SCRUTINY AT RDC

SCRUTINY 2010 – 2011 Annual Report Extracts

 

Chairman’s Foreword by Councillor Paul Cullen

Overview & Scrutiny 1 (Strong, Prosperous and Improving Themes)

 

Following on from previous year’s development Scrutiny has continued to evolve during 2010-2011 and is now firmly established as a crucial part of the monitoring of council services that are provided for the district’s residents. In carrying out this monitoring role members have become more understanding of the roles and responsibilities of scrutiny and has ensured that this monitoring has become much more effective.

 

An increasing number of the Scrutiny 1 Committee have continued to find the work to be both stimulating and challenging and together with the excellent support given by Scrutiny Officers, I feel that the committee has performed very successfully throughout the year.

 

Scrutiny 1 has looked at several areas of review this year that has included the monitoring of the progress of the recommendations made in last year’s review of Travel/Transport to Hospital and a new review into Broadband Speeds throughout the district. This latter review has fed into the Joint LSP review on the subject that is still ongoing. A number of requested mini-reviews were also fitted into the work plan and these included ‘CCTV in the Community Offices’ and ‘How the Council addresses issues in Colburn’. Additionally the Scrutiny 1 Committee has monitored the ongoing progress of Introductory Tenancies, the Community Office Review and considered and made recommendations on Concessionary Fares and ’Discretionary Fees and Charges’.

 

The year has seen several call-ins, but Scrutiny 1 felt that the call-in procedures were in need of revision and work on this matter is now being progressed, so that future call-in procedures should be less restrictive but still robust.

 

In summary, the year in Scrutiny 1 has been one of on-going development, which has ensured that the role of scrutiny retains the capacity to be both proactive and reactive when asked to consider the council’s overall performance.

 

 

Chairman’s Foreword

 

Councillor William Heslop

Overview & Scrutiny 2 (Healthy, Green and Safe Themes and

Crime & Disorder Scrutiny Committee)

 

The basic philosophy of good scrutiny relies upon the premise that it is "the eyes, ears and voice of the people". Scrutiny 2 has, in the various ways it operates, had that as a firm basis for its work whilst undertaking the following:

 

  • Monitoring the performance of the Safe, Healthy and Green Business Plans,
  • Consulting on Strategy refreshment,
  • Reviewing Physiotherapy in Richmondshire,
  • Sitting as the Crime and Disorder Committee,
  • Responding to Members and the publics concerns about specific issues such as cigarette Enforcement Campaigns and Safer Neighbourhood work changes,
  • Monitoring the actions to recommendations made from earlier Reviews such as Leisure for the Over 50’s

 

The work of Scrutiny 2 has in the past year been "cost-effective" and led to service improvement within the Councils domain and to the work of other Authorities.

 

I wish to thank all who have been involved in the work of Scutiny 2, members, Officers and our Co-optees Mrs Margaret Clayson and Dr Sheila Harrison for their dedication to scrutiny.

 

HOW DOES SCRUTINY OPERATE?

 

The Overview & Scrutiny Committees undertake a mixture of scrutiny activities, from regular performance monitoring to searching in-depth reviews and shorter pieces of work to look into specific problems. As well as making suggestions for improvements to council services, the Scrutiny Committee can acknowledge good practice, strong performance and commitment within the authority.

 

Types of Scrutiny Meetings

 

Committee

 

This is a formal District Council meeting. Items of business could vary from Officers consulting on draft council business plans and strategies to Councillors questioning of Council Officers, partner agencies and individuals. Monitoring of council performance against targets also takes place at these meetings. It is open to the public and the public may submit a question or make a statement about an item which is on the agenda providing it is received before 9.30am of the day of the meeting by the Head of Democratic Services.

 

There were usually three or four scheduled meeting of each of the Overview & Scrutiny Committees, including Scrutiny Management Board each year

 

Review Group or Task & Finish Group

 

This is an informal meeting between Councillors of the Committee and

stakeholders/partners to gather information or to consult with members of the public. Such meetings can be in council offices or elsewhere in the District and Members of the Scrutiny Committees can also make visits to other places, including neighbouring authorities in relation to scrutiny work. Review Groups meet in relation to the in depth scrutiny reviews, and Task and Finish Groups meet in relation to smaller pieces of scrutiny work.

 

Co-optees

 

The Committees may appoint non-voting co-optees to work with them on scrutiny reviews as required. This provision may be beneficial for Scrutiny Review Groups which may require some specific knowledge or expertise. In such cases, co-optees will be appointed for the period of the review, at the end of which the co-option will cease.

 

What scrutiny looked into and what was achieved

 

Out of Hours Service        

 

In 2003 and 2004 the first 2 reviews into this subject were carried out because of changes with GP’s contracts in relation to out of hours cover for patients.

 

Review 1raised the following concerns:

 

  • That our residents received no less a service than they were currently receiving
  • Any proposed new patient centre should be based within the local area
  • Staff receiving calls from patients or their families are capable of giving the correct advice and correct decisions

 

Review 2got assurances from the PCT that an Emergency Ambulance would be stationed at Bainbridge Ambulance Station during out of hours times unless it was responding to an emergency call out from its local area.

 

Power Cuts

 

In 2005 gale force winds gusted throughout Richmondshire bringing power interruptions to many parts of the district for up to four days. By looking into this event there were the following achievements:

 

  • NEDLintroduced a special phone line so that a designated parish contact could ring them and keep them up to date. NEDL also use this to keep the affected community informed
  • NEDLappointed a person within their organisation to act as a special parish contact person particularly during similar incidents.
  • Richmondshire District Councilproduced a new procedure for dealing with Lifeline Alarms during Power Failures for its residents in sheltered schemes and those who live in their own homes.

 

Community Offices

 

In 2007 Richmondshire District Council, working with partners, had created a network of Community Offices around the district. The offices are in Richmond, Leyburn, Hawes, Reeth and Colburn. Councillors wanted to see what services were being provided at each of the offices and how they were operating. This then led to the following improvements:

 

  • Improved signage
  • Increased opening hours of the Colburn Office
  • A review of the methods of collecting cash
  • The encouragement of more partners and servicesinvolved in the offices.

 

Taxi Vouchers

 

In 2008 a mini review was carried out into the Taxi Voucher Scheme which led to:

 

  • The applicant’s photographbeing displayed on the front of the taxi voucher book in the same way that a bus pass has a photo. Thereby ensuring that the voucher is used correctly by the person who is entitled to use it
  • Residents eligible for help through the RCVS Community Transport Scheme being able to use their taxi vouchers towards those journeys as well.

 

Introductory Tenancies

 

In 2008 the Scrutiny Committee looked at how the Council operated its tenancies with a view to help make sure that the Council was allocating properties to good tenants who would look after their properties and respect their neighbours and the environment surrounding them.

 

As a result:

 

  • Introductory Tenancieswere introduced by RDC from September 2009. This means that all new tenants undergo monitoring at regular intervals during a probationary period in the first year. This ensures that they are meeting the standards expected of a good tenant.
  • The agreementalso gives council housing staff an additional tool to help with tenants who are displaying signs of anti-social behaviour.

 

GP Out Of Hours Service (Review 3)

 

In 2009the Committee looked again at Out of Hours Services including the whole range of service providers that get involved out of hours times such as:

 

  • GPs
  • Out of Hours Centres
  • The Ambulance Service
  • Air Ambulances
  • First Responders
  • Minor Injury Clinics

 

Review 3in 2009 the Committee made visits to:

 

  • Out of Hours Centre at Catterick and Northallerton
  • Ambulance Station at Bainbridge
  • Out of Hours Call Centre at York

 

They looked at lots of different data from the different organisations They made 22 recommendations some of which were:

 

  • The Out of Hours Centre must always remain in the District but ideally should relocate to the Community Hospital in Richmond where there could be nurses to assist the GP
  • Minor Injury hours should be extended within Richmondshire
  • There should be nurses to assist the doctors with out of hours work
  • That the PCT reinstate the system of the Bainbridge Paramedics assisting the doctors with out of hours work in that area
  • Computer systems be brought up to date

 

In Review 3

 

  • The PCT re-emphasised that there will be no reduction in cover at the out of hours centre at Catterick Garrison although from December 2010 they now allow the out of hours GP to sleep on duty at Catterick for a reduction in their pay.
  • The triage during this time is routed to the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton, although when patients require a GP visit or treatment in the Catterick out of hours centre this is done by the Catterick out of hours GP.
  • The out of hours GP integrates with the overnight nursing service which is part of the Fast Response Service when the GP feels it is appropriate.
  • The up-to-date call centre system cabling has now been installed to bring the Catterick system in line with all other out of hours centres in North Yorkshire.
  • This has allowed System One to be installed which enables the out of hours GP’s to see the notes of patients where their practices have System One. Although not all Richmondshire GP Practices are yet on System 1.
  • Despite scrutiny recommending that minor injuries hours should be extended the PCT have closed the minor injury facility at The Friary Hospital, Richmond in December 2010. Instead the PCT say that all GP Surgeries are funded to provide minor injuries services from 8am-6pm during the week.      
  • The call centre at the Yorkshire Ambulance HQ reinstated a first responder desk so that First Responders are utilised as much as possible to keep up their skills.

Travelling to Hospital Appointments

 

In 2009with no main hospital in Richmondshire and the majority of hospital appointments being at Northallerton, Darlington or Middlesbrough, the Committee wanted to try to answer the question

 

  • How easy is it for our - residents to get to their hospital appointments?
  • Is there suitable public transport provision?
  • What other means of travel are available?

 

Scrutiny Members co-opted a member of the public to work with themand gathered information from the Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS), NHS North Yorkshire & York (NHS NY&Y), South Tees NHS Trust, NYCC Integrated Passenger Transport, the Volunteer Service and officers at Richmondshire Council.

 

Views were sought from the public and parishes. They concluded that getting to any appointments by public transport is almost impossible for most residents, particularly so if the appointment is in Middlesbrough. Problems were highlighted with the Patient Transport Service for those who were eligible to use it and community transport was few and far between.

 

16 recommendations were made and monitoring is ongoing. So far, as a result the following improvements are being worked on:

 

  • YAS and NHS NY&Y are working to improve call handling and have invited
  • community transport providers etc to tender to provide some patient
  • transport.
  • YAS and the NHS NY&Y will work to address the issues raised in the report regarding the Patient Transport Service.
  • NHS NY&Y are producing a revised patient leaflet to explain the Patient
  • Transport process.
  • There will be better promotion of the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme.
  • Community Transport improvements.

 

Leisure for Over 50’s

 

In 2009/10 The Committee decided to conduct the Over 50’s Leisure Review to try to discover what, where and how a leisure provision service is delivered with older people in mind and if a shortfall was identified, how it could be positively addressed.

 

Scrutinysurveyed Managers and Users of Leisure Centres and Gyms. They talked to Age UK. Age UK highlighted the social and wellbeing benefits as much as the physical health aspect. Parishes and the public were consulted as well as members of a local Over 50’s Club. 34 recommendations were made and

monitoring is ongoing.

 

So far, as a result the following improvements have been delivered:

 

  • The Council Website has a Healthy Living Link on its front page
  • A Flyer promoting activities for people aged 50+ has been produced
  • The Leisure Trust now promotes activities for Over 50’s on its website

 

Other improvements that are being worked on include:

 

  • An audit is underway to record all current activities in the district.
  • Plans are underway to increase GP Exercise Referrals

 

 

Scrutiny Management Board

 

Scrutiny Management Board acts as a co-ordinator and planner of the scrutiny

work-plans as well as promoting good practice in overview and scrutiny and

considering scrutiny training needs. The Board consists of 6 members, 3 from each Scrutiny Committee. The 2010-2011 membership was Cllrs - Paul Cullen, Chairman, William Heslop Vice-Chairman, John Robinson, Yvonne Peacock, Rob Johnson, Helen Grant. Scrutiny is a member-led cross-party function and scrutiny has been given a very wide remit in the matters it can look at. However, it needs to manage its workload and the resources that it has very carefully. The scrutiny workplan develops from a number of sources and Scrutiny Members decide what they wish to focus on during the year:

 

  • Senior Officers bring initial briefs on policies and strategies to Scrutiny Committees for comments and views as they are developing them.
  • Then they bring them back for final comments, allowing scrutiny members to have an input at the earliest stage of development
  • Scrutiny Committees look at council performance on national and local performance indicators. This allows them to pick up issues of under-performance and take a closer look at possible reasons. It also allows them to comment on good performance.
  • The Forward Plan is a published document outlining the matters that Strategy Board are going to be asked to take decisions on over the coming months.
  • Scrutiny Members can be proactive and ask to be consulted on anything within the plan before it goes to Strategy Board.
  • Members of the public can submit their ideas for scrutiny reviews.
  • External bodies/organisations are also welcome to make suggestions.
  • Council or Strategy Board can request scrutiny to look into something.