Agenda and minutes

To receive Declarations of Interest (if any)

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm the non-exempt minutes of the meeting of the Improvement and Scrutiny Committee - Health held on 23 September 2024.

RESOLVED to confirm the non-exempt minutes of the meeting of the Improvement and Scrutiny – Health Committee held on 23 September 2024. 

30 minutes maximum for this item.  Questions may be submitted to be answered by the Scrutiny Committee or Council officers who are attending the meeting as witnesses, on any item that is within the scope of the Committee. Please see the procedure (below) for the submission of questions.

There were no public questions. 

Craig Whyles, Divisional Director (Derbyshire), East Midlands Ambulance Service introduced an oral presentation, the slides for which had been circulated in advance of the meeting, that provided information on Category 2-30 performance.

A committed over-arching plan to bring about improvement had been implemented within the service, with personnel being a key driver.  A number of factors contributed to performance levels including handover delays at hospitals and efficiency of the service. 

New initiatives had been introduced such as “Hear and Treat”, which involved further information being sought from the patient before a responder was despatched to ensure the correct assistance was offered and “See, Treat and Convey” which either treated patients on site or determined if they needed to be admitted to hospital.  Specialised clinicians were also now stationed at call centres and in ambulances to aid with speedy and correct treatment.

Derbyshire’s C2 performance still faced challenges.  The long delays at the handover point at hospitals and the huge number of hours lost was recognised with the Service continuing to work in collaboration with its partners.  Action plans and strategies to influence patient behaviour, review resourcing and continue appropriate recruitment had been employed to challenge these issues.

Committee members were given the opportunity to make comments and ask questions which were wide-ranging and comprehensive.  CAT2 was explained as “no immediate threat to life but where the patient had suffered a significant event such as a heart attack or stroke”.  There were 54 ambulances in Derbyshire with a mix of abilities posted on each. 

Concerns were raised on the number of hours lost due to delays at hospitals and it was felt that some blame should be attributed to hospital policies.  Plans were in place to expand on the number of urgent treatment centres and to offer different pathways to patients which would avoid a hospital admission.  At the time of the meeting, it was announced that the Service was trialling an initiative around quicker handovers and creating more space.

Concerns were also raised around the increasing number of call outs where the fire service had to assist ambulance staff when dealing with bariatric patients. Committee requested more detail on data graphs in order to recognise trends and expressed specific improvement in CAT2 response times.

RESOLVED to note the report from the East Midlands Ambulance Service.

Michelle Arrowsmith, Chief Strategy and Delivery Officer/Deputy CEO, NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB introduced a report, which had been circulated in advance of the meeting, that briefed committee on the progress of the Joint Forward Plan 2023/24 to 2027/28 (JFP) which described how the NHS would respond to the Derby and Derbyshire population’s health needs over that period.

Highlighted in the report were the five guiding principles which were incorporated into a number of workstreams across the system, Primary Care which had become a cornerstone of NHS services and Pharmacy First which had had quite an impact on the service as well as for the population.  Other highlights included dealing with the backlog brought about by COVID-19, operation waiting lists were coming down and the diagnosis and treatment of cancer had improved.

Current conversation centred around the new government’s 10 Year Plan for the NHS and how the operational plan for Derby and Derbyshire would fit.

Committee members were given the opportunity to make comments and ask questions.  Further details on cost efficiency, an update on NHS dentistry availability in the Amber Valley area and feedback on digital services for GPs were requested by members.

RESOLVED to note the Derby and Derbyshire NHS progress report on Joint Forward Plan delivery.

The Chairman presented the draft work programme for 20 January and 24 March 2025 meetings.  The published programme was replaced with an amended version, which was distributed to members.  Suggestions for future items were invited. 

RESOLVED to accept the draft work programme for future meetings.