Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Thompson (Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames), Councillors Bouchier (London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames) and Councillor Jones (London Borough Richmond upon Thames) who was substituted by Councillor Jaeger and Councillor Randall (London Borough of Wandsworth) who was substituted by Councillor Thomas

To receive declarations of interest from councillorspertaining to items on the agenda.

Councillor Burstow declared a personal interest in the business of the JHOSC owing to the fact that husband held the position of Minister within the Department for Health.  Mr Burstow’s role was however concerned with Care Services rather than health and hospital services and therefore the interest was not considered to be prejudicial.

To elect a Chairman and Vice-Chairman for the duration of the JHOSC

Nominations for Chairman were sought and one nomination for Councillor Burstow was proposed and seconded. 

Nominations for Vice-Chairman were sought but none received.

It was RESOLVED:

1.      That Councillor Burstow be elected as Chairman of the JHOSC, for the life of the Committee.

2.      That the election of Vice-Chairman be deferred until the next meeting.

To agree Terms of Reference for the JHOSC.  (Draft attached)

Following discussion of the draft Terms of Reference it was RESOLVED:

1.      That the following minor amendments be incorporated in to the final document:

·        All Borough Council titles to be written in full where they appear

·        Para. 2 (a) “better Services better Value” be deleted and replaced by ‘Better Services Better Value’

·        Para 2 (b) “Better Service Better Value” be amend to read “Better ServicesBetter Value”

2.      That, subject to the amendments in (i), the Terms of Reference be AGREED and ADOPTED.

To agree Rules of Procedure for the JHOSC.  (Draft attached)

Following discussion of the draft Rules of procedure it was RESOLVED:

1.      That the following minor amendments be incorporated in to the final document:

·         All Borough Council titles to be written in full where they appear

2.      That the following substantive amendments be made to the final document:

·                     Paragraph 8 (ii) delete “previous” to now read “meetings will not last longer than 3 hours from commencement, unless agreed by majority vote at the meeting”

·                     Paragraph 4 (i) delete “four” and insert “five” to now read “The quorum of a meeting of the SWL JHOSC will be the presence of one member from each of five of the six participating Boroughs”

3.      That, subject to the amendments in (i) and (ii), the Rules of Procedure be AGREED and ADOPTED.

Charlotte Joll, Joint Director of Planning &. Service Change, NHS South West London will be in attendance to present information on:

·              The Better Services Better Value processes to date.

·              The selection and weighting of scoring criteria, including financial options. 

·              Fixed points.

·              Financial modelling and constraints.

The Committee received a presentation from NHS South West London.  Mike Bailey, Acute medical Director, Charlotte Joll, Joint Director of Strategy and Lizzie Whetnall, Strategic Communications Lead were in attendance to talk to the item.

The purpose of the presentation was to provide information on the steps taken so far to agree the scoring methodology in an open and transparent manner.  In addition, the presentation referred to the results of engagement work undertaken and weightings applied and to the next stages and announcement dates for the review.

In particular the presenters referred the Committee to the following information:

(i)      The ‘Case for Change’ and the importance of the Better Services Better Value review.  This included a breakdown of the national financial situation and the expected impact of this on South West London in particular.

(ii)    The expectation that the four current sites in South West London be reconfigured to represent three sites which would deal with all patient needs including emergencies and one site which would deal with planned surgery only, providing an environment where reschedules and delays were uncommon.  These had sometimes been referred to as ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ sites respectively.

(iii)   The aim of increasing consultant presence in hospitals, a measure which it was hoped would lower the 500 avoidable weekend deaths in hospitals every year.

(iv)  That results of the engagement work undertaken showed that although travel and accessibility were considered factors, people indicated that they were prepared to travel further for a better service.

(v)    That the predicted birth rates for South West London could not be properly accommodated under the current hospital configuration. 

(vi)  That the next step would be to score the options against the agreed criteria.  This would take place on the 15^th March and publicised on the 16^th.  The Purdah period for the GLA elections would start on the 22^nd March and would last for 6 weeks.  During this time the NHS would not make further announcements but could respond to enquiries.  The options from this scoring exercise might not be the final options consulted upon as a further, financial, scoring exercise would take place in May.

(vii)Structural information concerning the Programme Board and those involved conducting the financial scoring exercises.

(viii)                       Communications strategy and issues the Committee might feel was important to successful communications.

The Committee discussed the information received and the following themes were explored and information requested and received:

(i)         A further, more detailed financial breakdown, of the national and regional situations and savings required was requested by the Committee

(ii)        The Committee expressed concern that the language used in the consultation should be reviewed and made suitable for all audiences.  In particular concern was expressed regarding the use of the terms ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ sites and the ‘trauma centres’ to replace ‘accident and emergency units’.

(iii)      Following a question, NHS officers confirmed that elective caesareans would take place at a ‘hot’ site as opposed to part of the planned surgery site.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To discuss objectives and deadlines for the JHOSC.

Following discussion it was RESOLVED:

That the next meeting of the Committee include the following issues for discussion:

• The financial criteria and weightings to be applied to those options already scored by the panels and an explanation of the process to be used.

• That those people leading the financial project attend

To set a date for the next meeting of the Committee.

It was RESOLVED that the next meeting of the Committee be held on 22 March at London Borough of Wandsworth Council offices.  The meeting would start at 6:30pm.