Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 13 March 2014

RESOLVED – that the minutes of the meeting on 13 March 2014 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest

There were no declarations of party whip

There were no members of the public present that wished to speak

To examine the draft Quality Account 2013/14 of Eastern Cheshire NHS Trust and provide comments to be submitted to the Trust for consideration and inclusion in the final Quality Account.

The Committee considered the draft quality account for East Cheshire NHS Trust for 2013/14. Kath Senior Director of Nursing, Performance and Quality at East Cheshire NHS Trust presented the quality accounts and highlighted some of the key achievements and challenges for the Trust during 2013/14.

The Committee asked questions and the following points were made:

·         The Committee was generally pleased with the achievements of the Trust during 2013/14 and was happy to note the band 5 rating award to the Trust by the CQC.

·         The Committee was pleased with the 66.7% recommendation rate from Friends and Family test but wanted to ensure that the test was administered responsibly, particularly in relation to elderly and vulnerable patients. There was a concern that elderly and vulnerable people feared a backlash from staff if they were open about their true feelings towards their treatment so were unwilling to complete the questionnaire truthfully. While the Committee did not suggest there was anything for patients to fear about providing honest feedback it encouraged the Trust to be proactive in allaying any fears patients may have.

·         The Committee wanted to see more done to extend the working day in hospitals to ensure they were getting value for money out of expensive, capital intensive, equipment and facilities and to provide more flexibility for outpatients.

·         The Committee believed that the Quality Account should include performance information from previous years alongside the data for this year to enable comparison, providing greater context on the relative performance of the Trust. Without this additional data it was difficult for observers to assess whether this year’s performance was positive or not.

·         The Committee was pleased that the Trust was working with partners in the community to reduce the risk of readmissions due to falls, lack of care and support or prematurely discharging patients. The Committee would be monitoring these partnerships to ensure they were effective in improving health and reducing the demand for beds in hospitals.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the Scrutiny Officer be requested to draft a letter from the Committee to East Cheshire NHS Trust in response to the Trust’s draft Quality Account to be approved by the Chairman of the Committee.

To examine the draft Quality Account 2013/14 of Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and provide comments to be submitted to the Trust for consideration and inclusion in the final Quality Account.

The Committee considered the draft quality account for Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for 2013/14. Jayne Hartley from the Trust presented the quality accounts and highlighted some of the key achievements and challenges for the Trust during 2013/14.

The Committee asked questions and the following points were made:

·         The Committee was generally pleased with the achievements of the Trust during 2013/14.

·         The Committee was however deeply concerned about mortality rates affecting the Trust’s banding by the CQC. The Committee wanted an in-depth report at its next meeting about the mortality rates to understand the reasons behind them and whether anything could be done to address the issue.

·         The Committee wanted the Trust to work with Public Health and the Council in partnership to tackle each organisation’s respective responsibilities for reducing smoking during pregnancy and increasing breast feeding.

·         The Committee wanted to see a reduction in time taken to discharge patients and better communication with patients to ensure they have realistic expectations about their discharge. This includes and emphasis on ensuring that prescriptions are issues and available from pharmacies in good time for discharge.

·         The Committee encouraged a more proactive and forward thinking approach to ensuring elderly or vulnerable patients had the appropriate care in place so that they could be discharged in a timely way. Planning for discharge should take place during a person’s treatment and before they were ready to be discharged.

·         The Committee was glad to hear that there had been a reduction in readmissions following a patient’s recent admission to hospital. There needed to be more co-ordination between hospitals, care services and carers to ensure patients received the appropriate care and were not readmitted unnecessarily.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the Scrutiny Officer be requested to draft a letter from the Committee to Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in response to the Trust’s draft Quality Account to be approved by the Chairman of the Committee.

To consider the draft Caring Together care models and submit views to Eastern Cheshire CCG

Sam Nicol attended the meeting to present the Eastern Cheshire CCG’s latest position regarding the development of operational models for its Caring Together Programme. The Committee was asked to consider the variety of option that were available and provide advice and guidance to help the CCG develop its final strategy.

Sam explained the various options in the presentation and the Committee asked questions. The following points were made by the Committee:

·         Members were concerned about proposals to use a single point of contact for all calls from patients requiring services. Members were critical of the NHS’s 111 system and believed that the use of call centres would provide a worse service than that currently received by patients using the GP out of hours service. The Committee was keen for this proposal to be reconsidered and alternative options generated.

·         The Committee wanted to be assured that there would be the appropriate levels on resource available to fulfil the objectives set out in the proposals.

Sam Nicol informed the Committee that its comments would be considered as part of the final Caring Together Strategy development and requested that she attend a future meeting to present the draft Strategy to the Committee for comment.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the Committee comments be submitted to Eastern Cheshire CCG and considered as part of ongoing development of the Caring Together Strategy.

(b)  That Sam Nicol be requested to attend a future meeting to present the draft Caring Together Strategy for comment.

The Committee considered its Work Programme.

RESOLVED – that items on the following topics be added to the Work Programme:

·         Mortality rates in hospitals in Cheshire East

·         Caring Together Strategy Document