Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel held on 11 July 2013.

The minutes of the Panel held on 11 July 2013 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Matters Arising:

Minute 3: Matters Arising: Shaping the Future Consultation

It was reported that the application for judicial review made by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) had been rejected and RBWM had decided not to pursue this course of action any further.

Members are requested to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and/or Affected Interests and the nature of those interests, including the existence and nature of the party whip, in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting.

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or an Affected Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

There were no declarations of interest.

Any other items which, pursuant to Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972, the Chairman decides are urgent.

There were no items of urgent business.

To receive submissions from members of the public which have been submitted in advance in accordance with the Council’s Public Participation Scheme for Overview and Scrutiny.

There were no submissions from members of the public.

To consider the actions planned by Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in response to the inspection reports issued on both hospitals by the Care Quality Commission.

The Panel considered the report before them which detailed the actions planned by Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in response to the inspection reports issued on both hospitals by the Care Quality Commission.

The Chairman welcomed the following health partners to the meeting:

Jessica Zeff, Care Quality Commission (CQC)

Tracy Halladey, Care Quality Commission

Mike O’Donovan, Chairman, Heatherwood & Wexham Park NHS Trust (HWPT)

Grant McDonald, Deputy Chief Executive, HWPT

Dr Rob Loveland, Medical Director, HWPT

The Chairman invited representatives from the CQC to comment on the inspection report and subsequent action plan drafted by HWPT (the Trust). The Compliance Inspector from the CQC stated that the Trust had taken the inspection report very seriously and had produced an action plan that was being closely monitored by a range of stakeholders.

The Chairman asked representatives from the Trust if they had been surprised by the findings in the inspection report or what their feelings had been to the inspection report.

The Chairman of the Trust stated that he had been distressed by the findings as the Trust was not delivering what they wanted to deliver for patients. There were a good number of examples where a good patient experience was not being delivered. Over the last winter the Trust had faced record levels of demand and they had struggled to meet this demand. The position of the Trust almost became one of ‘some care was better than no care’. This was being carefully considered for the upcoming winter to ensure that the Trust had the right capacity to meet demand.

He reported that it was frustrating that the Trust had scored a number of ‘own goals’ where they weren’t doing things as well as they should and which were fixable. The Trust’s governance arrangements were being reviewed and the inspection report was being used as a means of shocking people into doing things better. The Trust had taken on board all the findings of the inspection report and did not dispute any of them. 

The Panel asked if the Trust’s Board had taken an active interest in the operation of the Trust and the level of priority given by the Board to this.

The Trust’s Chairman reported that he recognised that the Board needed to be more forthright about the speed at which changes and improvements were being made. Lots of things were in train but were not being done quickly enough. He recognised that the Board needed to be more focussed on what was going on at ward level and needed a more granular breakdown of issues. The Board was changing the way in which information was fed to the Board as it was clear that the Board wasn’t getting the quality or picture of information it required.

The Panel asked if the inspection report had surprised members of the Board.

The Trust’s Deputy Chief Executive stated that he worked hard to know what was happening throughout the Trust and whilst there were a number of things  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

Thursday 3 October 2013.

3 October 2013