Agenda, decisions and minutes

The Chair extended a warm welcome to everyone meeting in the Town House.  He welcomed the new Chief Finance Officer, Amy McDonald, to her first meeting.

The Chair expressed his thanks to staff who had continued to provide support and care to the public during the recent bad weather of snow and ice.

The Board resolved:-

to note the Chair’s remarks.

Members are requested to intimate any Declarations of Interest or Transparency Statements

Members were requested to intimate any declarations of interest or transparency statements in respect of items on the agenda.

The Board resolved:-

(i)            to note that the Vice Chair advised that he had a connection in relation to all items on the agenda by virtue of being a Member of the Diverse Experiences Advisory Panel, a named partner in the Scottish Government’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy Delivery Plan and the Depute Representative of said Group to the Scottish Government Mental Health and Wellbeing Leadership Board, however having applied the objective test, he did not consider that he had an interest and would not be withdrawing from the meeting; and

(ii)          to note that the Vice Chair advised that he had a connection in relation to agenda item 6.1 (Carers Strategy) and item 6.2 (GP Vision update) by virtue of (1) being an unpaid carer; and (2) his participation in a project with Dundee University investigating aspects of coding for chronic pain respectively,  however having applied the objective test, he did not consider that he had an interest and would not be withdrawing from the meeting for these items.

Members are requested to determine that any exempt business be considered with the press and public excluded

Members were requested to determine that any exempt business be considered with the press and public excluded.

The Board resolved:-

to consider the exempt appendices during consideration of items 8.1 and 8.2 with the press and public excluded so as to avoid disclosure of exempt information of the classes described in paragraphs 6 and 9 of Schedule 7A of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 Act (in respect of item 8.1) and with regard to Appendix B(a) of the IJB Scheme of Governance regarding Exempt and Confidential Information (in respect of item 8.2).

The Board received a video presentation entitled Wellbeing in Communities.

The Transformation Programme Manager introduced the video, explaining that it highlighted some of the positive examples of how the Wellbeing Team worked closely with community members and organisations to promote and develop wellbeing under the Programme of  Stay Well Stay Connected.  He advised that community participation through the Programme had increased by 169%, from 660 people in 2023 to 1,777 people in 2024.

The Board resolved:-

to note the video.

The Board had before it the minute of its meeting of 19 November 2024 and the 2024 attendance record.

The Board resolved:-

(i)            to note the Attendance Record; and

(ii)          to approve the minute as a correct record.

The Board had before it the draft minute of the Risk, Audit and Performance Committee meeting of 3 December 2024.

The Board resolved:-

to note the minute.

The Board had before it the draft minute of the Clinical and Care Governance Committee meeting of 17 December 2024.

The Board resolved:-

to note the minute.

The Board had before it the Business Planner, which was presented by the Chief Operating Officer who advised Members of the updates to reporting intentions and that further items would be added to future reporting cycles.

The Board resolved:-

to agree the Planner.

The Board had before it the IJB Insights Sessions and Topic Specific Seminars Planners prepared by the Strategy and Transformation Manager.

The Board resolved:-

(i)            to agree to add a deep-dive on the subject of AI to the Topic Specific Session planner; and

(ii)          to otherwise note the Planners.

The Board had before it the report from the Chief Officer, ACHSCP. The Chief Officer presented the update on highlighted topics and responded to questions from members.

The report recommended:-

that the Board note the detail contained within the report.

The Board resolved:-

to note the information provided.

The Board had before it a report referred from the Clinical and Care Governance Committee in respect of current challenges associated with the provision of abortion care.

The report recommended:-

that the Board:

(a)         note the challenges associated with the provision of abortion care; and

(b)         note the activity underway to ensure clarity on the service levels that could be provided within available resources.

The Board resolved:-

(i)            to instruct the Strategy and Transformation Lead to report back to the IJB in May 2025 on the proposed actions following the recommendations of the review of hosted services; and

(ii)          to otherwise agree the recommendations.

The Board had before it the first annual report on the Carers Strategy 2023 – 2026, covering the period from January 2024 to January 2025.

The report recommended:-

that the Board:

note the progress on the delivery of the Carers Strategy to date.

The Board resolved:-

to note the information provided.

The Board had before it an update on the GP Vision Programme. prepared by the Primary Care Development Manager.

The report recommended:-

that the Board:

(a)          note the content of the report as an update on current progress on the GP Vision Programme; and

(b)          instruct the Chief Officer to report back with a further annual update in spring 2026.

The Board resolved:-

to agree the recommendations.

The Board had before it an update prepared by the Primary Care Development Manager on the Marywell Practice redesign, its consideration of options and recommendations on the service’s future direction.

The report recommended:-

that the Board:

(a)          note the benefits of the continued collaboration between the Marywell Practice and the Integrated Drug Service;

(b)          note the Options Appraisal (at Appendix A of the report) and multi-agency and service user consultations (at Appendix E);

(c)          agree to implement Option 2, namely for Marywell General Practice to continue to operate as a 2c General Medical Service (Specialist Service); and

(d)          agree that the recurring alignment of Alcohol & Drugs Partnership (ADP) funding of £100,000 to Marywell Practice should proceed to implement Option 2 referred to at (c) above.

The Board resolved:-

to agree the recommendations.

The Board had before it the Budget Monitoring report prepared by the Chief Finance Officer, which provided  detail of the 2024/25 quarter 3 financial position, the forecast year end outturn; and the draft outline budget for 2025/26.

The Chief Finance Officer presented the report and responded to questions from Members.

The report recommended:-

that the Board:

(a)          note the financial position as at 31 December 2024 for the 2024/25 integrated budgets;

(b)          note the challenging factors that had caused the Chief Finance Officer to re-evaluate the financial implications for the deliverability of the November 2024 Recovery Plan, that meant a substantial overspend for the year was now forecast;

(c)          approve the use of IJB uncommitted reserves, up to the value of £6.119m, utilising all available and uncommitted reserves thus leaving no contingency to manage budget fluctuations in future years;

(d)          note the forecast 2024/25 deficit position of £10.454m after the use of £6.119m from reserves;

(e)          note the Chief Finance Officer had notified the partners that a deficit was now forecast for the year, and understand that the deficit, in accordance with the IJB’s Integration Scheme, will require NHS Grampian to contribute c.£6m and Aberdeen City Council c.£4m;

(f)           note the opportunity for a special meeting of the Board prior to the next scheduled meeting of 18 March 2025, should the Chief Officer and Chief Finance Officer deem it necessary;

(g)          in light of the latest forecast for the current financial year, note that significant work has also been undertaken to refresh the draft forecast budget position for 2025/26, that indicated an emerging gap in funding of circa £21.4m;

(h)          note, that at this stage, similar to the November 2024 recovery plan, there were key areas of the budget that would have to be tackled to bring costs in line with total funding.  Indicative areas and changes which could be made, were:          

1)    changes to eligibility criteria for service users;

2)    deliver services to meet statutory requirements;

3)    consider sustainability of additional services currently provided to service users;

4)    work to bring efficiencies to the partnership which would bring financial sustainability in future years; and

5)    consider and mitigate the risk associated with all budget savings plans changing services levels to meet financial expenditure limits; and

(i)            acknowledge a significant effort would be required to deliver in-year savings of over £20m in 2025/26, that these would not be without a wide range of implications and therefore there remained a risk that a deficit in 2025/26 may emerge.

The Board resolved:-

to agree the recommendations.

The Board had before it an annual monitoring report prepared by the Consultant in Public Health Medicine and Vaccination Planning Manager, which provided details of vaccine preventable disease surveillance data, along with uptake data for each vaccine delivered within Grampian.

Dr Clare-Louise Walker - Consultant in Public Health Medicine, presented the report and responded to questions from members.

The report recommended:-

that the Board:

(a)          note the findings of the Vaccination and Immunisation Annual report 2024; and

(b)          instruct the Chief Officer to provide an annual report to the Integration Joint Board with the next report due in 2026.

The Board resolved:-

to agree the recommendations.

The Board had before it a report prepared by Public Health, NHS Grampian providing an update on activity contributing to the Fast Track Cities Initiative.

The report recommended:-

that the Board:

note the delivery of the Fast Track Cities initiative in Aberdeen City and endorse the continuation of this work.

The Board resolved:-

to agree the recommendation.

Please note that there are exempt appendices contained within the Private Section of this agenda below.

The Board had before it the Annual Procurement Work Plan for 2025/26 in respect of expenditure on social care services, together with the associated procurement Business Cases.

The Strategic Procurement Manager presented the report.

The report recommended:-

that the Board:

(a)          approve the direct award of a contract for a Care Home for people with alcohol and drug misuse problems for a period of five years, as detailed in Appendices A and C of the report;

(b)          approve the extension for one year, of 23 National Care Home Contracts (NCHC) for residential services for older people, as detailed in Appendices A and D of the report;

(c)          approve the direct award of six contracts to Care Homes for adults with learning disabilities for a period of five years, as detailed in Appendices A and E of the report;

(d)          note the update to Individual Out of Area Placements at paragraph 4.6 of the report; and

(e)          make the Directions, as attached at Appendices B1, B2, and B3 and instruct the Chief Officer to issue the Directions to Aberdeen City Council.

The Board resolved:-

(i)            to note that the Directions at Appendices B1, B2, and B3 would be amended to state report number HSCP.25.008 prior to issue; and

(ii)          to otherwise agree the recommendations.

The Board had before it the exempt appendix in respect of the Annual Procurement Workplan 2025/26 report.

The Board resolved:-

to note the recommendations approved at article 18 of this minute.

The Board had before it the exempt appendix in respect of the Financial Position Update report.

The Board resolved:-

to note the recommendations approved at article 15 of this minute.

·         Medium Term Financial Framework

·         Strategic & Delivery Plan

·         Risk Appetite Statement

The Board had before it the date of the next Topic Specific Seminar as 18 February 2025.

The Board resolved:-

to note the date of the Topic Specific Seminar.

The Board had before it the date of the next IJB meeting as 18 March 2025.

The Board resolved:-

(i)            to note that an additional Special IJB Meeting would be programmed prior to the scheduled Budget meeting on 18 March 2025, as agreed at article 15; and

(ii)          to otherwise note the date of the next meeting.

The Board had before it the date of the next IJB Insights Session as 25 March

2025.

The Board resolved:-

to note the date of the IJB Insights Session.

-           COUNCILLOR JOHN COOKE, Chair.