Agenda and minutes

Councillor David Skipp was elected as Chairman of the Sub-Committee for the ensuing year.

It was agreed that the meetings of the Sub-Committee will be held at 5.30pm for the ensuing Council year.

To approve as correct the minutes of the meeting held on 7^th March 2016

The minutes of the meeting held 7^th March 2016 were approved as a correct record.

To receive any declarations of interest from Members of the Working Group

There were no declarations.

To receive any announcements from the Chairman or the Chief Executive

There were no announcements.

The Terms of Reference of the Sub-Committee were approved subject to an amendment to the first term to state that the Sub-Committee would elect its own Chairman, rather than the Chairman being elected by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

a)    CenSus Revenues and Benefits Performance Data

b)    Digital Inclusion

a)    CenSus Revenues and Benefits Performance Data

A suggestion was made to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee regarding flexibility in the Council Tax collection dates, this then formed a recommendation to the Cabinet Member for Finance and Assets, who reported back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in May.

The Director of Finance explained that work had already begun to consider this issue and there would be a report back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in July.

b)    Digital Inclusion

The Sub-Committee had recently carried out a review of Digital Inclusion. Members had received presentations by officers and a number of suggestions were made and changes had been made as a result. The Sub-Committee was pleased with the positive outcome.

Notes of the meeting held 30^th March 2016

The Sub-Committee considered the outstanding matters from the former Health Provision Working Group, as this Group had merged with the Social Inclusion Working Group to form this Sub-Committee.

The Group had been looking at the health provision in Horsham town as well as ambulance response times. Members had been particularly concerned that the GP services in the town centre were under pressure. The Group had written to the Chairman of the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee (HASC) at West Sussex County Council and the response was circulated at the meeting. HASC was intending to hold a seminar on 2^nd September 2016 and the Horsham District Councillor representative on HASC, Councillor Britten, would meet with the Chairman of the Sub-Committee separately to discuss feedback ahead of the seminar.

The Chairman of the Sub-Committee was soon due to meet with the Leader and the Chief Executive to discuss GP services in Horsham, however he provided a brief update on the position of the current surgeries in the town centre. Members noted that Park Surgery, was no longer accepting new patients, Orchard Surgery hoped to expand into Horsham Library on its own and Riverside and Courtyard Surgeries were looking to amalgamate.

NHS England were yet to say whether there would be financial help for a new surgery should it wish to set up in Boradbridge Heath and there had been little progress since.

The Chairman of the Sub-Committee had also raised his concerns with the local MP.

There were no plans for extra GP provision in Broadbridge Heath or North Horsham, which concerned Members.

The Sub-Committee also touched on Horsham Hospital; there was concern over the future of services available at Horsham Hospital.  

The Patient Transport Service also raised concerns, as this was considered to be “chaotic”.

The Sub-Committee agreed that it would invite the Horsham and Mid Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to a future meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in order to raise its concerns.

The Members were pleased to note that the pressure on the car park at the Hospital had been relieved since blood taking appointments were made available throughout the day.

The Sub-Committee also noted that potentially Surrey GP’s had extra capacity to take patients from Sussex living close to the border, however there needed to be better communication between the two health care providers regarding this. But the Members reiterated the on-going need for GP services in Broadbridge Health as the demand was growing with the additional houses.

The priorities for the Sub-Committee’s work programme were Horsham Hospital and the Patient Transport Service.

The Chairman encouraged Members to raise any items for the work programme.