Agenda and minutes

The Committee is asked to approve as a correct record the minutes of the last meeting held on 18 April 2023

RESOLVED    -           That the minutes of the meeting held on 18 April 2023 be

approved as a correct record.

Report of Sheena Ramsey, Chief Executive and Alice Wiseman, Director of Public Health

Representatives of Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust and CNTW NHS Foundation Trust will provide the OSC with a presentation in relation to their respective Quality Accounts.

Appendix 1 – Gateshead Health NHS FT Quality Account 2022-23 (Pages 11 – 93)

Appendix 2 – CNTW NHS FT Quality Account 2022-23 (Pages 95 – 226)

The Committee received a presentation from Jane Conroy, Head of Midwifery, and Drew Rayner, Deputy Chief Nurse, on the Gateshead Health NHS Trust, Quality Accounts 2022-23.

Based on the Committee’s knowledge of the work of the Trust during 2022-23, the Committee was able to comment as follows:

Quality Priorities for 2023-24 

OSC is supportive of the Trust’s proposed Quality Priorities for Improvement.

Progress Against Quality Priorities for 2022-23

OSC expressed its thanks to all the Trust’s staff and volunteers for its excellent work in continuing to make some real improvements in quality and safety whilst still facing significant challenges. Areas to particularly note were around the increase in the number of nursing staff and overseas nurses as well as an increase in volunteer numbers. Although there is further work continuing in this area, progress was good.

The Trust has carried out some good work around patients as partners in improvement, holding co-design improvement workshops and working collaboratively with ISB / Gateshead Place to establish a Patient Forum. The Trust has maintained its focus on the health and wellbeing of staff particularly focusing on enhanced staff offers during very busy periods and achieved the Better Health at Work Silver Award during the year. OSC also noted it is working towards the Gold award. 

In addition, the Trust has in place an overarching Equality and Diversity Objections action plan for Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) and Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) and has trained 9 Cultural Ambassadors to be utilised during disciplinary processes where BME members of staff are involved.

The Trust has taken forward work to maximise safety in maternity services and has a fully staffed maternity unit. The Trust has made good progress in terms of improving the experiences of service users with Learning Disabilities and Mental Health needs and acknowledged that further work is continuing around clinical coding.

The Trust has worked towards, and will continue to promote, a just, open and restorative culture across the organisation. There has been dedicated Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) sessions held and work will continue in this area as part of the 2023/24 priorities.

Maternity Service

OSC sought clarification as to the reasons why an improvement plan was being developed for the Trust’s Maternity Services. OSC was informed that this was following Maternity Services generally coming under a lot of scrutiny across the country with various reports being published in relation to other Trusts that contained a number of actions to be taken forward. A new three-year plan was produced therefore and the Trust has recognised the need to have these pieces of work in one place to facilitate good strategic oversight and to demonstrate what the Trust is doing in this area.

OSC also enquired about the CQC inspection carried out in February 2023 and it was noted that the Trust is awaiting the outcome of the inspection. OSC asked to be updated on the outcome in due course as part of its work programme.

Volunteers

OSC queried to what  ...  view the full minutes text for item CHW41

The Committee received a presentation from Bill Kay, Group Nurse Director, Jo Phillipson, Head of Commissioning and Quality Assurance and Rebecca Tait, Associate Director, Central Locality Community Services, on the CNTW Quality Accounts 2022-23.

Based on the OSC’s knowledge of the work of the Trust during 2022-23 the Committee was able to comment as follows:

Quality Priorities for 2023-24 

OSC is supportive of the Trust’s proposed Quality Priorities for Improvement.

Progress Against Quality Priorities for 2022-23

OSC expressed its thanks to all the Trust’s staff and volunteers for its excellent work in continuing to make some real improvements in quality and safety whilst still facing significant challenges. The Trust has faced a substantial increase in referrals, with pressures on Adults, and Children and Young People’s Services (CYPS). However, the Trust has reduced the number waiting for CYPS for more than 18 weeks in the last quarter of 2022/23.

Work is ongoing to manage wait times with the roll out of a new ‘4 weeks to treatment’ national programme. The Trust continues to regularly review wait times across the organisation. Work is also underway with system partners in Gateshead and Newcastle to better understand the reasons for the significant increase in referrals. In addition, there are initiatives in place with the Toby Henderson Trust to reduce the number of people on waiting lists.

Hadrian Clinic – CQC Inspection

The OSC sought further information regarding the focussed inspection of Hadrian’s Clinic in December 2022. OSC was informed that 2 out of 3 wards at the Clinic were inspected and that there were a number of positive findings, including that staff assessed risk well and acted on risks; that patient feedback was positive and there were enough staff to meet patient need; that good safety systems and good inter-agency safeguarding processes were in place.

It was also reported that some areas for improvement were identified and, in particular, that the Trust must ensure the premises are fit for purpose, have suitably qualified and experienced staff to support all admissions including training in specialist autism and learning disabilities. The inspection also identified the need for all staff to be aware of patient’s risks and risk management plans. The Trust should also ensure patients have access to a full multi-disciplinary team.

OSC was informed that, in terms of risk management plans, all staff have access to plans and this action point related to agency staff in particular.  OSC were reassured that a new system is in place whereby all agency staff are given access to risk management plans during their induction. OSC was informed that the Trust recognises the need to broaden the service offer to include other staff and there is a proposal to look at Advanced Level Practitioners to develop the offer to service users.

The Trust confirmed that an environmental checklist has been carried out and remedial work undertaken, although it was acknowledged that more needs to be done. There are plans to relocate the clinic to St Nicholas’  ...  view the full minutes text for item CHW42