Meeting documents

The Panel agreed that the Elderly Persons Homes Consultant should incorporate the following comments into his report and append the minutes of this meeting to the report to the Council Executive on 6^th November 2002. The Convenor agreed to present the Panel's comments at the meeting.

1. The Panel agreed that consultation should have been wider, involving all parish councillors and elected members. The Panel felt that consultation should have included information on other options that may have been available to the Council following the Secretary of State's announcement on 23rd July 2002;

2. The Panel required a better understanding of extra care and requested a visit to an Extracare service provider. The Panel were concerned about sufficient Extracare being available and suggested that an option should be considered for extra care in the Chew Valley area in addition to Hawthorn House, Keynsham;

3. The Panel were concerned that charging arrangements may prove prohibitive to the effective use of Extracare and requested the Council Executive should keep this under review.

4. The panel requested assurance that costings had been prepared on a prudent basis. The Panel were concerned at the possible risk of escalation of the cost of the project and requested that the Executive seriously consider the risk management arrangements of the project;

5. The Panel requested more detailed financial information from the Finance Manager, Social Services & Housing Services (to be determined following discussion between the Finance Manager and Councillor Haeberling);

6. The Panel drew comfort from the positive comments on the Elderly Persons Homes Care Review from both external witnesses, Joan Travis, Chief Officer of Age Concern and Rhona MacDonald, Chief Executive of Bath and North East Somerset Primary Care Trust (PCT) and hoped that the positive working arrangements could be sustained with the PCT for the lifetime of this project;

7. The panel requested that the Council Executive in the future should continue to seek the full involvement of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel at each of the key decision stages. Specifically, that any new information submitted to the Executive at its meeting on November 6^th should be made available to this Panel for consideration at the Panel's November 19^th meeting.

8. The Panel agreed that the Elderly Persons Homes would be considered at the next meeting of this Panel on Tuesday 19^th November 2002.