Adult, Community Services and Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel
Monday 8 March 2010
8 MARCH 2010
PRESENT: Councillors Mrs Endacott (Vice-Chairman – in the Chair), Baskerville, Mrs Kemp (substituting for Councillor Mrs Evans), Lenton, Mrs Luxton (substituting for Councillor Meadowcroft), Majeed, Mrs Napier, Mrs Proctor and Mrs Yong.
Non-Member: Councillor Dudley
Also Present: Philippa Slinger (Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust); Liz Head, Neil Freeman, Abby Millen, Deirdre Thompson and Marek Stepniak (Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust); Carolyn Finlay and David Williams (Berkshire East Primary Care Trust)
Officers: Mr Abrahamson, Mr Herlinger, Mr Scaife, Mr A Scott and Mrs Shawcross.
92/09 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mrs Evans & Meadowcroft.
93/09 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Councillor Mrs Napier declared a Personal and Prejudicial Interest in Agenda Item 9 – Service Monitoring Report - as her son was in receipt of a care package.
Councillor Mrs Luxton declared a Personal Interest in Agenda Item 5 – Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – Update on Financial Situation and Agenda Item 6 – Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – Complaints Procedure – as a Governor on the Trust.
Councillor Lenton declared a Personal Interest in Agenda Item 12 – Sandown Park, Vale Road, Windsor – as a Director of Windsor Housing.
Councillor Mrs Endacott declared a Personal Interest in Agenda Item 4 – Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust – Strategic Briefing – NHS Funding and Our Response to the Challenge – as a Governor on the Trust.
94/09 MINUTES
- RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meetings of the Panel held on 26 January and 9 February 2010 be approved.
- Members discussed the receipt of information from Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It was agreed that the Trust be reminded of their obligation to provide the Panel with relevant information in advance of the meeting in order that the Panel can carry out its scrutiny function effectively.
Members received a presentation from Philippa Slinger, Chief Executive of the Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, on the Trust’s Next Generation Care programme. She explained how the Trust was seeking to improve the quality of its provision and that it was currently looking at a range of options including improving quality, increasing volume and decreasing cost. She commented upon the main challenges facing the Trust, in particular in the light of the financial restrictions and the ageing population that was placing increased demand on services, and explained how the efficiencies and service improvements would be delivered. She explained that financial savings would come from the workforce and buildings budgets.
Member were advised that the Trust was committed to retaining the 6 local bases across Berkshire with integrated teams, was proposing a central point of entry for service users that would screen, assess and signpost service users directly to appropriate care settings / options, was seeking ways of reducing multiple assessments, would utilise technology to provide an improved service for clients and was planning to transform day services to focus on treatment and assessment. She also explained that the current fragmented inpatient services across Berkshire was neither cost nor clinically optimal and that quality would be improved by having a single site for all Berkshire, although several options would be considered under the review.
Arising from the discussion, Members stressed the need for the provision of a local inpatient facility to serve the residents of East Berkshire as it was considered that centralising the service at Prospect Park, Reading would not be in the best interests of local service users or their families. Mrs Slinger advised that the current plan was to have an inpatient facility in East Berkshire but due to the financial constraints that was being reviewed. She commented upon the cost efficiencies and clinical benefits of having a single centralised facility but stressed that a range of options would be drawn up and would form part of the consultation process. Mrs Slinger provided further details on the work being undertaken to streamline the assessment process and commented upon the process of ensuring that employees were fully engaged in the restructuring of the workforce to ensure a smooth transition. She also stressed the Trust’s continuing commitment to providing services in partnership with local authorities.
At the conclusion of the debate, the Chairman thanked Mrs Slinger for her presentation. Mrs Slinger agreed to circulate to Members for comment details of the consultation documents prior to them being formally released.
96/09 HEATHERWOOD AND WEXHAM PARK HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST - UPDATE ON FINANCIAL SITUATION
Members received a presentation from Marek Stepniak, Chief Restructuring Officer - Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on the Trust’s current financial position. He advised that, under the 42 Core Standards for Better Health, the Trust had met 35 of the Standards and had been working closely with the Care Quality Commission to ensure that the Trust was compliant in all areas by the end of March 2010. He provided a summary of the Trust’s income and expenditure figures and advised that the Trust was reporting a breakeven position for month 10, which was in line with Turnaround Plan. He also commented upon the various workstreams and projects that had been established as part of the Turnaround Plan to deliver efficiencies within the Trust and explained how the transformation would deliver improvements to patients.
Mr Marek then responded to a number of questions from Members. He commented upon the procedure of agreeing with the PCT the tariff levels for subsequent financial years and explained that the quality of the information now supplied by the Trust to the PCT on activity and spend levels had improved considerably. Arising from the discussion it was stressed that the next update report should include details on what plans the Trust had for the services being delivered in the context of the Turnaround Plan.
.
97/09 HEATHERWOOD AND WEXHAM PARK HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST – COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
Members received a presentation from Liz Head, Patient Partnership Manager – Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, on the Trust’s complaints procedure. She explained how complaints were graded when they were received and commented upon the Complaint Investigatory Report that was produced, which detailed how the complaint had been dealt with and any actions that had arisen. She also outlined the average number of complaints and compliments that were received on a monthly basis in 2009/2010 and explained that those levels were broadly similar to the previous year.
In response to a number of questions Liz Head stated that 80% of the complaints were dealt with within the required timescale, advised that details of complaints and compliments made at clinic were recorded and explained that the Trust also undertook regular patient experience surveys.
98/09 MINOR INJURIES UNIT - ST MARK'S HOSPITAL
David Williiams, Acting Director of Locality Commissioning – Berkshire East Primary Care Trust (PCT), advised the Panel that the PCT Board would be considering the proposal to integrate the current role of the Out of Hours Provider with the Minor Injuries Unit (MIU) activities at St Mark’s Hospital, Maidenhead at its meeting to be held on 22 March 2010. Members were advised that the proposed service would be configured similar to that which was currently provided. It was also confirmed that the PCT were confident with the detail that was being provided on activity levels at the MIU. Arising from the discussion, it was stressed that there was a high expectation locally that the MIU would remain open at St Mark’s Hospital after March.
99/09 WRAYSBURY GP PRACTICE
David Williams, Acting Director of Locality Commissioning – Berkshire East Primary Care Trust, provided an update on progress with the provision of a GP surgery in Wraysbury. He commented upon the proposal to convert rooms within the village hall to be used as a GP surgery and advised that further meetings with the practice and the Parish Council would be held to progress the proposal. He also confirmed that the taxi service that had been provided for those residents that were unable to secure transport to the Datchet practice was still operational.
100/09 SERVICE MONITORING REPORT
The Panel received and commented upon the latest service monitoring report for activity within the Adult, Community and Health Services during the period to 31 January 2010. It was noted that the Adult Social Care budget showed a projected overspend by £3k, which was £32k less than the £35k reported in the previous month.
101/09 WORK PROGRAMME
Members noted the items that had been identified for submission to the next meeting.
102/09 LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 – EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC
- RESOLVED: That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place on item 12 on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.