To receive any petitions, deputations and questions received from Members of the Public in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 217.

The total time allowed for this item shall be 30 minutes.  Petitions, declarations and questions shall be dealt with in the order in which they are received.  Questions may also be submitted at short notice by giving a written copy to the Committee Administrator 15 minutes before the start of the meeting.

The total time allowed for questions at short notice is 15 minutes out of the total time of 30 minutes.  Any petitions, deputations and questions that have been submitted with prior formal notice will take precedence over questions submitted at short notice.  Any questions that are not considered within the time limit shall receive a written response after the meeting and be the subject of a report to the next meeting.

One question had been received from Mr Nancarrow.  Mr Nancarrow put the question to the meeting as Members had received the full text prior to the meeting:

Question:

Part 1:

Was the panel made aware of the potential closure of the Ketton Surgery and if so what discussions took place with the Surgery, CCG or LPT? Can the Panel share that information with the residents of Ketton? What action did the Panel take in respect of that information?

Part 2:

If the panel was not aware of the potential closure, can the Panel consider taking an urgent and very close look at the provision of surgery, nursing and pharmacy services in the south east of the County, and Ketton in particular, before the end of the consultation period in respect of the closure to provide a report to Council and Cabinet with recommendations before 1st May 2018 taking into account

      a       The future growth of Ketton with an additional 300 homes and 1000 residents over the upcoming Local Plan period
      b       The jigsaw approach of the East Leics and Rutland CCG and the relationship with the South Lincs CCG (covering Stamford) considering that the residents of Ketton use 3 different GP practices, namely Uppingham (8.8 mls),  Empingham (4 mls) and Stamford (4.5 mls) with only 20% being registered with Uppingham.
      c       How these services will be provided to the vulnerable residents of Ketton who have no transport  and who could spend anything from 4 to 6 hours going to a doctor’s appointment in Uppingham by bus.

The Chair, Mrs Stephenson, responded to the question.  The response is shown below.

Answer

The Panel were not aware in advance.  The CCG have provided the following information regarding the consultation:

Uppingham Surgery have requested that East Leicestershire and Rutland Clinical Commissioning Group consider allowing them to close their branch surgery at Ketton.  The CCG gave permission for Uppingham Surgery to undertake a 90 day consultation concerning this to inform the decision.  The CCG are supporting Uppingham Surgery to ensure that the 90 day consultation meets good practice guidelines on consultation.

The Surgery are required to have an independent analysis of the results of the consultation and present this alongside their full business case requesting the closure of Ketton surgery. 

The decision regarding the closure will be made by East Leicestershire and Rutland Clinical Commissioning Group’s Primary Care Commissioning Committee, at a meeting held in public.  This decision will take into account the long-term sustainability of the practice as well as the results of the consultation.

It is important to point out that neither the Uppingham Surgery nor its branch in Ketton are commissioned services by Rutland County Council so therefore this decision is not within the control of this authority.  However, we sit as elected members representing the views and needs of our residents.  Your views must be heard.  The avenues of action available to us as a panel are as follows:

1)    That the proposed closure is put on the Health and Wellbeing Board agenda for the meeting on 6/3/18.  This is a meeting held in public which is chaired by the Rutland County Council portfolio holder for Adults and Health.

2)    That a special meeting of this scrutiny panel is held to which representatives from Uppingham Surgery and the CCG are invited to attend so members might have the opportunity to ask questions.

This is a member led scrutiny panel; therefore I will be asking members to discuss and decide which course of action to take under item 10 of this agenda.

Mr Nancarrow did not ask a supplementary question but did request that he received in writing the decision of the Panel regarding the course of action to be taken, as discussed under agenda item 10.