Scrutiny and healthcare in Derbyshire

Today was the first meeting of the Improvement and Scrutiny Committee for Health in the new Council.

The process felt slightly strained with councillors in the Council Chamber in Matlock and all of the health professionals in zoom from afar.  

I was able to ask a fair few questions and pressed Sharon Martin, the Executive Chief Operating Officer of the Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust on the plans to catch up on planned care. There is of course a huge backlog in the aftermath of Covid but I remain sceptical that the recovery cab be so easily handled. We were told that going from 6 operating theatres to eleven at Chesterfield was possible and planned but I have asked that the transition be reported to the next meeting.

Further, I asked about the waiting times for ophthalmology and questioned whether it was accurate that from a waiting time of 18 weeks it has dropped to 11 weeks. Again I have asked for the numbers to be checked but I remain sceptical that this is accurate.

When it came to mental healthcare there is welcome investment in the provision and quality of care for the Hartington suit at Chesterfield and this is to be in place by Spring 2024. Whilst there is no reduction in the provision I questioned Andy Harrison and Mick Burrows if it was likely that we would not need additional mental health bed capacity in three years time and that in fact we would quite quickly see we had greater need than now.  I was assured it was suitable and that there is recruitment of mental health nurses who will deal with community care (as it were) but I will keep a close eye on this as again I found myself being sceptical.

The final issue we discussed was around dementia care and I raised what seems to be the presumption that those who are married or partnered to anyone with dementia is assumed to be the carer. I was told by Mike Hammond that this was not the presumption, but my experience and feedback from residents suggests otherwise.

More to follow on all of these but this hopefully gives you in insight into the issues and the opportunities we have as councillors to ask and to challenge.

We have been asked to put forward issues of healthcare for scrutiny and i have already flagged dentistry and how that is handled in Covid and via 111. What issues would you like me to raise?