Agenda item

Interim Chief Financial Officer

Mr Paul McMenamin provided an overview of the Integrated Care Fund (ICF) programme spend position at 30 June 2016, as well as an overview of the latest position for budget approval and development of the programme.  He confirmed that there were 19 projects that had been approved by the Steering Group with a further 5 projects identified for approval.  The total value of all approved projects amounted to £2.41m. 

Mrs Jane Robertson gave an overview of the five new projects: development of locality plans; locality management; health and social care coordination; community led support; and the matching unit.  

In regard to the projects recommended to the Health and Social Care Integration Joint Board (IJB) for approval, Mr John Raine sought assurance from the Executive Management Team (EMT) that the projects were sustainable and would assist the achievement of the aims of the IJB, given the EMT was the route for recommendations to the IJB. 

Mrs Susan Manion contradicted the minutes of the previous meeting in regard to the approval route for ICF projects and stated that in terms of the process the ICF Steering Group and the Chief Officer approved the projects, the EMT considered and reviewed specific proposals with an oversight to ensure delivery and then recommended to the IJB.  She was keen to revisit the approval process again and commented that at each stage of the process the ICF Steering Group carefully monitored the application against the outcomes and drew the Board’s attention to Appendix 2 and 3 of the paper which she suggested provided the assurance required.

Mr John Raine pointed out that in the minutes of the last meeting Mrs Jeanette McDiarmid had clearly stated that the Executive Management Team would provide the IJB with assurance to the recommendations submitted to it against the Strategic Plan.  Mrs McDiarmid confirmed that the EMT went through each project in detail in order to be able to provide that assurance to the IJB and suggested that it be more clearly referred to within future reports. 

Dr Stephen Mather commented that he failed to see how “development of locality plans” and “locality management” actually improved services for the patients, he suggested both initiatives looked at changes to the way things were managed.  In regard to the other 3 projects he could see a direct correlation to improvements in patient care and patient access.  He suggested that to state redesign was a key priority was incorrect as the key priority should be the most important things for patients. 

Mr Paul McMenamin suggested his terminology could be reviewed and whilst he agreed that projects 1 and 2 were not key priorities to the patient, all the stakeholders he had engaged with saw service redesign as a priority to enable them to achieve their outcomes.  

Mrs Manion advised that the locality coordinators were crucial to the development of the locality plans and she emphasised that it was short term funding to set up the new arrangements. 

Mr David Davidson noted the engagement of the third sector and enquired about the input of charitable organisations.  Mrs Jenny Smith suggested she and Mr Davidson met outwith the meeting to explore the matter in more detail.

Mr Davidson enquired about the overspend in regard to the contract for the Joint Borders Ability Equipment Store tender.  Mrs Elaine Torrance gave background to the tender and explained that the technical specification had increased since the award of the tender due to infection control requirements and suitability of accommodation. 

Mr Davidson then enquired about the funding for the transport hub and what the outcomes of the hub were.  Mrs Smith advised that the transport hub was a third sector based project with engagement between the third sector, Red Cross and the Bridge.  Funding had allowed a redesign and streamlining of the Bridge booking system to a single point of contact for the patients and public to access the service. 

Mrs Evelyn Rodger enquired if the report had been developed in partnership.  Mr McMenamin advised that the paper had been endorsed through both partners roles in the EMT.  He commented that in essence neither Mrs Carol Gillie nor Mr David Robertson needed to approve the report.

Mrs Smith commented that in terms of the ICF, she had a third sector reference group who were keen to have a clearer picture of the governance process and terms of reference for the groups being set up as well as an understanding of the formation and role of the EMT and how the projects flowed up to the IJB.  She also asked that there be a more consultative approach before initiatives and projects were put before the ICF Steering Group and cited the matching unit as a potential project where there could be issues with third sector providers.

Mr John Raine commented that he thought it right that the ICF Steering Group, who embraced all partners, should make a case for all projects, however in terms of committing the expenditure of public monies he reiterated that that decision could only be made by the IJB and that was why he had sought assurance from the EMT that they scrutinised the projects before they were recommended to the IJB as they were the custodians of the public purse and had to be assured that each project would be achieved and correlate to the outcomes of the strategic plan.

Mrs Davidson commented that the ICF had an approved governance process and she suggested the EMT and IJB refresh itself on that process.

Mrs Lynn Crombie advised the IJB that the JBAES tender price had been extended to 26 August and any delay in a decision would result in an increase in costs.

The Chair proposed the next Development session be focused on governance processes for the IJB and that the Audit Committee be tasked with reviewing the governance processes ahead of the session.

The HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD noted the report and the progress made to date in the development of the partnership’s transformation programme, in particular, those projects funded from within its Integrated Care Fund programme.

Given that the meeting was not quorate the HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD agreed to hold an extra ordinary meeting as soon as possible.