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Agenda and draft minutes
Venue: Council Chamber, Muriel Matters House, Breeds Place, Hastings. East Sussex, TN34 3UY
Contact: Jenny Ling tel: 01424 451844 email: jling@hastings.gov.uk
Items No. Item Apologies for Absence
Minutes:
Apologies were received from:
Marie Casey, Teresa Andrews, Julie King, Councillor Bennett, Yvonne Powell, Clive Galbraith, Emily Williams, Dr John Smith.
Declarations of Interest
Minutes:
There were no declarations of interest.
Minutes and Matters Arising (Chair)
Minutes:
The board agreed the accuracy of the minutes from the previous meeting.
CCG Financial Recovery Plan
(Paula Gorvett, Director of Localities and Primary Care)
Minutes:
Paula Gorvett, advised that as part of a national requirement, the provision of Urgent Care is being reviewed and redesigned to provide an Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC), which will end the provision of services being referred to as Walk in Centres, minor injury’s unit or urgent care centres. (See Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee 27th September 2018:
https://democracy.eastsussex.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=154&MId=3535&Ver=4 )
She stated that there was a clear framework that allowed for a streamlined service for patients with urgent healthcare needs. It was believed that this framework would decrease the amount of fragmentation and confusion for patients that are using the services currently in place.
She stated that there would be two urgent care centres nearby. One would be by the Conquest Hospital in Hastings, the other on the Eastbourne Hospital’s site.
It was said that there would be visits to the GPs included, as well as home visits. The board was told that this would achieve a better service for patients.
Initially, in March 2018, it was agreed by Easy Sussex Better Together to establish Urgent Treatment Centres – co-located within the two district hospitals by April 2019 (namely, at Eastbourne District General Hospital and the Conquest in Hastings)
And to recommission, the NHS ‘111 service’ which following a commissioning process was due to be expanded to include a clinical assessment service providing advice form a clinician who would triage a patient’s needs.
· Patient self-support advice
· local pharmacy
· a home visit
· urgent treatment requirement
· accident and emergency
However, in June it was decided to halt the procurement of the NHS 111 service and to start a new procurement process. This will mean the commencement of the revised service is delayed beyond April 2019.
See the link for further information https://democracy.eastsussex.gov.uk/documents/s21764/Appendix%202%20-%20ESBT%20UTC%20and%20PCEA.pdf
Paula Gorvett advised that this has impacted on the development of the UTC but also provided an opportunity to consider the pre-consultation feedback from early public engagement including the possible closure of Hastings Walk in Centre and concerns raised over access to services should they be transferred and co-located at the Conquest Hospital
Options for Urgent Treatment Care are being reviewed and reconsidered in lieu of the depth of feeling from local people and organisations regarding the poor access to the Conquest Hospital. The outcome of the review should be known by the Autumn , and further public engagement is planned for in November – December 2018
UTC timelines (extracted from Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee 27th September 2018) https://democracy.eastsussex.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=154&MId=3535&Ver=4
As part of the review process all options are being considered including how to make best use of the Station Plaza Health centre site, and how it can be best used for the provision of primary health care, set against a back drop of key challenges such as
· workforce issues (recruitment, retention of staff and an ageing workforce)
· providing accessible critical services
· financial constraints
Concerns were raised about a number of issues
· the street community are regular users of the WinC, how would ... view the full minutes text for item 44.
Information on the College Merger and University Centre
(Jim Sharpe, East Sussex College)
Minutes:
Jim Sharpe, the principle for East Sussex Coast College provided an update on the college merger and university centre. He stated that recently, an Ofsted report had come through that was very positive, and stated that the overall score was good.
It was noted that the report marked attendance to English and Maths lessons as good, but the college were not satisfied with their own performance and would be striving to better the results in this.
He went on to speak of the merger, stating that there would be three devolved sites, as well as satellites at Lewes and Newhaven. These changes were down to financial reasons, for the long term operation of the organisation.
It was said that another monitoring visit was underway, Achievement was recorded on whether a student had remained in the college and managed to achieve, but he pointed out that there was a struggle to retain students. He stated that there would be progress updates, and lower entry criteria.
The board raised a questioned as to what the merger would mean at a local level, and whether there would be adult provisions, and engagement with employers in the area. The reply was that there would be engagement, but there was currently a struggle to spend all grant money at the moment.
A questioned was asked in regards to whether there would be any scaling down or streamlining. The answer was that there would be rationalisation for sites, as student numbers were halting, due to an understanding of estate being large in some areas, such as the Eastbourne site.
Sussex Downs – Statutory Provisions (??)
Hastings Opportunity Area Update
(Emily Williams, Head of Delivery, DfE)
Minutes:
Helen Kay gave an update on the Hastings Opportunity Area. It was stated that Hastings has already secured additional resource worth £1.8 million on top of it’s share from £72 million. This money would be used to raise attainment of the youth in the town. They thought that it would be important to cross-cut themes.
She stated the progress so far from the opportunity area. It was stated that mainstream schools in Hastings are involved in at least one professional development programme for teachers, including training on developing early speech, language and communication skills, teaching maths, improving literacy, teaching science and behaviour management. All schools were said to have agreed plans except for two. Every one of these schools and colleges were given dedicated budget to spend on extra-curricular activities.
700 children and young people took part in summer holiday activities. As well as this, thirty teachers were undergoing leadership training. The group was told £250,000 fund was available to improve attendance, which was underway currently.
She stated that whilst Hastings was the most underachieved in terms of primary school attendance, attainment had increased this year.
The group were told of the push for literacy, with a soft launch for sessions of reading with children, with input from local Hastings Councillors.
A focus on mental health was seen to be an important aspect to the project. All but four schools were said to have completed the audit on the issue, all saying that mental health was an important issue to tackle with the funding when it is put to use.
The iRock service was a focus of recommissioning for the opportunities area, in line with the attempt to improve mental health among young people in the town.
The board raised a question about what would happen after the dissolution of the programme, and what the course of action would be. They wondered if there was a plan to leave behind a legacy. (reply?)
It was stated that there would be a large amount of community engagement, especially in regards to engaging with families on the achievement and attendance of their children.
Overview on Education and School Exam Results
(Elizabeth Funge, ESCC)
Minutes:
Elizabeth Funge presented an overview on education and school exam results. She stated that in East Sussex, the average of children achieving a good level of development remained the same over two years from 2016 to 2018, which was well above the national average.
Referring to her presentation, she stated that there had been diminishing numbers of children eligible for free school meals (FSM) achieving a good level of development, even whilst the national average had risen.
It was show not be that the percentage of Year 1 pupils working at expected level of Phonics in Hastings was now in line with the national average, which was a positive change. It was stated that the gap between Hastings and the national average of disadvantaged Year 1 pupils working at the expected level had not diminished, with Hastings being significantly higher than the national disadvantaged gap.
It was stated that in the key stage one section on performance, the percentage of pupils achieving the expected standard at key stage 1 in 2018 was above the national average, with Hastings having a strong performance in this area. She then discussed the percentage gap between disadvantaged pupils achieving standards in KS1, and showed that there was a significant gap in earlier years, but that it was becoming closer to the East Sussex and National average.
She mentioned that the percentage of pupils achieving Greater Depth at KS1 needed improvement, both nationally and Hastings compared to the East Sussex numbers. It was said that there had not been much changed since previous years. Hastings was shown to be slightly below the average scaled score at Key Stage 2.
Information for KS4 on progress data was not available at the time nationally, but what could be told from the information at hand was that there was not much improvement, and that attainment was generally lower than the national and county average, with a similar trend for EBACC except that there had been a strong improvement from a 2017 to now.
A question was raised as to whether the data measured all children. The answer was that it did measure all children. If attendance was higher, however, it was noted, then any improvements in the data would be stronger. It was also noted by the board that in early years of education, attendance measurement is not statutory, and thusly not always recorded.
It was stated that when children are excluded from schools, it is often that they have been excluded because of absence, which does not tend to help the problem, only worsen it, in regards to attendance.
Rough Sleeping Rollout Update
(Michael Courts, Housing Policy and Performance Officer)
Minutes:
Michael Courts and Rebecca Jackson presented an update on the Rough Sleeping scheme rollout. It was stated that a bid for additional funding in 2019/20 had been submitted, and they were waiting to hear back if it had been successful.
They stated that the proposals sought to improve accessibility to services for rough sleepers, with access to support services, access to temporary accommodation, but especially, access to long-term housing solutions.
The proposal is to include:
• A new accommodation pathway.
• A multi-disciplinary team of health, mental health, social care, substance misuse and housing professionals.
• Expanded outreach and day centre services.
• Expanded Sussex Rough Sleeping Prevention Project.
• New CHAIN database.
It was stated that on the 1 November, the Support Team would be brought together to begin work, with all five now being recruited, with the substance misuse specialist already being in-post.
The board were told that they had been working closely with the seaview project, alongside the accommodation pathway. Support was aiming to be “step-up step-down” where support would be phased out and in depending on the need of the individual.
Michael Courts agreed that he would circulate the information on data collection.
A question was raised in regards to rents. Social housing providers would be cooperating with the scheme. It was said that costs would not be from the start, and that it would assume that the individual was on benefits in regards to their pricing.
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