MINUTES OF THE THIRTEENTHMEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF GOVERNORS
OF PORTSMOUTH HOSPITALS NHS TRUST
Held on Wednesday 2 September2009 1000-1300 hours in Room 1, Quad Centre,
QueenAlexandraHospital, Southwick Hill Road, Cosham, Portsmouth, PO6 3LY
PRESENT:David Rhind(Chairman)
Public - Fareham & Gosport:
Lucy Docherty
David Gattrell
Richard Mackay
Martin Marks
Public - Havant & East Hampshire:
Jocelyn Booth
Kate Bowskill
Roland Howes
Patient/Carer:
Pepe Chisenga
Dr Robin Marsh / Public - PortsmouthCity:
Sarah Edmonds
Dr Isabel Pine
Ken Thompson
Staff:
Ancillary Staff - Nicholas Courtneidge
Nursing & Midwifery inc Healthcare Support Workers - Jayne Jempson
Non-Clinical - Carol Byatt
Appointed Governors:
Dr Stephen Arkle - Universityof Portsmouth
David Joel - Chamber of Commerce
Jackie Powell - PortsmouthCity Primary Care Trust
Cllr Leo Madden - Portsmouth City Council / Surgeon Commodore Noel Bevan Royal Navy QHP CBE - Ministry of Defence
Clare Rachwal (on behalf of Lisa Mundy, Portsmouth
Carers’)
IN ATTENDANCE:
Ursula Ward - Chief Executive
Steve Gooch–Deputy Director of Finance
Peter Mellor - Company Secretary / Lesley Kemp (Minutes)
APOLOGIES:
Maggie MacIsaac - Chief Operating Officer
Cllr Peter Edgar - Hampshire County Council
Lisa Mundy – PortsmouthCarers
Les Jones – Allied Health Professionals (Staff)
Norman Robson – West Sussex Primary Care Trust / Cynthia Smith - Public: Havant & East Hampshire
Mary Sheppard (Fareham & Gosport)
Jos Wace – Registered Medical Practitioners (Staff)
Syd Rapson – PortsmouthCity
Ian Piper – Community First for Portsmouth
DID NOT ATTEND:
Alex Berry – Hampshire Primary Care Trust
46/09 / APOLOGIES
As above.
47/09 / DECLARATION OF ANY CONFLICT OF INTERESTS
There were none.
48/09 / MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING HELD ON 3 July 2009
The Minutes were approved as a true and accurate record of the meeting.
It was noted by Roland Howes that Minutes had been taking up to six weeks from the date of the meeting to arrive. Peter Mellor explained that the change in management of the Council of Governors would address this delay in receiving Minutes. The Chairman took the opportunity to welcome Lesley Kemp as the new manager for the Council of Governors.
49/09 / Matters Arising
Item 29/09 Training session feedback
Peter Mellor explained that feedback was required from the Council members on their recent training session and Robin Marsh stated that he was preparing a report in this regard.
Item 40/09 PALS Office
Peter Mellor stated that he had spoken with Glen Hewlett concerning the re-siting of the PALS office as at present it did not have prominence in the new hospital. Providing that Glen Hewlett and Ursula Ward approve the re-siting, then some work will need to be undertakento enable this to be completed by the end of November. At present, PALS staff come up from St Mary’s if a particular appointment has been made for them.
Item 40/09 Staff Survey results
The results of the Staff Survey have been provided to the Care, Clinical and Cleaning Standards Value Added Group who have decided following their recent meeting that it was not necessary to share this with the full Council.
Item 40/09 Carillion security staff
Peter Mellor confirmed that the Chief Executive had requested that Carillion security guards politely points out to smokers outside the entrances to the hospital that it is a non-smoking site. It had been agreed that on their normal patrols around the perimeter they would do so. The Chairman asked whether there was more which could be done, and Peter Mellor replied that there was not. He drew attention to an article in the PortsmouthNews last evening (Tuesday 1 September) by Clare Semke, journalist, who had accompanied Peter Mellor on a tour of the perimeter of the hospital and had spoken to smokers. The News had agreed to work with the Trust on a campaign around ‘pride in your hospital’. Peter Mellor also explained that he was in conversation with Portsmouth City Council concerning the passing of a bye-law as suggested by Syd Rapson but he was not optimistic of success. David Gattrell asked whether it might be more successful if the bye-law request covered all the medical buildings in Portsmouth, but the view was that it was more important to concentrate on the hospital itself. Robin Marsh drew attentionto a recent Law Lords ruling concerning Broadmoor, where they had upheld it as a completely no-smoking site, overturning an appeal by an inmate.
Lucy Docherty asked when the security guards had been instructed to approach smokers, as she had received a complaint recently from a member of the public who had asked a guard to speak with a smoker and he had replied that it was not his job. Peter Mellor replied that the request had been made within the last three weeks, but that he would speak with the Head of Security again concerning the security guards.
Action: Peter Mellor
Item 43/09 Chief Executive presentations
Peter Mellor confirmed that a target column will be included in future Chief Executive presentations.
Item 45/09 Rocky shop signage
Peter Mellor reported that this will be addressed, and in fact said that a complete signage audit for the whole Trust site has been undertaken.
50/09 / VALUE ADDED GROUPS
Helping with Culture Change/Customer Focus
In the absence of Mary Sheppard, Lucy Docherty spoke to this and announced that she had been elected as the new Chair of this Value Added Group. She explained how the group had received a presentation from Denise Thomas, Head of Nutrition & Dietetic Services, Gill Haynes, Matron and Steve Jones, Head of Catering. They had had the opportunity of sampling the Cook/Chill food and been given a demonstration of how the new food trolleys work. The group were confident that the standard of nutrition was improving. Ken Thompson did point out however that there was an issue with timing as the trolleys did not have any overhead heat, so unless the food was served promptly within the ten minute window its quality could deteriorate quickly. There was a recognition by the group that there had been some ‘teething problems’ particularly on wards where this was a completely new system.
Planning, Delivery and Performance
Richard Mackay spoke to his presentation, as follows.
The group had held a meeting to understand the action taken, or reasons for no action on the Governors’ input into the 2009/10 Business Plan. Unfortunately, however, the invited member of staff did not attend as she was off sick and no replacement had been arranged. He said that it was difficult for the group to see whether their suggestions had been incorporated. He said that there was a prioritised list of business cases and initiatives which had been cross referenced with the Business Plan. He said that planning would now commence in relation to input for the 2010/11 Business Plan and requested that Governors filter any suggestions they may have via Lesley Kemp. The suggestion was that this would then be discussed in detail at the joint Council and Board meeting scheduled for 22 October.
Richard Mackay went on to explain that he and Ken Thompson had met with Portsmouth LINK and the Patient Experience Council. These groups appeared to be generally more hands on in understanding issues, for example they visited wards to review catering and to speak to patients. They were happy to share information with the Council.
Finally, he reported that this Group had taken on responsibility for the development of a training plan for Governors.
The Chairman said that he welcomed the commitment of the Group in taking the training issue forward, and apologised on behalf of the Trust that an alternative speaker had not been arranged for their meeting. Peter Mellor reported that he had asked Kaljit Chauhan (Associate Director Business Development) and Martyn Dorey (Associate Director Business Intelligence) for reassurance that they have carried out a reconciliation to evidence where the Governors 2009/10 recommendations have been included in the Business Plan. The Chief Executive explained that business planning was a very complex process and said that the Council members had only been exposed to a limited part of that process, and she explained that the main component of it was the contract arrangements and negotiations with the commissioners. Richard Mackay agreed that it was only the more general issues with which the Council could be involved. The Chief Executive said that the planning process had not been as refined as it could have been, and it had now been placed under the remit of the Interim Finance Director to take forward. She suggested that Malcolm Dennett give a presentation on the process to the Governors at the next meeting on 6 November. Jackie Powell said that she supported this and would welcome a presentation which could give insight into the planning process, which would be of great value to the Council members.
Action: Interim Director of Finance
It was agreed that the joint meeting scheduled for 22 October should firstly consider the new design of the Annual Plan, and then concentrate on discussion around what can be included in the 2010/11 Plan. It was agreed that Richard Mackay and Peter Mellor should work together to draw up the agenda for this meeting.
Action: Peter Mellor / Richard Mackay
Care, Clinical and Cleaning Standards
Martin Marks spoke as the Chairman of this Value Added Group. He reported that the group had met with David Eccles (Director of Workforce and Performance) and Chris Hefferon (Head of Operational HR Services) to discuss the results of the Staff Survey. The agreed view of the group was that all was being done that could be done to satisfy staff requests and the view was that this now simply needed to be monitored. The Chairman stated that he was relieved, but not surprised at this conclusion as he was aware just how much work had been undertaken. Isabel Pine drew attention to the fact that there was more absenteeism recorded within the Department of Medicine for Older People, and wondered whether there was a particular reason for this. The Chief Executive replied that there were targets for absence and in that particular department it was higher than the Trust average. There was a focused piece of work being undertaken, but one particular issue was that some staff were reluctant to move from St Mary’s.
Jackie Powell drew attention to the new agenda around the whole patient experience and asked how the Trust intended to collect data in this regard. The Chief Executive replied that Graeme Zaki, Director of Clinical Standards (Medical Director) was working with the Chief Nurse to pull together a quality framework which will include an explicit set of actions relating to the patient experience. Lucy Docherty felt that this framework should come under the remit of her Value Added Group and wondered at what point in the process they would be able to see it? Peter Mellor replied that he would speak with Graeme Zaki and would report back to Lucy Docherty.
Action: Peter Mellor
Marketing and Publicity
Ken Thompson spoke as the Chairman of this Value Added Group. He said that at their last meeting, the group had discussed the demographic profile of the membership, in particular the low numbers within the 16-20 and 20-40 age group. They were, he stated, in the process of formulating a strategy to try to resolve this.
He went on to provide some feedback from the public meetings, explaining that the turnout across the constituencies had been fairly consistent – in all the meetings it was quite low. He said that this brings into question the cost effectiveness of the meetings and said that he would welcome the views of other Governors on this issue. Peter Mellor replied that he believed the meetings were cost effective and said that the low turnout could, in one way, be viewed as a positive in demonstrating that the public were content with the service they were receiving. Clare Rachwal, from the Public Health and Supporting Independence Team suggested that there should be targeted information direct to the particular groups the Council were trying to attract and felt that her group might be able to offer some assistance. Jayne Jempson agreed, and said that the success that had been achieved in maternity was because there was a specific target audience.
Ken Thompson then moved on to announce that a meeting had recently taken place to discuss the Open Event at which it had been decided to hold the event on Saturday 7 November, from 10.00am to 4.00pm. The objectives of the day had been agreed as follows:
- To provide the staff an opportunity to demonstrate what they do
- To provide public health messages
- To include NHS career information
- A potential source of membership enrolment
51/09 / ESTATES AND HOUSEKEEPING
Peter Mellor explained how seriously the Trust took these issues as they have a direct effect on patients. He said he had asked Glen Hewlett for responses to various issues and would outline the replies received, as follows:
- Rubbish bins: these have now been installed, although Peter Mellor said that he did not think that there were enough and this was being pursued.
- External signage: Peter Mellor read the response received from Glen Hewlett, explaining the philosophy for the external signage. Richard Mackay expressed the view that the philosophy was wrong, and that the only sign on Southampton Road was for the hospital itself, along Sevenoaks Road. There was no sign indicating that you needed to go further along the road and up Southwick Hill Road for the Emergency Department. Once on the hospital grounds via Sevenoaks Road there were no internal signs for the Emergency Department. He said he was appalled that this had been ongoing now for three months without any resolution. The Chairman asked Peter Mellor to continue his work to resolve this issue.
- Internal signage: Peter Mellor explained that an audit of signage was being undertaken and there will be changes made. He said that he fully accepted that this should have been done when the hospital opened and apologised that it had not been.
- Smoking: Peter Mellor reported on the work being undertaken with the News to run a campaign around ‘Pride in your Hospital’ and how Clare Semke (News journalist) had interviewed smokers outside the hospital with him. The view from the smokers was that if a shelter was provided they would use it, and confirmed that the Trust would be re-erecting the shelters.
- Hand gel: Peter Mellor explained the difficulties that had arisen with the flooring and spillage from the dispensers. It is to be made very visible at the entrance to each ward, however that hand gel should be used. He reported on the Health Care Commission’s critical view of too many dispensers, and the need for soap and water to be used more widely.
- Cleaning: Peter Mellor explained the ‘Captain’s Rounds’ system which was to be adopted and circulated a paper for Council members. He said that this initiative had been welcomed by Carillion.
52/09 / PANDEMIC FLU
Steve Marper (General Divisional Manager, Clinical Support) and Ann-Marie Anderson (Major Incident Planner, Pandemic Flu) joined the meeting. Steve Marper reported that the Trust had been planning for such a pandemic for quite some time. The numbers at present were relatively low, with 200 patients presenting at the hospital. Of those 200, 100 needed to be admitted as a result of additional symptoms and of those only 7 actually tested positive. He explained how cross-training had been undertaken with staff to enable them to cover where staff absence might occur and said that the vaccination programme would be started shortly and health care workers would be prioritised within that programme.