Agenda, decisions and minutes

Cabinet Member for Community Wellbeing, Health & Care - Monday, 18th March, 2024 5.00 pm

Venue: Council Chamber - The Guildhall, Portsmouth. View directions

Contact: Anna Martyn, Local Democracy Officer - Tel: 023 9283 4870  Email: anna.martyn@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

4.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence. Councillor Winnington welcomed Emma Baxter, Finance Manager, to her first meeting of the portfolio.

 

5.

Declarations of interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

6.

Integrated working between Portsmouth City Council and Hampshire & Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board pdf icon PDF 367 KB

Purpose

To update the Cabinet Member and spokespeople for the Community Wellbeing, Health & Care portfolio as to the changing relationship between Portsmouth City Council, (PCC) and the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board, (HIOW ICB).

 

The report originally marked on the agenda "to follow" was published on 13 March.

Decision:

The Cabinet Member noted the report which is for information and is not subject to call-in.

Minutes:

Andy Biddle, Director of Adult Social Care, introduced the report and outlined the current relationship between the council and the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board (HIOW ICB). Helen Atkinson, Director of Public Health, explained the background to the interim memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the council and the ICB. When Jo York, Managing Director of Health & Care Portsmouth (HCP), who was also the ICB Place Director, left in November 2023 the council was asked if it would support the Portsmouth place based partnership as the ICB had frozen recruitment as part of its restructure. Ms Atkinson became chair of the Portsmouth HCP and a conduit for commissioning to ensure a partnership approach could continue. Under the MOU the Director of Adult Social Care was the financial decision maker and commissioning lead for adult services and likewise Hayden Ginns (Assistant Director, Commissioning & Partnerships, Children, Families & Education) for children's services.

 

The council agreed the situation could continue until the end of April when the ICB's restructure would have finished. At the same time the NHS nationally was waiting for planning guidance on budgets so there was a state of flux. The aim was to ensure the relationship could continue as it had been since the HCP's inception in 2015. Relevant council Directors and senior officers could feed into what the ICB would be like after the restructure. The Deputy Place Director, Bernie Allen, was an NHS employee.

 

Councillor Heaney noted the situation had been discussed at the Health Overview & Scrutiny Panel (HOSP) on 14 March. He asked how many months into the new financial year it would be before the NHS could finalise budgets and how the role of the new board would deal with commissioning and take into account the needs of different places. He was unsure if the city would receive the same level of support as the ICB was looking to a centralised process. A belated update on the Stroke Recovery Service showed how uneven services were across Hampshire which was not good for residents and presented a challenge to the ICB on how to provide equitable services; levelling down would be unfortunate. He would have liked the report before the meeting so he could have asked questions. He had asked about new initiatives but had not had an answer. The council needed to persist with the ICB as it did not want to lose the good relations there were in Portsmouth between the council and health and care services. He requested regular updates and as a HOSP member he was always willing to ask questions and be of assistance.

 

Councillor Winnington thanked Councillor Heaney and the HOSP for asking probing questions. As part of its terms of reference the HOSP had a statutory scrutiny function and was a designated scrutiny body for the ICB. It was historically quite difficult getting responses. To put the situation in a wider context, the HOSP was one part of a multi-pronged approach to the relationship with the ICB. Ms Atkinson  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.