To receive an update on the Frimley Park Trust.

Andrew Morris, Chief Executive Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, attended the meeting to provide an update on progress being made since the creation of Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust just over a year ago.  There had been a lot of focus on improving the culture within the organisation.

(Cllr Lenton joined the meeting)

The Panel were informed that progress was being made on all quality standards with it being the first time all standards were met at Wexham; the hospital was now a much happier place to work and had about 500.000 patients per year.

Staffing for the organisation remained an issue with over 200 vacancies.  Progress was being made and an intake of student recruitment had lead to a decrease in agency staff.  There was still a long way to go to get the two hospitals up to the standards of Frimley; but good progress was being made.

Wexham Park had a new emergency department with £25 million being invested.  There would be a new walk in patient area and paediatrics area with single rooms for those patients that were going to be admitted. Performance was improving with a 4 hour turn around period implemented.  The first floor had 60 beds for a short care treatment and assessment area.

Improvements were planned for the maternity ward with work due to start June 2016.  There was also plans to improve the high dependency area with better nursing and clinical support.  The trust was also working with Royal Berkshire Hospital to improve cancer treatment with as much care being undertaken on a single site; they were also working closely with the Macmillan cancer support.

With regards to Heatherwood it continued to make huge losses and there was a need to invest in the buildings and infrastructure.  Work was underway on a 70 million development.  An ambitious centre was planned but there was a need to sell as much of the site as possible to generate funds.

Because of the burden placed on Frimley by supporting Heatherwood and Wexham it was the first time the trust had been in deficit (about £30 million).  They were working on reducing this by working more efficiently.

The results of the CQC inspection had just been undertaken and as there had been no red flags raised he was confident that they would not be rated as inadequate which would show the public that things were getting better.

Councillor Yong reported that it had been noted that there had been a huge change in the attitude of the staff and there had been huge improvements at Wexham.  It was suggested that an article could go in Around the Royal Borough so residents were informed of the changes.

Councillor M Airey reported that there was concern about service provision when he volunteered in A&E in 2010 so he was pleased to hear about the improvements being made.  The Panel were informed that improvements had been made by introducing better decision making models and better work models to match workloads.  Consultants now worked into the evenings and during weekends.  More consultants had been recruited; although there were still vacancies.  They had also introduced a better handover procedure at the end of shifts.  The last winter had been one of the most difficult he had experienced but they handled the pressure well.

Councillor Airey asked if there had been any changes to procurement.  The Panel were informed that between the three sites they had a £600 million turnover.  Being bigger had helped improve purchasing power and it was expected that there would be saving made of about £6 to £12 million from procurement. The Lord Chancellor was undertaking review of NHS procurement and they were 1 of 20 trusts he would be working with.  They were spending about £50 million on drugs and would be looking at savings; however this was offset by more expensive drugs being approved by NICE.

Sheila Holmes (Healthwatch WAM) reported that during their May survey on meals concern was raised about opening packages for emergency food and inadequate checks on if patients were eating sufficiently.  The Panel were informed that there was an historical issue with regards to the catering contract that they were working hard to resolve.  At Frimley meals were cooked on site using fresh produce providing 3 meals per day and the staff eat the same food as the patients.  They were looking at introducing the same standards at Wexham.

The Chairman thanked Andrew Morris for attending the meeting and the Panel were pleased to hear the progress being made.