Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting, including Cllr Chris Bloore, new representative for Bromsgrove District Council.

Apologies had been received from HOSC members Tony Baker and Bob Brookes, and from (non-member) Healthwatch.

None.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services in writing or by email indicating the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 13 March 2018). Enquiries can be made through the telephone number/email address below.

None.

Previously circulated

The Minutes of the meeting held on 29 January 2018 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The summary requested of proposed projects for capital expenditure at Worcestershire Royal hospital, had been received and circulated to HOSC members.

In attendance for this item were:

Dr Anthony Marsh, Chief Executive

Mark Docherty, Executive Nurse and Director of Clinical Commissioning and Service Development

The Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) had requested an update from West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) NHS Foundation Trust. A presentation had been circulated to HOSC members before the meeting (available on the website), and the Chief Executive and Executive Nurse highlighted the key points. The information provided included  details of the Service's history, WMAS's vision, strategic objectives and priorities, an overview of progress and plans for 2017/18, Winter preparations, activity, hospital handover delays, NHS 111, response times, challenges, reference costs, workforce, work with care homes and on births, clinical and quality indicators, WMAS sites and community response schemes.

Headlines included achievement of all new targets and WMAS' award of  ambulance service of the year. 98% of front line ambulances had a Paramedic on board, which was the highest skill mix in the country. WMAS was the only ambulance trust with an outstanding rating from the Care Quality Commission. The Service had the highest non-conveyance rate (45%) and had achieved 100% roll-out of electronic patient records.

The Winter period had been challenging but Dr Marsh believed the NHS was much better prepared than previously, which had avoided even worse outcomes.  The additional Government funding announced in Autumn had allocated a small amount to WMAS, which it had used to improve hospital discharge. Already it was important to capture learning and plan for next Winter.

Dr Marsh had roles in several other national forums, for example the Joint Emergency Service Interoperability Programme, the National Ambulance Resilience Unit and the national response unit for countering terrorism.

Activity continued to be above the contracted level and growth this year had been unprecedented, with very steep increases in activity during the recent adverse weather in March; 5 March had been the busiest period so far this year with over 5000 999 calls over a 24hour period. Annual increases of around 4% were predicted to continue. WMAS received payment for increased activity, and could deal with these increases; its biggest challenge was coping with hospital handovers, which were rapidly getting worse.

Of the 23 hospitals worked with, most coped well but 5 caused big concerns, perhaps because they were large hospitals.  However Worcestershire Royal Hospital (WRH) caused most concern, which was not a particularly big hospital. WMAS had written to WRH 3 years previously to express concern, however handovers were now much worse, and it was felt, were reaching the point of compromising patient safety.

WMAS presented data to indicate that performance of the NHS111 contract was significantly poorer than in previous years. For example, during the previous month only 65% of calls had been answered in 60 seconds, against the target of 85%. If callers gave up and went elsewhere – such as to A&E or dialling 999 - this could generate unnecessary work for the health service.

WMAS was the only ambulance service to achieve all new  ...  view the full minutes text for item 874.

NHS Board meetings – Cllr Raine had missed recent meetings because of diary clashes but would report back on future meetings.

The next HOSC public meeting on 21 May would include Neighbourhood Teams

Items for future meetings

Suggestions included:

·         Winter pressures – HOSC was keen to follow up issues raised by the Ambulance Service with Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust and gave some initial thought to the best approach

·         NHS111

·         Sustainability and Transformation Partnership

·         Oncology and elective surgery targets and waiting lists.

Cllr Tomlinson was also keen to verify that cancer providers had access to all necessary equipment.