Apologies were received from Councillors Mary Angell, Cyril Baily and Peter Hickman (Surrey County Council), Peter Southgate (L. B. of Merton) and John Leach, Abigail Lock and Roger Thistle (L.B. of Sutton).  It was noted that Councillors Dave Callaghan and Sheila Andrews were substituting for Councillors John Leach and Abigail Lock respectively.

The Committee went into exempt session to consider a potential conflict of interest of one of the senior NHS practitioners who had been involved in preparation of the business case for one of the local care centres that formed part of the current Better Healthcare Closer to Home proposals.

Bill Gillespie, Director of Sutton and Merton Primary Care Trust, assured the Committee that the Trust had stringent standing orders in place and that this matter had been considered with regard to them.  It was not unusual for senior practitioners to be involved in design work.  The member of staff concerned had declared an interest that had been deemed not to be pecuniary at this stage.  However he would not be involved in discussions regarding the detail of services to be provided at the local care centre, when they commenced.

The Committee felt that the matter had been clarified and there were no questions to Mr Gillespie.

            Resolved: (i) To exclude the public under Schedule 12A of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 as the Committee wishes to consider information concerning an individual (section 1);

            (ii) To note the comments of Mr Gillespie.

The public were readmitted at 7.35pm

To note that the following declarations of interest were made:

Ÿ         Councillor Sheila Knight declared a personal interest as an employee of Merton MIND.

Ÿ         Councillor Gilli Lewis-Lavender declared a personal interest as an employee of St George’s NHS Trust.

Ÿ         Councillor Jayne McCoy declared a personal interest as a member of Sutton, Epsom & District Branch of The National Childbirth Trust.

It was noted that Councillor Gilli Lewis-Lavender no longer had a personal interest as an employee of St George’s NHS Trust, as stipulated on the agenda for the meeting.

Resolved: To note the above and that the following declarations of interest were made:

Ÿ        Councillor Sheila Knight declared a personal interest as an employee of Merton MIND.

Ÿ        Councillor Jayne McCoy declared a personal interest as a member of Sutton, Epsom & District Branch of The National Childbirth Trust.

Minutes of the meeting held on 3 July 2008.

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 July 2008 were approved as a correct record, and signed by the Chair.

Stephen Waring, BHCH Programme Director, will be presenting the following information:

Ÿ         Background information and progress to date.

Ÿ         Future of health services in Sutton and Merton.

Ÿ         Impact on local health economy.

Ÿ         Timing and next steps.

(A copy of the Better Healthcare Closer to Home Programme of Investment Overview has been sent to members only.)

A briefing paper on progress with the Better Healthcare Closer to Home (BHCH) programme had been included with the agenda.  In addition, an investment overview document had been circulated to members of the Committee, available to others on request.  Included with this were outline business cases for the following:

Intermediate and post-acute care

St. Helier Local Care Centre

Wilson Local Care Centre

Nelson Local Care Centre

The Chair opened the discussion by saying that he had invited the Royal Marsden Hospital to this meeting, to outline their plans for the Sutton Hospital site.  The Royal Marsden had declined on the grounds that plans were not sufficiently progressed, which the Chair felt was disappointing.  He thought that the matter should be discussed at the next meeting and asked for the Committee’s support in requesting Hospital representatives to attend.

Bill Gillespie, Director of Sutton and Merton Primary Care Trust (SMPCT), introduced the following colleagues:

Samantha Jones - Chief Executive, Epsom and St. Helier University Hospitals Trust (ESH)

Pippa Hart - Director of Nursing, ESH

Dr Jonathan Kwan - Medical Director, ESH

Dr Martyn Wake - Joint Medical Director, SMPCT

Stephen Waring – Programme Director, BHCH

Bill Gillespie said that there were five key themes to the current BHCH proposals:

1) Enhanced health provision and access to services for the population of Sutton and Merton including better integration between physical and mental health care and meeting local needs where deprivation was at its worst.

2) To provide a balanced, joint investment programme for the area.

3) The programme was consistent with Surrey Primary Care Trust’s patient flows.  It was not about:

• In-patient mental health services
• Women’s and children’s health services – these were the subject of a separate review
• Services for Surrey residents or Epsom Hospital

4) A balance between ambition and realism.  The ambition came with the aims to be in the top 25% of primary care trusts in the country, move outpatient and other services into the community, and provide 80% of care in people’s homes.

5) The proposals were an opportunity to move the local health system forward, which may not come again.  Further delays would jeopardise the programme.  Neighbouring boroughs were developing their services and St. Helier Hospital in particular must not fall behind.  Several health care professionals had worked on the current proposals and further delays would lead to additional costs and dent patient confidence, which was understandably low at present.

Samantha Jones then outlined the proposals for St. Helier Hospital.  Currently the Hospital building was not fit for purpose for 2008; it had substantial arrears of maintenance and £7.5 million of works would be carried out over the next year.  There was a low percentage of single rooms; the ESH aimed to increase this to 50% and provide 348 acute beds.  There would be a total of 500 beds, as now.  Pippa Hart emphasised the need for single rooms.  The circulated paperwork outlined the services that would be provided at St. Helier; these did not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

There was none. 

The date for the next meeting has been arranged for 19 March 2009

It was noted that a meeting had been arranged for Thursday, 19 March 2009.  The Chair said that this date still stood, however an extra meeting would be arranged for November 2008 if possible, for the purposes of receiving updates on a) the women’s and children’s services review and b) plans for the Sutton Hospital site from representatives of the Royal Marsden Hospital.

            Resolved: To note that there will an additional meeting, date to be confirmed.