The Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee met to discuss several key issues, including the future of Falmouth Community Hospital, dental service accessibility, changes to integrated care boards, winter preparedness, and community health initiatives. The committee requested further information on community first responder data, sought assurances regarding dental service funding, and voiced concerns about communication strategies.

Dental Crisis in Cornwall

The committee scrutinised the Healthwatch Cornwall: The Dental Crisis in Cornwall: Your Questions Answered report, which highlighted significant challenges in accessing dental services across the county. The report, based on feedback from over 1,100 residents, revealed long waiting times for NHS dental care, lack of access to urgent care, and obstacles in receiving treatment, particularly for children, rural residents, and vulnerable groups.

Key findings from the report included:

• A complete lack of NHS practices accepting new adult NHS patients.
• Systemic issues within the NHS dental care system, including financial pressures and ineffective waiting list management.
• Workforce challenges, with difficulties in recruiting and retaining dental professionals.
• Geographic and transport barriers, especially in North Cornwall.
• A significant lack of public understanding about how to access NHS dental care.

The committee was assured that system partners were working within current constraints to address access to dental services in Cornwall. They also requested that the Portfolio Holder for Community Safety and Public Health write to the government requesting fairer funding for dental services in Cornwall and a review of the current dental services contract.

Co-Responder Model

The committee discussed the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust's (SWASFT) decision to phase out Fire Co-Responding, focusing instead on developing its Community First Responder model. The committee took assurance in respect of the decision made by the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust to phase out Fire Co-Responding, when it has built up sufficient numbers of Community First Responders and that it focuses on developing those teams in areas which had historically been served by Fire Co-Responders.

The committee requested granular data on performance at the time when Community First Responder schemes were embedded and that the comments and concerns raised by the Committee be considered by the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.

Proposed Changes to Integrated Care Boards (ICB)

The committee considered an update on proposed changes to Integrated Care Boards (ICB). The changes are part of a wider NHS reform programme, to reduce management costs and focus more money on the front line, which stemmed in part from the outputs of a review into the NHS conducted by Lord Darzi in September 2024. The Darzi review concluded that responsibilities of ICBs needed to be clarified to provide more consistency and better enable the strategic objectives of redistributing resource and integrating care.

The committee considered the update provided by the Integrated Care Board and had assurance provided on:

• the continued focus on ensuring patient care and service delivery were not disrupted by transition and that the operating plan, setting out key priorities for health improvements be delivered as expected.
• a clear line of sight on budget and resources for Cornwall to maintain financial stability based on what is best for the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly residents’ health.
• continued support for staff through change, recognising their skills and contributions and retaining talent to the best of its ability during a period of change.
• the steps taken to ensure that Cornwall and the Iles of Scilly was well represented in the work of the cluster.

Cornwall & Isles of Scilly NHS Winter Pressures (ICB)

The committee discussed the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly NHS Winter Pressures and was assured by the various plans in place to tackle winter pressures and noted the winter plan ambition to align with the national Urgent and Emergency Care Plan, the Integrated Care Board’s (ICB) focus on applying learning from previous winters and that it continued the focused, system working and outcomes achieved via established cells, that the ICB continued to apply data modelling for scenarios planning and undertook system-wide testing using winter pressure scenarios to bring the overall plan to life.

The committee requested that the comments and concerns raised by the Committee, as set out in the minutes of the meeting, be considered by the ICB and health partners.

Falmouth Hospital

The committee discussed the future of Falmouth Hospital and resolved to work with Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust to help transform care in support of better outcomes for residents and requested clear, open and proactive communications with the Committee and the public in respect of its future intentions for Falmouth Hospital and all other Community Hospitals and its desired outcomes.

The Committee had concern about the content and tone of some press releases that could lead to confusion for Members and residents.

General Home Based Prevention and Intermediate Care

The Scrutiny Committee welcomed the General Home-Based Prevention and Intermediate Care commissioning intensions ahead of the joint business case governance during Autumn 2025 and provided feedback to officers as set out in the minutes of the meeting.

Questions from Members to Cabinet Member(s) on their updates

No questions were put to the Cabinet Members.