Agendas, Meetings and Minutes - Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Contact: Emma James / Jo Weston  Overview and Scrutiny Officers

Items
No. Item

849.

Apologies and Welcome

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the Meeting, especially Councillor Summers from Herefordshire Council and Councillor Redford from Warwickshire County Council who were invited to participate in the discussions.

 

Apologies were received from Mr P Grove, Mrs M A Rayner, Mr R P Tomlinson and Mrs S Webb.

850.

Declarations of Interest and of any Party Whip

Minutes:

Mrs P Agar declared an interest as her husband was employed as a hospital porter.

851.

Public Participation

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 18 July 2017). Enquiries can be made through the telephone number/email address below.

Minutes:

None.

852.

Confirmation of the Minutes of the Previous Meeting

Previously circulated

Minutes:

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 5 April 2017 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

853.

Constitutional Matters pdf icon PDF 73 KB

Minutes:

The Democratic Governance and Scrutiny Manager advised the Committee that Councillor Frances Smith had been nominated by District Council Representatives to stand as Vice Chairman.  The nomination would go to the 14 September 2017 County Council for appointment.

854.

Future of Acute Hospital Services in Worcestershire pdf icon PDF 96 KB

Minutes:

Attending for this Item were:

 

Future of Acute Hospital Services in Worcestershire (FoAHSW) Programme

 

Simon Trickett, Interim Chief Officer of Redditch and Bromsgrove CCG and Wyre Forest CCG

Dr Carl Ellson, Chief Clinical Officer, South Worcestershire CCG

Claire Austin, Communications and Engagement Lead for FoAHSW

 

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (WAHT)

 

Sarah Smith, Director of Strategy, Planning and Improvement

Dr Graham James, Divisional Medical Director of Surgery

 

The Chairman explained that the Chief Executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust was unable to attend and that arrangements were in place for Members to meet with her soon.

 

By way of presentation and for the benefit of new Members, the Committee was reminded that the project to review of acute hospital services began in January 2012, concluding with the CCGs' decision on 12 July 2017.  Over this time, the original NHS Bodies involved had ceased to exist and there had been numerous hurdles along the way.  However, HOSC had been kept appraised of developments at each stage.

 

Recent key milestones included:

·      the West Midlands Clinical Senate decision in June 2016 approving the Clinical Model, Assurance and Review by NHS England, leading to

·      their decision in January 2017 to approve Public Consultation

·      the extensive twelve week public consultation during the Spring of 2017

·      the CCGs Committee in Common on 12 July 2017 where all three Boards unanimously agreed the proposals without amendment.

 

The twelve week consultation ran from 6 January 2017 and engaged with over 5,700 people, across a variety of media.  42 meetings and drop in sessions were arranged, nearly 3,000 online surveys were submitted, views on social media were considered and HOSC was able to influence further engagement, including with neighbouring Local Authorities and hard to reach local communities.  In addition, it was noted that HOSC commented on the consultation documentation before publication.

 

Overall, it was stated that there was a good understanding of the proposals and responses showed general support of the key principles behind the plans, distinguishing between planned and emergency care.  However, there were a number of common areas of concern, including:

·         Loss of services from the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch

·         Transport

·         Capacity

·         Quality of services across the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals.

 

Residents were already aware of the temporary emergency changes to services such as maternity provision and inpatient paediatrics at the Alexandra Hospital, but queried what impact these changes would have on a permanent basis.

 

Following consideration of all of the feedback, the Programme Board put forward twelve recommendations to the Governing Bodies of the three Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Groups at their Committee in Common on 12 July 2017.  The Committee unanimously approved all twelve recommendations, concluding this stage of the Programme.

 

The next stage would be implementation of the recommendations, which would be led by WAHT over the coming years.  A decision was due shortly to establish whether a capital bid of £29.6m from NHS England had been approved.  If approved, all changes would be fully implemented by 2020.

 

With specific reference to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 854.

855.

Quality of Acute Hospital Services - Update pdf icon PDF 102 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Attending from Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (WAHT) were:

 

Vicky Morris, Chief Nursing Officer

Sarah Smith, Director of Strategy, Planning and Improvement

Dr Graham James, Divisional Medical Director of Surgery

 

The Chief Nursing Officer talked through the actions she had taken since her appointment to the Trust Board four months previously and referred to the Quality Improvement Plan (QIP), attached to the Agenda, which had been approved by the Trust Board following the Care Quality Commission (CQC) published reports.

 

It was noted that the QIP was a working document and a product of a number of different reports to ensure a consistent and clear approach for all stakeholders.  It would be updated monthly and reported to each Trust Board whilst WAHT was in special measures.

 

There were six themes within the Plan, with the common goal of continuous improvement:

·         Deteriorating Patient

·         Operational Improvement

·         Governance

·         Patient Experience and Engagement

·         Safe Care

·         Culture and Workforce.

 

In the discussion that followed, key points included:

·         Members were interested to know how complaints were handled and were informed that the current response time was very poor and unacceptable.  Further information was requested

·         Staff training was vital and was increasingly available online, resulting in a positive outcome as it could be completed to suit the individual working pattern

·         When asked about the level of staff morale, the Chief Nursing Officer stated that it was poor on her arrival, however, she had made great efforts to be more visible and visit departments, also resulting in positive promotion and value at Board level.  In addition, it was important to celebrate success, which had been introduced

·         In addition, uncertainty over  the FoAHSW programme had not helped with staff morale, therefore, improvements should now be seen more quickly

·         When asked what help was available to staff to ensure their own health and wellbeing, it was noted that staff had access to liaison services

·         Improving quality was key and ensuring that there continued to be a consistent approach across all disciplines was a challenge.  However, compliance was achievable in time and a robust system of monitoring had been introduced

·         Concerns were raised about capacity, especially as the full hospital protocol had been implemented on three occasions recently.

·         Members were reassured to hear about the plans already in place and the monitoring arrangements which the Trust Board had approved.  The Committee also acknowledged that the CQC had no concerns about the care of patients

 

Simon Adams, the Chief Operating Officer of Healthwatch Worcestershire was invited to comment and reported that following the CCGs decision, improvement should now be immediate.  He referred to the improvement in dealing with fractured neck of femur as an indication where performance had improved from one of the worst to one of the best performing Trusts.  He also reminded members about the Healthwatch report 'Care in the Corridor' which made 38 recommendations to the Trust.

 

The Chairman thanked everyone for a useful discussion and looked forward to quality updates at regular intervals.  The reputation of the Trust was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 855.