Members asked for guidance on the remit of the HASC particularly to assist newer Members of the Committee. A presentation providing an introduction to health scrutiny was delivered to committee members on 25 June 2021. The slides from this had been sent to Members appointed to the committee since then to provide this information. The Chairman would also be asking officers to arrange a further briefing shortly before the January meeting. The Department of Health publication ‘Guidance to support Local Authorities and their partners to deliver effective health scrutiny’ had also been sent to all Committee Members for information.
The role of the Hampshire County Councillor appointed to the Southern Health Council of Governors was also raised. The Chairman had looked into this and confirmed that the Executive Member for Adult Services and Public Health appoints members to a number of Health Trust governor positions. The Council of Governors can hold the Trust's non-executive directors individually and collectively to account for the performance of the Board of Directors. This provided accountability separate to the role of the HASC. It was not the remit of the individuals appointed to report directly to select committees.
Following the last meeting, the request from members that NHS Improvement be asked to attend the next meeting had been discussed with the Monitoring Officer. While a request to attend could be made, the subject matter for any scrutiny would need to be specifically clarified. The HASC was not an investigating body and its purpose was not to duplicate the work of other organisations. It was therefore not considered within the remit of the HASC to scrutinise the Terms of Reference of the Pascoe Investigation as previously determined by NHSI. Members would also appreciate that the investigation had now completed stage 1 and 2. The HASC was not in a position to review the investigation.
Work by the Committee was focused in areas where it can make a material difference. It was within the remit of HASC to scrutinise and ask questions on the action plan when it was presented to the meeting in January. Members would be in a position to review what actions had already been taken and the plans for any future implementation in respect of the 39 recommendations of the Pascoe Stage 2 Investigation. Members would also be able to monitor implementation of actions, to provide assurance that the Trust had learned from previous incidents and taken steps to avoid similar situations being repeated. The Chairman reminded members that it was not within the remit of the HASC to investigate individual cases.