Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Civic Offices, Shute End, Wokingham RG40 1BN. View directions

Contact: Madeleine Shopland  Democratic & Electoral Services Specialist

Media

Items
No. Item

41.

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence

Minutes:

An apology for absence was submitted from Simon Dale, Susan Parsonage and Matt Pope.

42.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 104 KB

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 8 December 2022.

 

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 8 December 2022 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

43.

Declaration of Interest

To receive any declarations of interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

44.

Public Question Time

To answer any public questions

 

A period of 30 minutes will be allowed for members of the public to ask questions submitted under notice.

 

The Council welcomes questions from members of the public about the work of this Board.

 

Subject to meeting certain timescales, questions can relate to general issues concerned with the work of the Board or an item which is on the Agenda for this meeting.  For full details of the procedure for submitting questions please contact the Democratic Services Section on the numbers given below or go to www.wokingham.gov.uk/publicquestions

Minutes:

There were no public questions.

45.

Member Question Time

To answer any member questions

Minutes:

There were no Member questions.

46.

West of Berkshire Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board Annual Report 2021-22 pdf icon PDF 469 KB

To receive the West of Berkshire Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board Annual Report 2021-22.

Minutes:

The Board received the West of Berkshire Safeguarding Adults Partnership (WBSAP) Board Annual Report 20/22 which was set out in agenda pages 13-32.

 

Keith Brown the Chairman of the WBSAP was in attendance, and during discussions the following comments were made:

 

·      Councillor Bray was interested to know why Reading had lower number of concerns than Wokingham and West Berkshire.  She added that the three areas should be reporting in a concise way;

·      Keith Brown stated that numbers could go up or down for a variety of reasons, he believed that the Board was functioning well and he had no concerns;

·      Keith Brown explained that adult safeguarding was evolving, in the same way that children’s safeguarding had evolved in the last few years.  He pointed out that, both nationally and locally, there needed to be better understanding of the nuances around adult safeguarding.  There was a need to increase awareness of potential risks around self-neglect and cognitive impairment;

·      A recognised risk, both nationally and locally, was the availability of staff to work in care homes;

·      Members shared the concerns raised around those issues. In particular, in relation to the issue of cognitive impairment, some Members had personal experience of how dementia could incapacitate people;

·      Debbie Milligan stated that GPs and staff at GP’s surgeries all received safeguarding training and were aware of the risks;

·      Keith Brown informed that there was growing awareness of the adult safeguarding risks relating to fraud within families;

·      Helen Watson, Director of Children’s Services suggested that there was an opportunity for the WBSAB to work in partnership with the Berkshire West Safeguarding Children’s Partnership (BWSCP);

·      Keith Brown informed that he had met with the Chairman for the BWSCP.  He added that there was much scope to work together, in particular in relation to:

Ø  Transition – co-operation was needed during the time of transition from childhood to adulthood;

Ø  Family – some risks involved the whole family and were cross-generations.  It was important not think in isolation;

Ø  Safeguarding in adulthood - sometimes linked to things that had happened in childhood;

·      Debbie Milligan believed that decisions should take into account the whole family context, but in practice this was not always the case;

·      Keth Brown was of the opinion that professionals should be pushing for more joint up actions, even if the legislation was still catching up on this issue.

 

Keith Brown offered to work with the BWSCP, the Wellbeing Board and the Council.  He was prepared to come back after May to help with Members’ training.

 

Members thanked Keith Brown for his contribution to the meeting.

 

RESOLVED That the report be noted.

47.

Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment - Wokingham Decision-Making Process pdf icon PDF 110 KB

To receive a report regarding the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment - Wokingham Decision-Making Process.

Minutes:

Karen Buckley, Public Health Consultant presented the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment – Wokingham Decision-Making Process report which was set out in agenda pages 33-36.

 

She explained that the local decision-making process involved the following steps:

·           Democratic Services and Public Health receive notification (for example 45 days for consolidations of pharmacies, three weeks for pharmacy closures)

·           Democratic Services notifies WBWB Members

·           Public Health Team undertakes data analysis against PNA/national criteria

·           Public Health produces briefing and shares with WBWB Members

·           A decision is made by the appropriate person/s

·           An item is scheduled for information at the next public meeting of WBWB

·           Berkshire West Shared Public Health Team publish any supplementary statements (as required)

 

The Board was now required to choose one of the proposed options for making decisions where there was no meeting of the WBWB within the timeframe. The options were:

a)     Hold an extraordinary WBWB

b)     Delegate the decision to the Chair (or Vice-Chair in their absence) and Public Health Consultant

c)     Review circulated by email to all WBWB Members for a decision

 

Councillor Bray suggested that the decision should be communicated to all Members of the Board for transparency, and that the final decision be made by the Chair.  Members were in agreement with this proposal.

 

David Dean, Local Pharmaceutical Community explained that there were 257 pharmacies across Berkshire and Oxfordshire.  He expressed much concern with the future of the pharmacy provision in general.  He explained that for a pharmacy to operate, it was necessary to have two pharmacists employed.  However, there was a shortage of pharmacists and issues in relation to the funding of two pharmacists per pharmacy.  There had been a decrease in the funding for pharmacies at national level.

 

David Dean stated that with the closure of the Winnersh pharmacy, there would be 21 pharmacies in Wokingham.  The remaining pharmacies would be able to deal with the prescriptions that had previously been dealt within the Lloyds pharmacy in Winnersh.

 

During the discussion of the item the following comments were made:

 

·           Members expressed concern that there were not enough pharmacists, and wondered if the training offer should be improved;

·           David Dean stated that also of concern, was the fact that a lack of pharmacists could add pressure to the workload of GPs.  He informed that part of the problem was the fact that many graduates were choosing to go into other industries;

·           Members noted that local pharmacies had been extremely helpful with the covid vaccinations campaign;

·           Councillor Bray stated that the Lloyds pharmacy in Winnersh had never administered the flu vaccine, however their website had accepted bookings, which was very unhelpful.  She had written to them about it but had never received a reply;

·           Members asked what was the reason for the sudden lack of drugs in the market?  David Dean explained that there had been an excess build up of medication when the UK left the EU.  Companies chose to sell their drugs to whoever paid more;

·           Karen Buckley reassured the Board that there was local capacity  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

48.

Pharmacy closure - FE713 - Lloyds Pharmacy, Winnersh RG41 5AR pdf icon PDF 370 KB

To receive a report regarding the Pharmacy closure - FE713 - Lloyds Pharmacy, Winnersh RG41 5AR.

Minutes:

This item was discussed under the previous item.

49.

Healthwatch Wokingham Borough Workplan 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 pdf icon PDF 287 KB

To receive the Healthwatch Wokingham Borough Workplan 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Healthwatch Wokingham Borough Workplan 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 report which was set out in agenda pages 43-66 was presented by Alice Kunjappy-Clifton and Sarah Deason.

 

During their presentation the following comments were made:

 

·                Healthwatch had developed a list of priorities (as listed on page 53 of the agenda) and it was important to make sure that the NHS and Local Authority are aware of those priorities;

·                Healthwatch England had undertaken a survey into maternal mental health which Healthwatch Wokingham Borough had also localised.  The results would be shared when available;

·                A review of previous Healthwatch reports would be undertaken to see what impact had been made as a result of the recommendations;

·                The local watchlist included:

Ø  GP access

Ø  NHS dentistry

Ø  Maternity

Ø  Asylum seekers

Ø  Cost of living crisis

Ø  Continuing Health Care funding

Ø  Support for carers

Ø  Mental health support for children and young people

 

Councillor Bray was interested to know more about the work being undertaken with asylum seekers.  Alice Kunjappy-Clifton offered to share a link to a specific report on this issue:  

Asylum seeker experiences of living in West Berkshire (healthwatchwestberks.org.uk)

 

Members thanked Alice Kunjappy-Clifton and Sarah Deason for their comprehensive report.

 

RESOLVED That the report be noted.

50.

Forward programme pdf icon PDF 70 KB

To receive the forward programme for the remainder of the municipal year.

Minutes:

The following items were added to the Forward Programme:

 

13 April 2023

West Berkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership

Cost of living and its impact on people’s health

 

8 June 2023

NHS Plan

Public Safety Partnership