Issue - meetings

Report of the Director of Public Health

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Director of Public Health, which set out proposals to enter into a Section 75 Agreement with the Coventry and Rugby Clinical Commissioning Group to improve the health of Coventry.

The Health and social Care Act 2012 disestablished Primary Care Trusts and Established Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG’s) and led to the transfer of Public Health responsibilities to local authorities from April 2013.  As part of the Public Health transfer, local authorities were given 5 statutory duties, one of which included providing public health advice and support to the NHS.  This was also referred to as the ‘core offer’.

Since April 2013, the Public Health Team have worked with Coventry and Rugby Clinical Commissioning Group to develop a core offer that met the statutory requirements and outlined the support that would be provided by the team in relation to commissioning appropriate and cost effective NHS services for Coventry residents.  It became apparent that additional resource were needed to fulfil this statutory requirement due to policy changes at a national level which led to an increased need for additional advice and support to the Clinical Care Group.

Increased focus on the quality of health services at a local level led the Health and Social Care Scrutiny Board to ask for a sub-group to be set up to consider the issue of quality of primary care.  In support of this, the Director of Public Health’s Annual Report for 2014 focussed on access to high quality primary care in the City.  It had a number of recommendations that would need Public Health support and expertise to work with the NHS to ensure that they were progressed to achieve the maximum benefits to the Health and Social Care system and high quality care to the residents of Coventry.

To provide additional resources and support, it was proposed to enter into an agreement under Section 75 of the National Health Service Act 2006 with the Clinical Commissioning Group for a period of 3 years to transfer £400,000 from the Public Health ring-fenced budget to enable the core offer work to be progressed.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Services:-

1.  Approves a Section 75 Grant Agreement between the Council and Coventry and Rugby Clinical Commissioning Group is entered into for the payment of £400,000 by the Council to the Clinical Commissioning Group to allow appropriate public health support to enable effective commissioning of NHS services for Coventry residents on terms to be agreed.  The Agreement will be funded from the Public Health ring-fenced grant.

2.  Delegates authority to the Director of Public Health and the Assistant Director, Legal and Democratic Services to confirm the governance arrangements regarding the funding, to agree the detailed terms of, and enter into the Agreement on behalf of the Council.