Agenda item

From the meeting of Cabinet held on 3 January 2017

Further to Minute 85 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of People, which set out the City Council’s position in respect of the Coventry and Warwickshire Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) and how the Council would proceed in working with NHS organisations regarding the further progression of the STP in Coventry.

In December 2015, NHS England outlined a new approach to help ensure that health and care services were built around the needs of the local populations with the introductions of STPs, based upon integration and joint working across the Health and Wellbeing system.  They were intended to provide the method by which the NHS Five Year Forward View was translated by the NHS into practice by closing the quality, cost and wellbeing gaps.  Although the STP process was governed by NHS England, it was being undertaken with the support of the Local Government Association and required local health and care organisations across the country to come together to form 44 STP footprints with Coventry and Warwickshire being one footprint.  STP footprints were collective discussion and planning forums which brought together health and care leaders to plan services for the populations they served.  The Cabinet noted that the Coventry and Warwickshire STP did not have delegated authority for decision making from its member organisations.

The involvement of the key leads from the local authority alongside elected member input and scrutiny would enable the City Council to ensure that the STP could deliver what was required for the citizens of Coventry, and particularly in areas relating to Public Health and Social Care.  The City Council would be required, by virtue of its constitution, to make decisions relating the elements of the STP that impact on the City Council through its normal decision making processes.

The Coventry and Warwickshire footprint had submitted its STP to NHS England in October 2016 and following feedback, the plan was released publicly on 7^th December 2016.  The plan focussed on five key transformational programmes which would be subject to more detailed design so that impacts and benefits could be better understood in order to enable decisions to be made regarding implementation.

It was indicated in the recommendation that the Cabinet had stressed that, whilst the Council recognised and endorsed the aim of health and social care organisations working closer together to improve services for local people, it did not support the approach taken in developing the STP, specifically in relation to transparency and involvement of both the public and local authority members.  The Council’s involvement to date did not constitute it signing up to the Coventry and Warwickshire STP.  Although a number of transformation work streams existed under the STP, the detail and implications of these were not developed, and therefore the City Council would not be in a position to make decisions regarding progressing the implementation of any work stream until more detail is developed and this has been considered through the appropriate decision making processes.had

It was critically important for the City Council to continue to work with health organisations in progressing the STP. The potential implications and opportunities for the City Council in managing very challenging social care demands and delivering on its agenda to improve the health and well-being of its population were significant and required the active input of organisations within the STP programme.

At its meeting, Cabinet had agreed to ensure Councillor scrutiny and involvement in the developing work streams within the Sustainability and Transformation Plan through the Health and Social Care Scrutiny Board (5), Coventry Health and Well Board, relevant Cabinet Member briefings and reports to Cabinet and Council as required.  In addition, that all members of Coventry Health & Well-being Board have access to all STP documentation to ensured it could continue its role in facilitating partnership working by providing a strategic link for the Sustainability and Transformation Plan, with a particular emphasis on the Proactive & Preventative work steam, and the crucial role of social care in the overall sustainability of the Health and Social Care economy.

In moving the recommendations, Councillor Abbot, in accordance with the Constitution, moved an alteration to Recommendation 2 as follows: 

That on the first line of Recommendation 2, the word “Agrees” be replaced by the word “Notes”,  that after the words “City Council” the word “must” be inserted, and that the word “continues “ be replaced with the word “continue”, this first line now to read :

“Notes that the City Council must continue to take a key role in the continued partnership working approach.”

RESOLVED that the City Council:

1.  Note the City Council position in relation Coventry and Warwickshire Sustainability and Transformation Plan as described in the letter from the Leader of City Council, detailed at Appendix 4 of the report, submitted in October to NHS England.

2.  Notes that the City Council must continue to take a key role in the continued partnership working approach to the development of the work streams within the Sustainability and Transformation Plan, with a particular emphasis on the Proactive and Preventative work stream and the crucial role of social care in the overall sustainability of the Health and Social Care economy,  with such involvement to be led by the Executive Director, People, and this involvement to be signalled publicly through the continued use of the City Council logo on Sustainability and Transformation Plan documentation.

3.  Endorse the contents of paragraph 2.4.1 of Health Overview Scrutiny Committee Scrutiny Board (5) who considered the Sustainability and Transformation Plan submission and the proposed approach to engagement at its meeting on the 7 December 2016