Health Scrutiny Committee

Over the next couple of months we're planning to look at the following areas of work:

• The Health and Wellbeing Board
• Quality Accounts
• Prevention of Falls for Older People

Latest News

05/04/2012 - End of the Year Summary

This year, the Committee has looked at the changes to health social care and how these will affect Manchester residents. There will be many more changes taking place to how the NHS operates over the next 12 months and monitoring this will be a key part of our work next year.

The Committee looked at NHS Manchester's proposals to relocate walk in centres in Ancoats, Wythenshawe and Withington to the hospital sites at North Manchester General Hospital and Wythenshawe Hospital. Health Scrutiny Committees have the power to ask the Secretary of State for Health to stop big changes to health services going ahead, where we do not think that the changes are in the interests of patients in Manchester. When we reviewed these proposals, we were concerned that it will be more difficult for patients to talk to a doctor when they need to. We asked the government to postpone these closures and to reopen Withington Community Hospital walk in centre until the NHS was able to demonstrate that patients can get same day advice

In May, we will see the first public meeting of the Shadow Health and Wellbeing Board which has been established to bring together key health professionals and council officers and councillors. They will be responsible for making decisions about the healthcare services that are needed in Manchester. We will keep a close eye on the work of the Health and Wellbeing Board as it develops. In May, we will also be shortening our name to the Health Scrutiny Committee which will make it easier to distinguish between us and the Health and Wellbeing Board.

21/02/2012 - Update on the Closure of Walk In Centres in Manchester

One of our biggest pieces of work this year has been the review of urgent care and the proposed closure of the walk in centres in Manchester. After we asked the government to postpone the closures, the Secretary of State for Health set a condition that the Committee is given and satisfied with evidence that Manchester residents are able to access same day advice from their GP surgery, before the closures take place. The Chair of the Committee has met with GP representatives for each area about the evidence that we need. At our March meeting, we will look at detailed evidence about how GP surgeries will provide you with same day advice and how this will be measured. We will continue to monitor this over the next few months.

21/2/2012 - Changes to the Structure of NHS in Greater Manchester

At our meeting last week, we received a presentation on the structure of the NHS in Greater Manchester and how this links to the changing structure in Manchester. The Government is currently amending the Health and Social Care Bill so there may be more changes that affect youthat affect you. When this law is implemented, there will be GP led Clinical Commissioning Groups in Manchester covering the north, central and south areas. From April 2013, these groups will be responsible for deciding how NHS money is spent on the healthcare services that you use. It is the committee's role to monitor how these changes will affect you so we will revisit this topic later on in the year.

Get Involved

To find out more information have a look at our full work programme.  This includes what topics we will be looking at, what specific issues we will be considering and who we will be hearing from.  Please bear in mind that the programme is continually updated, and so dates and agenda items may change from those listed in the programme.

If there's an issue you want to contribute to, let us know.  You can either send a written contribution to scrutiny@manchester.gov.uk or you can attend a meeting and ask the Chair if you can speak.  You can also suggest a topic for us to look into by filling in our 'suggestions form.' 

If you want to speak to somebody about contributing to the committee, please call our scrutiny support officer on 0161 234 3011 or e mail scrutiny@manchester.gov.uk. 

The Role of the Committee

"As members of the Health Scrutiny Committee, we are dedicated to looking at how the Council and its partners in the NHS deliver health and social care services to improve the health and wellbeing of Manchester residents. We take a broad view of the health and social care services that are commissioned and provided by both the NHS and the Council so that we can make recommendations about how they can improve these services for you.

Our areas of interest include social care for adults, health inequalities, health services, the protection and safeguarding of adults in receipt of health and social care services, mental health and wellbeing, experiences and outcomes for patients, public health and healthy living.

Through this page you'll be able to keep in touch with what we've been doing, find out what we'll be investigating over the next few months and how you can get involved." Councillor Eddy Newman, Chair of Health Scrutiny Committee

Find out more

• You can read our agenda, minutes and reports here, as well as find future meeting dates.
• You can find out who's a member of the Committee here.