Decision details

To review the 2021/22 Quality Accounts Cheshire & Wirral NHS Foundation Trust, and agree to any feedback and comments it wishes to provide.

Dr. Anushta Sivanathan, Medical Director and Consultant Psychiatrist at Cheshire & Wirral Partnership (CWP) attended the meeting via Microsoft Teams and presented the CWP Quality Account to the Committee.

The Committee was advised that CWP was regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and at present there was no concerns.  CWP complete a book of best practice each year to improve performance.

There were three priorities for 2021-22, these had been met but some achievement had stalled due to pandemic challenges.  There had been improvement in clinical effectiveness, patient experience and patient safety.

The outreach vaccination service had successfully vaccinated 30,000, specifically those hard-to-reach who wouldn’t have been reached by traditional GP services.

The impact of the pandemic and lockdown had affected the mental health of young people.

There had been investment in 24/7 acute psychiatric services and two crisis cafes in Crewe and Macclesfield.

Services for children and young people had seen a significant impact from the pandemic from 1 in 9 to 1 in 6.

A Well-Being Hub with access to specialist mental health had been developed, this had been piloted in South Cheshire and rolled out to East Cheshire.

1,793 compliments had been received all of which were communicated back to staff.

The Committee were given the opportunity to ask questions or make comments, there was an acknowledgement of the challenges faced by the pandemic but awareness that the pandemic has created future issues for children and young people including, learning and self-esteem.

Whilst engagement and focus was with the community the Committee noted that schools are on front-line, and prevention measures needed to manage emerging issues and to recover from the pandemic.

The Medical Director and Consultant Psychiatrist noted that Cheshire East Council had been instrumental in ensuring support was provided to schools and teachers to support others.  Not all schools were covered but CWP in partnership with the council was working towards that as part of a long-term plan.

There was some discussion about the Crisis Cafes, and future plans for expansion, the Medical Director and Consultant Psychiatrist noted that both cafes were recently opened in areas where the greatest need was.  The next phase would be to assess how CWP can work in partnership with the council to ensure crisis cafes can support communities across Cheshire East. 

The Committee noted the quality of services was high but spreading people across services could impact those services and/or become a staffing issue.  The Committee was advised that staffing was a serious challenge, and together with the impact of the pandemic, plus cover/cross cover, CWP was looking at the workforce, new roles, and types of roles, skill mix and moving away from the traditional approach of doctors, nurses and therapists.  CWP had a comprehensive work force offer through workforce development however in terms of recruitment to retention it was acknowledged there was a national shortage of nurses trained in learning disabilities.

RESOLVED: That:

a) the Medical Director and Consultant Psychiatrist be thanked for attending the meeting and presenting to the Committee;

b) the 2021/22 Cheshire and Wirral Partnership Quality Account be received and noted; and

c) That the committee’s feedback and response to the 2019/20 Quality Account for sent in the form of a letter.