Agenda item

Southampton Provider Draft Quality Accounts 2016/17

Report of the Service Director, Legal and Governance introducing the 2016/17 draft Quality Accounts for NHS providers operating within Southampton.

Minutes:

The Panel considered the report of the Service Director, Legal and Governance introducing the 2016/17 draft Quality Accounts for NHS providers operating within Southampton.

 

John Richards - Chief Officer NHS Southampton City Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) was present and was asked by the Chair to provide the CCG’s evaluation of the Quality Accounts.  In addition Annabel Hodgson (Healthwatch Southampton) and Joe Hannigan (Patients Forum) were present and, with consent of the Chair, were able to address the meeting.

 

The Panel recognised that the accounts were designed to focus on the individual organisational performance.  However, the City Providers were requested that the final versions of the Quality Accounts should make broader reference to how the individual organisations feed into the priorities of the wider system.

 

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust (UHS)

 

Juliet Pearce (Deputy Director of Nursing) and Gail Byrne (Director of Nursing and Organisational Development) were present and with the consent of the Chair addressed the meeting. 

 

The Trust outlined its performance against 2016/17 targets and reasons for choosing the priorities.  It was noted that UHS had managed winter pressures well in 2016/17, in terms of patient care, and that, whilst there were a number workforce challenges, recent staff surveys had indicated a great deal of employee satisfaction with the Trust.  It was recognised that the Trust had continued to engage with staff to provide a better understanding of how the Trust was performing.  It was noted that the Trust recognised the danger of staff shortages and was considering introducing an apprenticeship scheme and had instigated a talent management programme to support staff development within the organisation. 

 

The Panel noted that there continued to be concerns over the issue of delayed discharge of patients from the Hospital. The trust acknowledged the problem but stated that there had been an improvement in performance against targets in the Southampton City area but that sustained improvement was required.  In response to questioning the Trust informed the Panel of its efforts to enable accessible information, explaining the planned roll out of a card that would identify the required format of any information imparted to patients by staff members.

 

The Quality Account made reference to an unannounced Care Quality Commission inspection in January 2017.  The Panel welcomed the opportunity to review the feedback from the inspection and the subsequent action plan in 2017/18. 

 

Care UK

 

Were not present at the meeting and offered apologies.  The Panel raised concerns that the number of reported incidents at the Southampton Treatment Centre had increased, including a ‘Never Event’. The CCG outlined that Care UK had a transparent and open approach to reporting incidents and subsequently learning from them. 

 

Solent NHS Trust

 

Mandy Rayani (Chief Nurse) was present and with the consent of the Chair addressed the meeting. 

 

The Panel received a verbal update that detailed the progress implementing the action plan developed following the inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in June and July 2016. It was noted that the CQC had provided initial comments on the action plan and these were being responded to and that the matter would be best addressed at a future meeting.

 

The Panel were informed that Solent NHS Trust had made progress following the CQC inspection, particularly around risk assessments and medicine management in schools.  Not all the actions have been implemented but they were confident that when the Trust were re-inspected the CQC would note the improvements.

 

It was noted that the Trust had implemented a quality improvement programme, focusing on the skills of the workforce, with the aim of empowering staff at all levels to make a difference and improve outcomes. 

 

The Panel highlighted the difficulty within the Quality Account to link the performance indicators with the priorities of the organisation.  It was noted that the trust had only fully achieved 2 out of the 5 priorities for 2016/17 and that they were carrying over 3 of its 5 priorities for the forthcoming year.  In response to questioning the Trust explained that recruitment to a number of senior positions was on going.

 

 

 

 

Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust

 

Alan Yates (Interim Chair), Julie Dawes (Interim Chief Executive) Helen Ludford (Associate Director Quality and Governance) Emma McKinney (Associate Director Communications) were present and with the consent of the Chair addressed the meeting. 

 

The Panel acknowledged that the Trust had been the subject of a great deal of scrutiny over the past 12 months and that generally it was making progress against the targets and action plans developed following the critical CQC and Mazars reports, this included the removal of the warning notice by the CQC.  The Trust was now better at reporting and investigating serious incidents and was reviewing structures, risk management processes and performance management.

 

The Panel were informed that Southern Health had appointed a Family Liaison Officer to improve the engagement of carers and families, this was recognised as a positive development reflecting good practice.

 

The Trust also provided the Panel with an overview of the Quality Ambassadors Initiative.  The scheme seeks to involve staff across the organisation in improving quality and ensuring that improvements are sustainable.

 

The Panel were briefed on the status of the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in Southampton and were informed that the unit had now been reopened but that the Trust had restricted admission on a number of occasions to maintain safe staffing levels.  It was explained that the Unit continued to be closely monitored to ensure that the quality of care could be maintained.

 

The Panel also reviewed the Trust’s Clinical Services Strategy.  The strategy identifies how services will be best delivered in the future and looked at whether the current organisational arrangements needed to change to support the clinical strategy.  Reflecting the new strategy the Panel were informed that it was hoped that a permanent Chair for the Trust would be appointed by the end of May 2017 and that once appointed the Chair would be involved in recruiting the new Non-Executive Directors to the Trust Board.  The CCG expressed its support for the new strategy. 

 

RESOLVED that the Panel;

 

(i)  Noted the draft 2016/17 Quality Accounts from the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Care UK, Solent NHS Trust and Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust

(ii)  Agreed that a response to each Quality Account would be developed, following consultation with the Chair, for inclusion within the final reports;

(iii)  Noted the Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust Clinical Services Strategy.

 

Supporting documents: