Agenda and minutes

Councillor Taylor (Newcastle CC) declared an interest as an employee of Newcastle Hospitals Foundation Trust.

Councillor Mendelson (Newcastle CC) and Councillor Huntley (South Tyneside Council) declared an interest as members of NTS NHS FT Council of Governors.

The minutes of the meetings of the Joint Committee held on 16 July 2018 are attached for approval.

The minutes of the meeting of the Joint Committee held on 16 July 2018 were approved as a correct record.

Vocare and NHS 111

Councillor Mendelson highlighted that at previous meetings of the Committee there had been some confusion as to the role Vocare had played in the delivery of NHS 111 and what role it would or wouldn’t play going forwards.

Mark Cotton, NEAS, advised the Joint Committee that NEAS was the sole provider of the existing NHS 111 contract and under the new tender which would come into effect next month.

Mark clarified that the difference between the existing and new contract was in how specific expertise would be procured. During the last five years NEAS had sub- contracted to Vocare where they had needed GP involvement. NEAS had opted for a different approach when they tendered for the contract this time around. There would be an alliance approach for the new contract where NEAS would sub contract the necessary clinical experts in their field.

Councillor Mendelson thanked Mark for clarifying the position.

The Chair also thanked Mark and requested that a representative from NEAS attend a future meeting of the Committee to provide an update on the work of NEAS and the challenges it is facing.

LGA Green Paper on Adult Social Care

The Chair reminded everyone of the Green Paper on the future and funding of adult social care and advised that Gateshead had produced a system wide response to the consultation.

Consultation on Contracting arrangements for Integrated Care Providers

The Chair noted that the government is consulting on the contracting arrangements for integrated care providers and this consultation which came out in August was due to close on 26 October 2018. Gateshead would be providing a system wide response.

Workforce

Councillor Taylor had previously requested information on the numbers of migrant workers leaving the NHS as a result of the impact of Brexit.

Dr Bernard Groen, Health Education England provided the Joint Committee with some statistical information relating to acute trusts only and noted that the key message appeared to be that Brexit appeared to have accelerated the number of people wanting to work in the NHS.  However, this might increase the risks faced by services in the NHS if significant numbers of staff were to leave, particularly as migrant workers are not uniformly distributed amongst staff groups.

Councillor Taylor queried whether the figures just applied to the North East and Dr Groen confirmed that this was the case.

Councillor Taylor also queried whether turnover had changed and Dr Groen advised that this was relatively stable although there was movement between NHS organisations.

Councillor Taylor stated that she was particularly concerned about the risk to staffing levels in particular specialities and queried the position. Dr Groen stated that growth had been slowing in staffing levels for specialities. The area at greatest risk was cardiovascular surgery where there could be a significant impairment to the service if highly skilled/trained migrant workers were to leave.

Councillor Spillard asked whether there was any anecdotal evidence that individuals coming to the UK now would be allowed to stay if  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

Mary Bewley, Head of Communications and Engagement, North East Commissioning Support will provide the Joint Committee with a presentation on this issue.

Mary Bewley, Head of Communications and Engagement, North East Commissioning Support provided the Joint Committee with information on the proposed approach to workforce communications and sought views.

Mary advised that whilst there would be some workforce communications at a regional level, communications in the main would be targeted at the local level.

Mary advised that workforce communications so far had involved

·         Syndicated articles for workforce shared with all NHS communications teams.

·         Join our Journey bulletin with workforce programme update sent to partners

·         Discussions at meetings with NHS Chief Executives Trust Workforce, Nursing and Medical Directors, Directors of Adult Social Services, primary care and social care leads, Health Education England

·         Discussion with unions via North East Social Partnership Forum and individual meetings with Royal College of Nursing, British Medical Association, Unite and Unison

·         Linking with national task group on workforce, to inform and be informed by national thinking

·         Workforce discussions at regional events - maternity, prevention, mental health

·         Promotion of Find Your Place campaign – websites, social media, induction

Mary advised that in relation to the articles, NHS communications teams at NHS Trusts had not been mandated to share the information with staff but were provided with the option to share the information with staff if it was felt appropriate to the needs of the Trust at the time. Mary indicated that she had subsequently received positive feedback in relation to this approach.

Mary noted that the previous approach to communications had very much focused on acute care which had as a result supported the creation of a strong clinical networks from providers, commissioners and statutory clinical networks.

Mary indicated that what was needed now was to include primary care and the wider out of hospital workforce, including the voluntary and community sector with a view to:-

·         Developing a mind-set to think and work differently – more collaboration

·         Engaging staff in what the future workforce looks like

·         Getting the messages out across the NHS ‘family’ and wider provider staff

·         Being clear on what we are trying to achieve

·         Building the common picture and common language

·         Ensuring staff feel bought in and are part of it

Mary stated that the key messages being communicated relate to:-

·         Leaders and teams thinking and behaving differently – working collectively across organisational boundaries to drive change 

·         Developing a workforce model fit for the future – constantly adapting to meeting needs and challenges

·         Having a workforce with the right numbers, skills, values and behaviours to deliver it

·         Broadening the approach to thinking about workforce and workforce planning to include social care, public health and VCSE partners

Mary outlined a number of aspirations as to where they wished to go next:-

·         Developing new ways of working – e.g. for clinicians to work easily across multiple organisations and clinical sites, expanding the use of new roles and care models, and working more closely with VCS partners

·         Pooling recruitment efforts to sell the region and tackle challenges

·         Equipping all staff across health, care and voluntary sector with the skills and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

Issues to be slotted in

Pharmacy Update (information regarding the outcome of the evaluation of the Community Pharmacy Referral Scheme to be brought back to the Joint Committee at an appropriate point in the work programme)

ICS Progress Update – to be brought back to the Joint Committee as appropriate.

Details of the proposed work programme for the Joint Committee for 2018-19 are outlined above and the views of the Joint Committee are sought.

The Joint Committee considered and agreed its provisional work programme as follows:-

Issues to be slotted in

Pharmacy Update (information regarding the outcome of the evaluation of the Community Pharmacy Referral Scheme to be brought back to the Joint Committee at an appropriate point in the work programme – potentially March 2019)

ICS Progress Update – to be brought back to the Joint Committee as appropriate.

NEAS Update – to be slotted into the work programme in 2019.

Future Meetings of the Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and North Durham STP OSC will be held at Gateshead Civic Centre on the following dates and times:-

·         Monday 26 November 2018 at 2pm

·         Monday 21 January 2019 at 2pm

·         Monday 25 March 2019 at 2pm

Membership

Gateshead Council

Councillor L Caffrey

Councillor M Hall

Councillor P Maughan

Substitutes

Councillor M Charlton

Councillor P Foy

Councillor J Wallace

Newcastle City Council

Councillor W Taylor

Councillor F Mendelson

Councillor A Schofield

North Tyneside Council

Councillor M Thirlaway

Councillor K Clark

Councillor N Craven

Substitutes

Councillor M Green

Councillor T Mulvenna

Councillor L Spillard

Northumberland County Council

Councillor E Simpson

Councillor E Armstrong

Councillor J Watson

Substitute

Councillor R Dodd

South Tyneside Council

Councillor W Flynn

Councillor A Hetherington

Councillor A Huntley

Durham

Councillor J Robinson

Councillor O Temple

Councillor J Stephenson

Sunderland

Councillor D Snowdon

Councillor S Leadbitter

Councillor D Dixon

AGREED                    That future meetings of the Joint Committee be held on the following dates and times at Gateshead Civic Centre:-

·         Monday 26 November 2018 at 2pm

·         Monday 21 January 2019 at 2pm

·         Monday 25 March 2019 at 2pm