The February Health Scrutiny Committee meeting was very much focused on the scrutiny and discussion around several budgets. Firstly, the revenue budget, which outlines what money the Council has to spend on services and where they need to make savings which will lead to cuts in services. Before Christmas 2022, Manchester City Council was preparing to make a total of £42m in cuts and savings. However, the financial settlement Manchester City Council receives from central government was more money than expected. The Council will still be calling on £16m from their reserves so the new budget states that there will be a balanced budget for 2023/24 and 204/25. Manchester will face budgets cuts and savings in the 205/26 budget. Also, there will still be a council tax increase of 4.9%, which will be used to support Manchester’s vulnerable residents and support the VCSE sector in Manchester.
Director of Public Health, David Regan, presented the health budget and Bernie Enright outlined the proposed work and savings for the Adult Social Care budget. Both budget presentations focused on where monies and resources would be allocated and where savings would be made. Both reports stated that the impact on the staff team and roles would be limited.
The meeting also included reports about access to GP and dentistry services due to ongoing concerns. The Access to Dentistry report states that the free dentistry services are only able to deliver to 55% of the population, which is an ongoing concern. The reports focuses on children and the work being done to ensure that as many children as possible have access to dentistry services. During the last year, 51% of children in Manchester received dental care, which is higher than the national average. There are buddying schemes with schools in Levenshulme, Gorton and Wythenshawe to raise awareness of dental health and how to access dentists.
The meeting also included reports from Access to Community Pharmacy Services, Access to Patient Participation Groups, Access to Alcohol, Drugs and Community Stop Smoking services and Manchester’s Climate Change Framework.
You can access the recording of the February Health Scrutiny Committee meeting by accessing the following link here: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7723560/video/792558980 To read the reports and meeting papers visit https://democracy.manchester.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=142&MId=4154&Ver=4 .