Issue - meetings

11:30 – 12:00

Marie Crofts (Chief Nurse), Britta Klinck (Deputy Chief Nurse) and Rose Hombo (Deputy Director of Quality) have been invited to present the draft Quality Account of Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, specifically, the quality objectives for this year and the next.

The Committee is recommended to: -

a)                      AGREE to provide comments on the account, in particular in relation to whether the account corresponds with HOSC member experience of the Trust over the last year, and whether they support the key areas of focus for the Trust over the forthcoming year.

b)                      DELEGATE to the Scrutiny Manager the task of compiling the Committee’s comments on the Quality Accounts in consultation with the Chair, and submit the feedback to Oxford Health by 14 June 2023.

NB There will be slides used to support the presentation of the report; hard copies of which will be available on the day of the meeting.

The Chair welcomed Britta Klinck (Deputy Chief Nurse) and Rose Hombo (Deputy Director of Quality) of Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust; and on behalf of the Committee, thanked the invitees for their comprehensive report as well as for the glossary. The Chair handed the floor to the invitees to provide a brief overview of the report.

The invitees summarised the following points:

1.     The Annual Quality Account had been drafted in the context of a difficult time. The challenges being experienced are not unique to the Trust but analogous challenges were being experienced by counterparts Nationwide. It was highlighted that there has been a higher level of demand in various services delivered by the Trust, and that pressures within the healthcare system had reached heightened levels. This Quality Account had been published on the back of a staffing crisis which is affecting Oxfordshire but also other areas nationwide. It was also emphasised that the Trust, much in the same way as many other providers, are in the process of recovery from the Covid-19 Pandemic.

2.     It was also reiterated that there was a significant critical incident within Oxford Health last year, which was elicited by the outage of the Trust’s entire Electronic Patient Record System. The Provider of the Trust’s electronic patient record system was subjected to a cyber attack which rendered the system unusable. The Trust was required to operate in the absence of their Patient Record Systems from August through to December last year. For instance, district nursing teams were significantly reliant on these systems for appointments with patients.

3.     It was highlighted that there are fourteen objectives in the Trust’s Quality Account, and that five of these have been achieved. It was emphasised that that was not as high a number as the Trust would have liked, although there has been a significant amount of progress on the five objectives that have been achieved. It was acknowledged that there still was further work to do further into the current year by the Trust to help meet its objectives, and it was expressed that there is a strong commitment to do so.

4.     The Trust had been working on improving mental health services, by focusing on further prevention work. This is being undertaken through closer collaboration with Primary Care and GPs in order to achieve early intervention for patients with mental health issues. The Trust also has teams in over 200 schools to help with prevention and early intervention work for mental health and have been expanding this programme.

The Chair thanked the invitees for summarising Trust’s Quality Account, and expressed that the Committee had a keen interest in the wellbeing of all frontline practitioners during these challenging and unprecedented times.

The Committee acknowledged that the challenges from the Covid-19 Pandemic still remained and that this would continue to have challenging impacts on the Trust; including on workforce.

The Committee also felt that it was good to see a reduction in seventy percent of admissions for eating disorders,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18

10.50 am

To review the Quality Account of the Trust, specifically, the quality objectives for this year and the next.

NB The report from the Director of Law & Governance covers both Quality Account items.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to: -

a)                      Consider the Quality Accounts (QAs) of both NHS Foundation Trusts;

b)                      Agree to provide comments on the accounts, to specifically include progress against the Quality Objectives for 2021/22 and their identified objectives for 2022/23;

c)                      Agree to delegate to the Interim Scrutiny Manager the task of compiling the Committee’s comments on the Quality Accounts in the form of a letter and to authorise the Chair to sign the letter to Oxford University Hospital NHS FT and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust on behalf of the Oxfordshire Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee for incorporation into the 2021/22 Quality Accounts.

The Chair invited Jane Kershaw – Head of Quality Governance from Oxford Health NHS FT (Trust) to introduce the report.

Jane Kershaw gave a presentation to the Committee (attached as appendix 1 to these minutes).

Following a presentation from Jane Kershaw these points were highlighted:

·       Sexual safety for staff and patients within Mental Health wards was part of the national quality improvement collaborative which was paused due to pandemic and other reasons in order to prioritise restricted practice.

·       Some Members of the Committee expressed their concern that some outcomes, such as physical health of people with mental illness and the Trust’s measure of success were seen as ticking a box rather than delivering improved outcomes.  The Chair suggested that the Committee would like to work with the Trust’s work programme in terms of the physical health of people with mental illness.

·       The Committee welcomed the glossary at the end of the report and suggested that all partners should follow the same practice when presenting their reports to the Committee and to the public.

·       The Trust had been successful in staff recruitment, retention and use of agency staff yet there was shortage of staff in some professional groups.  The Trust was successful in international recruitment of nurses and podiatrists (90 people recruited out of which 45-50 people started working in services).  There was an ongoing campaign to recruit more homegrown and international staff, and new staff had been given right training and support.  However, there were still a number of problems in particular services due to staff shortages.

·       Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) was a forum where all NHS providers and commissioners meet and exchange information around future objectives as well as ongoing pressures such as district nursing staffing, care planning, continuity of care, service to improve patient records system, etc.

It was RESOLVED that the Committee:

a)              Noted a presentation from Jane Kershaw on the Quality Accounts (QAs) of both NHS Foundation Trusts.

b)              Agreed to provide comments on the accounts, to specifically include progress against the Quality Objectives for 2021/22 and their identified objectives for 2022/23.

c)              Agree to delegate to the Interim Scrutiny Manager the task of compiling the Committee’s comments on the Quality Accounts in the form of a letter and to authorise the Chair to sign the letter to Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust on behalf of the Oxfordshire Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee for incorporation into the 2021/22 Quality Accounts.