Agenda item

Purpose: To consider the proposal to form a new, mandatory, joint committee with health scrutiny powers to consider matters affecting patient flows across the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care System geography.

(Councillor Steve Masters declared a personal interest by virtue of the fact that he was a trustee of Eight Bells for Mental Health and Councillor Tony Vickers declared a personal interest by virtue of the fact that his wife (Councillor Martha Vickers) was a non-executive Board Member of Healthwatch. As their interest was a personal or an other registrable interest, but not a disclosable pecuniary interest, they determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.)

Gordon Oliver introduced the report. He noted that currently, the majority of health scrutiny took place at the local level, but a joint committee was needed to scrutinise activity across the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care System (ICS) footprint. He noted that ICSs would become statutory from April 2022 with Clinical Commissioning Groups to be restructured to become coterminous with the ICSs. He explained that the intention was for the ICS to have a single funding pot to cover primary care and commissioning of local and specialised care services, as well as sustainability and transformation funding. He stated that where proposals for substantial variations in service affected more than one local authority area, then the affected local authorities must appoint a joint health overview and scrutiny committee to consider them. He noted that it was predicted for around 80% of health scrutiny to take place at a local level, and a toolkit would be developed to help determine whether matters should be considered locally or jointly. He noted that the proposed quorum would be six members, with a minimum of one from each local authority. He also explained that it was proposed to remove restrictions on the number of non-voting co-opted members, and that discussions were ongoing regarding representation from the five Healthwatch services. In terms of the host and chairing duties, he confirmed that this would rotate every two years. He indicated that the aspiration was for the new joint committee to be established by May 2021 and that each local authority would need to sign off the terms of reference. He concluded by highlighting the report’s recommendations.

The Chairman noted that some details were still evolving, but asked Members to note the report and give it their support so it could be taken to Council for approval.

Councillor Tony Vickers welcomed the proposal and noted that Councillor Martha Vickers had previously highlighted the need for more health scrutiny. He indicate that he did not think a committee of five Members with a quorum of four was sufficient, and suggested it should have seven members with representation from all three parties. Furthermore, he suggested that an Opposition member should on the joint health scrutiny committee. The Chairman indicated that his preference was for smaller committees.

Councillor Cole noted the proposal for hosting and chairing duties to rotate and suggested that there may be IT issues that would need to be resolved. The Chairman agreed and cited the Pension Panel as a cross-authority committee that remained with one local authority as host.

Resolved that OSMC:

(a) SUPPORT the proposal for a joint health overview and scrutiny committee to consider heath issues at the NHS Integrated Care System level across Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West;

(b) RECOMMEND that Full Council delegates scrutiny of health issues at the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care System level to the joint health overview and scrutiny committee; and

(c) RECOMMEND that Full Council approves the terms of reference for the joint health overview and scrutiny committee as set out in Appendix C of the report.