Issue - meetings

Councillor Dr. B. T. Cooper, the Council’s representative on the Worcestershire County Council Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) informed Members that he had attended its meeting on 17th April 2012.  A Member asked for clarification in respect of a point made in the minutes of the HOSC meeting held on 13th March 2012 “although Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) would have differences which reflected local need, they would still work collaboratively”.  Councillor Dr. Cooper explained that there would be flexibility in how the CCGs were set up and differences in working practices for each individual CCG.  This was still therefore very much a case of “work in progress” which would become clearer as the CCGs developed.

Councillor Dr. Cooper suggested that a representative from the CCG for Bromsgrove and Redditch be invited to attend a future meeting of the Board.  He advised that the CCGs were required to be in place, in at least “shadow” format by June 2012.  The Board agreed that this should be included within the Work Programme for the September meeting.

Councillor Dr. Cooper informed Members that the HOSC had received 3 presentations at its meeting held on 17th April 2012, namely Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust Foundation Application, Salaried Dental Services and Worcestershire’s Emergency Ophthalmology Service.  The Emergency Ophthalmology Service was most relevant to residents in the District.  At the moment the service was spread throughout the County and as there were major clinical concerns about the quality of this service, it had been agreed that it would be reviewed prior to the Acute Service Review.  All acute eye services would therefore, during working hours and for the interim period, be based at Kidderminster Hospital.