Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and those present introduced themselves.

The Chair will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out under Note 5.

The Chair drew attention to the emergency evacuation procedure.

There were none.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest, (as defined in Part 4.4 Appendix B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

Greg Hartley-Brewer made a statement to the Panel, a summary of which is set out below.

Today, as elected councillors with no ties to health regulators, you have the chance to make recommendations that will confront and expose an ongoing cover-up of very serious alleged criminality by doctors in Bath.

In doing so 1000’s of patients will finally be given a voice, all of whom have the right to know they were being treated by doctors with untested criminal allegations, which have been concealed from them, and to know of their potential risk of harm.

The place you should always be the safest is with your doctors. It took me a long time to process the true nature of the serious criminality that occurred. The cover-up began before I had even worked out what had happened.

Three senior staff at NHSE South-West were the ones who instigated it. They concealed evidence from the clinical reviewer which perverted his report. They concealed evidence from me. And then falsely claimed a full investigation had taken place.

The cover-up was then sustained by others at NHSE South-West in conjunction with senior staff from BANES CCG and what then became BSW ICB.

In the face of these very serious allegations these senior staff, who have a statutory duty to protect patients and uphold their safety, placed the reputation of the NHS first.

Senior staff who cover-up alleged serious criminal acts leaving 1000’s of patients exposed to untested risk have no place working in the public health sector.

There is clearly enough evidence to indicate something wrong happened during the multiple consultations with the two infectious disease experts and which gives potential to the allegations.

This is why no statutory body investigated it, because they didn’t want to expose the rarest of the rare, and the fall-out that would come with doing so.

All I have ever called for is an investigation in the public interest. And, as the Professional Standards Authority (GMC’s regulator) states, even if there is no evidence, allegations of deliberate harm against doctors can’t be left untested as it doesn’t protect the public.

If the Committee wants to ensure that alleged criminal harm is never covered- up again at a local level then it might want to consider recommending to the ICB that they instigate an independent, external investigation into how this happened.

On the issue of the doctors, I would ask that the Committee recommends that the police investigate this matter in the public interest.

I would ask that your committee today acts with determination, resolve and fortitude to protect 1000’s of people you represent, and to ensure that this never happens again!

The Chair explained that the powers of the Panel are limited, but she asked for the statement to be shared with Health colleagues, particularly the BSW ICB, and appropriate partners for them to consider what action should be taken.

The Chair, on behalf of the Panel, thanked Greg Hartley-Brewer for his statement.

Kevin Burnett commented that the Panel were still waiting to receive:

• A Community Summit summary from the Education team.

• A response to his question regarding changes to the HERS (Hospital Education Reintegration Service).

The Director of Education & Safeguarding replied that prior to the meeting commencing he had replied on these points to Kevin Burnett via email and asked the Democratic Services Officer to circulate this to the remaining members of the Panel.

He added that he had asked the St Johns Foundation to bring an update on their Children’s projects for the September Panel.

The Chair thanked him for this update and said that they would discuss in their agenda setting meeting whether the Foundation should attend in September, or a subsequent meeting, as that meeting was intending to have a focus on Public Health.

The Panel confirmed the minutes of the previous meeting as a true record and they were duly signed by the Chair.

The Cabinet Member(s) will update the Panel on any relevant issues. Panel members may ask questions on the update provided.

Councillor Paul May, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services addressed the Panel and highlighted the points below from his update report. A copy of the report will be attached as an online appendix to these minutes.

Youth Justice Plan 2024- 2026

He said he was pleased to be able to present the Youth Justice Plan to the Panel and would discuss this further later in the meeting. He added that he would be willing to provide any feedback from this Panel to the Council meeting that takes place later this week.

Ofsted / CQC Thematic Review of Preparing for Adulthood

B&NES Local Authority and ICS were notified of an Ofsted /CQC thematic review of Preparing for Adulthood on June 10th 2024.

Colleagues across Children’s Services, Public Health, Adult Social Care, the ICS (health colleagues) with support from a whole range of council services completed the significant submission requirements.

3 Inspections – 1 Health, 2 Ofsted, (1 Education and 1 Social Care lead) were on site in the Civic Centre from Monday June 24th – June 27th: there was a full timetable of meetings over the 4 days involving a whole range of staff.

He informed the Panel that he attended the feedback session on June 27^th 2024 and was impressed at the positive feedback to Children’s Services. The work of the SEND team and the improvements underway were noted as was the quality of social work practice.

The Local Authority and the ICS will receive a letter following the thematic visit, not a graded judgement. He said that the letter can be shared with the members of the Panel when received.

The Local Area Inclusion Partnership (LAIP), co-chaired by the LA and ICS will progress an action plan in response to the visit/letter.

Kevin Burnett asked if there were to be any resource implications for clearing the Culverhay site prior to commencing work on the building of the Special and AP Free Schools.

Councillor May replied that the site was a corporate site and that the Cabinet had taken a decision to be able to free up the land for these new provisions to be built. He said that there would be costs associated with the clearing the site, but these were contained within the Council’s already agreed budget.

Kevin Burnett asked if the Ofsted Annual Conversation was a desktop exercise and how much work was required from officers to take part in it.

Councillor May replied that this was not a Member led meeting, but one that takes place annually and a lot of work is required from officers for them to submit information to Ofsted. He added that he felt that this was a positive process to be a part of.

Kevin Burnett asked for further information regarding the review of support to Children with Complex Needs and was this looking at who pays for what type of support.

Laura Ambler, Director of Place B&NES, BSW ICB replied that this was a joint review to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

The Panel will receive an update from the B&NES, Swindon & Wiltshire Integrated Care Board (BSW ICB) on current issues.

Laura Ambler, Director of Place for Bath and North East Somerset, BSW ICB addressed the Panel and sought to highlight four areas from the update report. A copy of the update report will be attached as an online appendix to these minutes.

Primary Care Access Recovery Plan (PCARP)

There are currently 221,645 patients registered with a GP Practice in BaNES (June 2024). The range of Practice Registered list sizes vary from 26,000 (Heart of Bath) to 5,258 (Westfield). There are six Primary Care Networks (PCNs) in BaNES covering between 69,709 (Three Valleys) to 26,000 (Heart of Bath).

The Primary Care Access Recovery Plan (PCARP) forms part of the Operational Planning guidance and supports the Fuller Stocktake vision focussing on the first element of streamlining access to care and advice. The national ambitions for the PCARP are:

• To make it easier for patients to contact their practice and;
• For patients’ requests to be managed on the same day, whether that is an urgent appointment, a non-urgent appointment within 2 weeks or signposting to another service.

BSW has made good progress with the delivery of PCARP in BaNES, as well as Swindon and Wiltshire during the first year of the programme and is in a good position regionally.

Second year of PCARP: as a prerequisite of delivering the ambitions of the Fuller report, securing the foundation of good, equitable and consistent primary care access and resilience needs to remain an ongoing area of focus for the ICB as PCARP enters its second year.

British Medical Association (BMA) GP Collective Action

The BMA is currently balloting GPs on taking collective action in England. This ballot process will last until 29 July. GP members who run their surgeries will vote on whether to support the BMA’s call for collective action. The decision to launch the ballot came after the BMA formally entered a dispute with NHS England following the member referendum on the 2024/25 GMS contract changes in March.

Collective action is not the same as strike action, but it could see GPs prioritising the focus of their work. While discussions are ongoing, nothing is fixed, and all plans being explored are subject to change.

The BMA will seek to direct action from 1st August 2024.

Partnership in Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS)

BSW ICB is working in partnership with our local authorities and parent carer forums to pilot the provision of support to primary schools to help them meet the needs of their neurodivergent children.

This is a needs-led approach without the need for a diagnosis. By supporting primary school-age children and helping schools to identify and support their needs, these tools can be carried through into senior school and adulthood.

Assessing and meeting the needs of children with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) in mainstream schools is the foundation for improving outcomes, parental confidence and delivering the financially sustainable SEND system, as envisaged in the SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan.

The PINS project is testing a new model for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

The Local Authority has a statutory duty, in partnership with Health, Police and Probation, to produce a Youth Justice Plan. The Plan sets out how services are to be organised and funded and what functions will be carried out to prevent youth offending and re-offending across Bath and North East Somerset. The Plan is also presented to Cabinet and Council for approval and a final version is then submitted to the national Youth Justice Board (YJB).

Councillor Paul May, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services introduced the report to the Panel. He said that it was important to recognise the report in terms of an impending inspection of the service later in the year and the need to put the child first. He added that the work undertaken as part of the Knife Crime Review has also been important and that overall the risk to our children & young people was relatively low.

The Director of Children’s Services explained that this was a two-year plan and had been written from a child first perspective.

The Head of Young People's Prevention Services addressed the Panel and stated that whilst it is a two-year plan it would be reviewed annually. She informed them that the plan complies with the legislation and guidance and that putting the child first was at the heart of their work.

She stated that there were four strategic priorities within the plan.

·  Reduce Disproportionality

·  Strengthen Participation

·  Embed Child First Principles

·  Reduce Serious Violence

She explained how important it was to hear the voices of the children concerned alongside those of their parents and carers. She added that there were strong performance figures within the plan and highlighted that the custody rate is low as well as the rate for re-offending.

Kevin Burnett said it was thankfully pleasing that overall they were talking about low numbers, but asked if any further comment could be given to the rise in first time offenders.

The Head of Young People's Prevention Services replied that a small increase had been anticipated due to the new Police child gravity matrix which required consistency over the level of official cautions to be given.

Kevin Burnett asked if further information could be given around the strategies for schools for those children with SEND who offend and those who offend who have been excluded from school.

The Head of Young People's Prevention Services replied that with regard to exclusions she was part of a working group on this issue and they were looking into the matter of disproportionality and forming an action plan. She added that they were also seeking to work with those children who were being repeatedly suspended from school to prevent further exclusions.

The Director of Education & Safeguarding added that the increase in offenders with SEND is likely to be due to having their needs identified at an earlier stage rather than in previous years it would not have been the case. He explained that as part of his role he sits on the Youth Justice Board and they will be looking to work with the SEND & AP Advice Service to provide support to schools on suspensions, exclusions and training relating to race and ethnicity.

He added that there are additional resource bases in place in advance of the planned new AP school. He said that he believed that overall this year there have been fewer exclusions and would seek to try to do better again next year.

Kevin Burnett asked if  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

This report presents the latest workplan for the Panel. Any suggestions for further items or amendments to the current programme will be logged and scheduled in consultation with the Panel’s Chair and supporting officers.

The Chair introduced the workplan to the Panel and the following subjects were noted as potential future items of discussion.

·  Public Health focus for 9^th September meeting

·  Community Support Contracts - Budget proposals update

·  Complaints Feedback Process / Flowchart – ICB – September

Kevin Burnett raised the following issues for consideration.

·  Whole Systems Health Improvement Framework – Public Health – September

·  Cancer Services Update – ICB – September

·  Schools Health and Wellbeing Survey – Public Health – January

·  Birth Trauma – ICB – September

Councillor Lesley Mansell suggested the following items for the Panel to receive information about.

·  Physiotherapy Services provided by HCRG – Uptake, waiting list, number of patients seen over past two years etc. – ICB – September

Councillor Liz Hardman asked for clarification if there would be an update on the Community Services procurement at the September meeting.

Laura Ambler, BSW ICB replied that the Director of Adult Services was leading on this matter and that an update would be provided for the Panel in September.

Councillor Ruth Malloy suggested that the Panel receive an update from the B&NES Fair Food Alliance.

The Chair suggested that this could be included in the Public Health report that the Panel will receive in September.

Councillor Paul May proposed that the Panel receives a report to a future meeting detailing any changes in priorities for both Adults & Children’s Services following the General Election and the plans set out by the new Labour government.

Kevin Burnett raised two further items for the Panel to consider.

·  IRO Annual Report

·  Bath Community Safety Partnership Annual Report

The Director of Children’s Services proposed that they be scheduled for the November meeting of the Panel.

The Panel RESOLVED to note their current workplan alongside these proposals for future work areas.