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MINUTE of MEETING of the
STAFF GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE
Board Room, John Dewar Building, Inverness /
27 November 2007 – 10:00
Present Mrs Anne Clark, Non-Executive Director (Chair)
Dr David Alston, Non- Executive Director
Mrs Pamela Courcha, Non-Executive Director
Mr Colin Punler, Non-Executive Director (via video link)
Mr Ray Stewart, Employee Director
In Attendance Mrs Pamela Cremin, Workforce Planning Manager
Mrs Anne Gent, Director of Human Resources
Mrs Judith McKelvie, Learning & Development Manager
Mrs Caroline Parr, Partnership Support Officer
Mr Donald Shiach, Pay & Equality Manager
Mrs Sue Blackhurst, Board Committee Administrator
1 WELCOME AND APOLOGIES
Apologies were noted from Mr Ian Brown (AMICUS), Mr Garry Coutts, Ms Diane Fraser, Dr Roger Gibbins, Ms Elaine Mead and Mr Adam Palmer.
2 MINUTE OF MEETING HELD ON 14 AUGUST
The minute of the meeting held on 14 August 2007 was approved, having been nominated by Dr Alston and seconded by Mrs Courcha.
3 MATTERS ARISING
3.1 Feedback from the Development Session for the Non-Executive Directors
Mrs Gent advised that a Development Session for Non-Executive Directors of the Staff Governance Committee took place on 15 November 2007 for the purpose of exploring further the following issues:
· An overview of the work of the Staff Governance Committee.
· To review the Role and Remit of the Committee in light of the revised Staff Governance Standard.
· To consider and input into,the development of theWorkforce Strategy and the implications for the Staff Governance Committee.
· To reflect on the priorities for the Committee over the next year, the structure of meetings, format of reports and performance indicators.
Mrs Gent advised that she would prepare a report of the development day for circulation to Staff Governance Committee members. She will also prepare a briefing paper for the Non-Executive Directors on joint working with both Highland and Argyll & Bute Local Authorities.
Mrs Clark had invited the Non-Executive Directors of the Staff Governance Committee to take the lead on one of the Staff Governance Standards, on behalf of the Committee. Mr Punler had agreed to take the ‘Well Informed’ Standard. Mrs Gent advised that Ruth Cleland, Head of Internal Communications, chaired the Communications Strategy sub-group. Mrs Clark encouraged other Non-Executive Directors to take on the other standards. Mrs Courcha advised that she was keen to be involved in Dignity at Work issues.
The Committee:· Noted the feedback.
· Agreed that a report of the Development Session on 15 November 2007 be circulated to members of the Committee.
· Agreed that a briefing paper on joint working with Local Authorities will be prepared by Mrs Gent and circulated to Non-Executive Directors.
· Agreed that the revised Role and Remit document be attached to these minutes.
· Agreed to meet twice yearly to develop issues further.
· Would receive further updates as they arose.
3.1.1 Revised Role and Remit of the Staff Governance Committee
Mrs Gent tabled a revised Role and Remit document to be taken in place of the circulated document. Essentially, the only addition had been the revised Work Programme of the Committee.
With regard to the Annual Report, Mrs Gent suggested that when drafting the Annual Report she would ask the chairs of CHP and SSU Committees to incorporate what had been achieved in their operational units, to embed staff governance in the operational units.
Mr Stewart advised that with the change of chair of the Area Clinical Forum, the previous chair was content to have a representative on the Pay Modernisation Board and not the Staff Governance Committee. He would ascertain the views of the new chair, Mr Quentin Cox as to his preference for representation. He also suggested that the word ‘Chairman’ should be replaced by Chair.
Mrs Gent agreed to incorporate these changes and circulate a further revised Role and Remit document with this minutes.
The Committee:· Agreed that the further revised Role and Remit document be circulated with the Minutes of this meeting.
3.2 Staff Absences
Mrs Gent advised that Human Resources Services was working with the Occupational Health Service to develop meaningful data to analyse the figures for long-term staff absences.
There were no other matters arising
The Chair then altered the sequence of the Agenda items to accommodate Mrs McKelvie’s availability. Namely, that items 5.2 and 10 were discussed next, but are noted in the body of the minutes for ease of reading. Mrs McKelvie left the meeting at 11:15 am and the meeting then reverted to the circulated Agenda format.
4 STAFF GOVERNANCE
4.1 Feedback from the Annual Review
Mrs Gent advised that the formal letter had been received from the Scottish Government, following the review, and that the response from the Minister for Health was circulated with November 2007 Highland NHS Board papers. An action plan had been developed and that this had been submitted to the NHS Highland Board.
Mrs Clark stated that the only action for the Staff Governance Committee, from the Annual Review, was workforce planning, which will be reported to the Board
The Committee:· Noted the issues discussed.
4.2 Developing a Workforce Strategy for NHS Highland
Mrs Clark advised that a presentation on “Developing a Workforce Strategy for NHS Highland 2007 – 2009” had been given to the Non-Executive Directors of the Staff Governance Committee at the recent Development Day, which had been well received, and there was consequently no need to repeat the presentation at today’s meting. This document was being prepared to reflect the key Workforce issues to be addressed in implementing “Better Health, Better Care”. The aim was to capture in a single document all the work ongoing in relation to the Workforce within the organisation. It was reported that all senior managers in the organisation had seen copies of the draft Workforce Strategy. A copy would be placed on the NHS Highland Intranet for staff to post comments. The Workforce Team were using this opportunity to check that the current workforce action plans were ’fit for purpose’. Mrs Gent had prepared a short position paper for the December 2007 meeting of the Board, and that it was planned to submit a final version of the Workforce Strategy to the February 2008 NHS Highland Board meeting.
The Committee :· Noted the progress made and the engagement of the staff in the development of the Workforce Strategy
· Noted the information to be given to the NHS Highland Board.
4.3 Review of Partnership Structures and Working Arrangements
Mr Stewart spoke to his circulated report and advised that this paper had been discussed at the recent Board Partnership Forum meeting. It had been suggested that the Board Partnership Forum and Pay Modernisation Board merge, with alternate meetings focussing on the strategic and workforce issues. It was envisaged that the four standing sub-groups continue in their present format. Mr Stewart emphasised that both management and staff sides need to work together and that the general managers of operational units should make every effort to release staff side representatives to enable attendance at meetings. The Trade Union Facilities Budget had been discussed by Mrs Gent and Mr Stewart outwith this meeting. Mrs Courcha asked how the membership ofthe Partnership Forum was arrived at, to which Mr Stewart replied that the meeting agendashoulddictate themembership with the staff side and managementbothresponsible for organising their respective numbers to take account of that. Mr Punler questioned whether non-attendance was on the staff side or management, but it was reported that it was a mixture – with the lack of staff side representatives on the Pay Modernisation Board and management on the Board Partnership Forum. Mrs Gent reported that she, Ray Stewart, Sheena Craig and Roger Gibbins had met to discuss non-attendance, and the reasons for such non-attendance. With a new meeting format, it was hoped that these issues would be addressed, as well as the development of local partnership forums.
The Committee :· Noted that the Board Partnership Forum had accepted the proposed arrangement for Partnership Structures and Working Arrangements.
· Endorsed the said proposal.
4.4 Progress Report – Integrated Staff Governance Action Plan
Mrs Parr advised that there would be a meeting with the identified co-leads in January 2008 to review the evidence to support progress against current actions. A progress update will be submitted to the Board Partnership Forum and Staff Governance Committee in February 2008. At a joint meeting of these two committees the Action Plan will be signed off prior to submission to Scottish Government Health Department by 31 March 2008.
The Committee· Noted the progress made.
4.5 Workforce Information Report
Mrs Gent outlined the circulated report and advised that the Workforce Information Reports were discussed at the recent Non-Executive Directors’ Development Session. There was a useful discussion regarding the development of workforce targets and trajectories. With regard to sickness absence, Mrs Gent reported that, overall, there appeared to be a continuous improvement. The Human Resources Team was currently targeting those on long-term absence with a multi-disciplinary approach to actively support those members of staff in their return to work. Mrs Courcha asked if analysis could be prepared of those on long term absence and the length of time staff are absent from work.
Mrs Gent also advised that there was an action plan being developed for Dignity at Work, and that a meeting would be taking place the following week to progress this.
The Committee:· Noted the Workforce Information Report.
4.6 Workforce Plan 2007 – Monitoring Report
Mrs Cremin advised that a progress report had been submitted to the NHS Highland Board at the October 2007 meeting. There were changes to the reporting mechanisms, which had emanated from the Scottish Government. Further information was available from Mrs Cremin upon request.
The Committee:· Noted the update and will watch the progress being made.
5 PAY MODERNISATION
5.1 Agenda for Change Implementation
Mr Shiach spoke to his circulated report. His team were currently working on three distinct projects:
1. Assimilating members of staff in ‘old’ Highland.
2. Assimilating those in the Argyll & Bute CHP
3. Conducting reviews of staff already assimilated.
In addition to these items there was regular on-going work with newly advertised posts, and considerable discussion with managers in relation to assimilations had taken place.
Reviews are taking longer than planned because of the complexity of the review material submitted. There were also challenges with the training of reviewers and sustaining their availability. The priority was now the matching and assimilation of ‘old’ Highland and Argyll & Bute CHP job descriptions. The systems in the old Argyll & Clyde area were now the same as Highland. There had been concerns around the level of data submitted. Mr Shiach’s team had now been augmented with extra staff. Communication with staff took place through the staff magazine ‘Team Brief’ placed on the Intranet and in hard copy form. There had also been a briefing to staff in the Argyll & Bute CHP. Mrs Gent reported that she, Mr Shiach and Mr Stewart had recently met with Roger Gibbins to discuss the Review process.
Mr Stewart said that the magnitude of the exercise was not envisaged in October 2004. There was currently greater confidence in the process in the Argyll & Bute CHP now that it was being dealt with ‘in-house’. Mrs Courcha wished to commend Mr Shiach and his team for their continued work and noted the challenges still faced in completing the exercise.
The Committee:· Noted the position and the challenges still faced.
5.2 Knowledge and Skills Framework Implementation Plan
Mrs McKelvie spoke to the circulated Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) Activity Report. She reported that in NHS Highland, by mid November, 1,620 KSF outlines had been submitted covering 4,802 (48%) staff. Three Operational Areas (SE-CHP, Mid-CHP, and N-CHP) have over 60% and Facilities and Mental Health have in excess of 75% of their staff with Outlines.
Support was now focussing on Pharmacy (15%) and SSU (18%). Full details of the figures are contained in the paper submitted to the Board for the December 2007 meeting. Mrs McKelvie advised that her team was now up to full strength. She also reported that from 1 November 2007 all vacant posts are being advertised with the relevant KSF outlines.
There were concerns over the possible double counting of bank staff with their substantive posts, particularly in the Argyll & Bute CHP. The data inconsistencies previously reported in the Argyll & Bute CHP have now been resolved. Mrs McKelvie reported that when the SWISS system is uploaded onto the Learning and Development programme this will assist with moving e-KSF forward, but the upload has been delayed until early 2008. The range of information gathered by the SWISS system has changed and guidance is being sought on whether or not the consent of staff is required.
With respect to PDP’s, Mrs McKelvie advised that three out of the four facilitators were undertaking PDP Reviewee Sessions. The team is also working on awareness sessions for the Gateways.
Referring to the Project Monitoring Activity Report, Mrs McKelvie advised that progression was possible on all actions except the SWISS upload, and that NHS Highland was progressing satisfactorily. In relation to Items 5.7 and 5.9 of the Activity Report, Dr Alston mentioned that the information technology links in certain areas were not working as effectively as possible to progress these issues. Mrs McKelvie responded by saying that it was hoped to be effective as soon as possible. Mr Stewart questioned the completeness of Item 4.5. Mrs McKelvie advised that this was, regrettably, was an error and that the amount of £200,000 is to be discussed at the next Learning & Development Sub-Group.
The Committee· Noted the progress that had been made
5.3 Equal Pay Claims
Mr Shiach spoke to his circulated report.
The Committee:· Noted the position.
6 MEDICAL WORKFORCE ISSUES
6.1 Modernising Medical Careers
Mrs Gent spoke to the circulated report from Catherine Holmes, Modernising Medical Careers Project Manager, and advised that the next recruitment round would be commencing in January. Additional resources had now been made available to Medical Staffing, on a temporary basis, to help support the recruitment process.