Agenda item

Report number: OAS/WS/23/004

[Councillor David Palmer arrived at 5.05pm.

Councillor Jo Rayner, Cabinet Member for Leisure, Culture and Community Hubs arrived at 5.10pm.]

[Councillor Jo Rayner declared a non-pecuniary interest as she worked at West Suffolk Hospital].

The Chair agreed to bring this item forward on the agenda to enable the Cabinet Member for Leisure, Culture and Community Hubs to be present to present the Mildenhall Hub post implementation report.

Councillor Margaret Marks, the Council’s appointed representative on the Suffolk County Council Health Scrutiny Committee presented report number OAS/WS/23/004, which set out what was considered at its meeting held on 25 January 2023.  The primary focus of the meeting was:

-      The East of England Ambulance Service.

Attached to the report were the following appendices:

-      Appendix 1 – Report from Councillor Marks

-      Agenda Item 5a – East of England Ambulance Service

-      Agenda Item 5b Evidence Set – East of England Ambulance Service

Councillor Marks informed the Committee this was her last report to the Committee sitting on the Health Scrutiny Committee.  In addition to the report, Councillor Marks updated the Committee on Hospitals at Home and the phlebotomy work she had been helping Councillor David Palmer with, in Brandon, which Councillor David Palmer thanked her for at the meeting. She then referred the Committee to the report.

The Committee considered the report in detail and asked questions to which Councillor Marks provided comprehensive responses.  In particular discussions were held on phlebotomists and training to take blood; how the EEAST intended to improve the current service; Hospital at Home; and how the Health Scrutiny Committee followed up recommendations with the various health providers.

In response to a question raised clarifying what phlebotomy was, Councillor Marks explained it was taking bloods for testing.  Staff were trained in a day on how to draw blood, but they did not stay very long in the job because staff were on the lowest pay scale, and it was all they did.  However, it was a good starting point to get a foot on the career ladder in the NHS.  Most GP surgeries were unable to keep up with demand, meaning patients then had to travel to another facility to have their blood taken.

In response to a question raised on the EEAST, Councillor Marks explained there was no straight forward answer on how to improve the service.  The failings of the EEAST service were due to other parts of the NHS system.  An ambulance cannot discharge a patient from the ambulance if a hospital has run out of beds, unless discharging patients at the other end of the NHS service.  More work needs to be done on early prevention and not on strategies, which Councillor Jo Rayner (Cabinet Member for Leisure, Culture and Community Hubs) fully supported.

The Chair thanked Councillor Margaret Marks for her reports, knowledge and passion put into representing West Suffolk Council on the Health Scrutiny Committee.

There being no decision required, the Committee noted the report presented by Councillor Margaret Marks.