GRAMPIAN UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS TRUST

Minute of the Meeting of the TRUST MANAGEMENT TEAM (TMT) held on Wednesday 31 March 2004 at 2.00pm in the Board Room, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Foresterhill, Aberdeen

Present: / Professor S Logan (Chairman)
Mr A J Cumming
Dr R Dijkhuizen
Mr A Gall
Professor V Maehle
Mrs S Robertson
In Attendance: / Mr A Chisholm
Mr Jon Dale (PricewaterhouseCoopers - Internal Auditors)
Mr J Ferguson
Ms D Grant
Mrs L Gray
Miss L Hall
Mrs S Riddoch
Miss K Smart
Item / Action
1 / Apologies
Apologies were intimated on behalf of Mr D Benton, Mrs F Grant, MrGMorrice, Professor Z Krukowski, Dr S Scott, Miss K Simcock, Mr G Smith, Mr G Stephen, Mr T Wood
2 / Minute of Meeting held on 26 January 2004
The minute was approved by the Trust Management Team (TMT) and signed by the Chairman.
3 / Matters Arising
(a)New Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital
Mr Cumming advised that discussions were still ongoing with the contractor regarding final payments to be made, but it was unlikely there would be any additional costs to NHS Grampian.
(b)Post-Appeal Fundraising for ARCHIE
Mr Cumming advised that the Trust Executive Group had determined future arrangements for ARCHIE at its meeting that day. Appropriate arrangements would be made for ARCHIE to continue under the aegis of the Endowment Committee and for the termination of the ARCHIE foundation and discharge of its Trustees' duties.
4 /

Report by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman of an Investigation into a Complaint Against Grampian University Hospitals NHS Trust

TMT noted the report, which had been issued by the Ombudsman. This related to an investigation carried out by the Ombudsman's office into the handling of a complaint concerning the waiting list for orthodontic treatment at Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin. In accordance with the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman's Act 2002, the Trust was required to provide public access to the report for a period of at least three weeks. Public notices were placed in the Press and Journal and Northern Scot newspapers advising that anyone may inspect the report or obtain a copy of it for a period of three weeks from 29 March 2004.
TMT noted that the complaint had not been upheld and that the Trust had investigated the complaint appropriately. However, members agreed that this was not cause for complacency, as the service in Elgin was a matter of concern which required to be addressed. The issues of recruitment and grading of staff were discussed.
5 /
Finance and Corporate Governance
(a)Trust Committee Business
(i)Audit Committee
Professor Maehle reported that the final meeting had gone smoothly. The detailed minute will be presented to the new chairperson of the NHS Grampian Audit Committee and current members have offered to make themselves available for any liaison required. Mr Gall confirmed there were no issues of major concern, explaining that the Committee had been operating at a Grampian level for some time.
(ii)Business Risk Management Committee
Professor Maehle advised that the Committee had been working at developing appropriate NHS Grampian groups to continue its work and would provide this to NHS Grampian in a detailed minute.
(iii)Clinical Governance Committee
Mrs Robertson reported that the final Clinical Governance Committee meeting would be held later that afternoon. She had kept the NHS Grampian Committee advised of major issues within the Trust. A paper outlining the main issues to be taken forward following the Trust's dissolution would be passed to NHS Grampian with the minute from the final meeting. Mrs Robertson will make herself available for any matters requiring clarification to NHS Grampian.
(iv)Endowment Committee
It was noted that the Endowment aspect of the ARCHIE project would be satisfied by the arrangements agreed by the Trust Executive Group at its meeting that day. Arrangements are in place for securing financial advice on Endowments and, until a single firm of investment advisors for NHS Grampian is appointed, the existing advisors will continue. The required Statutory Instrument to transfer endowment funds from GUHT to NHS Grampian has not yet been issued, but reassurance was given that the funds will be securely managed under the new Grampian arrangements.
(v)Trust Executive Group
Mr Cumming reported from the final meeting that day, explaining that the ARCHIE issue had been determined and that there had been much debate on the new Consultant Contract and the process required to ensure that the Chief Executive could be satisfied before agreeing to the new contract. The process required to ensure that the Chief Executive could be satisfied before agreeing to sign individual Consultant job plans.
(b)Finance Report – February 2004, including projected outturn for 2003/04
Mr Gall highlighted the main points in his report. He explained that for the first 11 months of 2003/04, the Trust had overspent by £2.7m. Due to additional funding received from NHS Grampian, the projected year-end position was now break-even against the original operational plan. He explained, however, there was a number of factors outwith the Trust's immediate control which could create an overspend position, namely:
  • the cost of the consultant contract, effective from 1 April 2003, whereby consultants will be paid retrospectively based on new job plans. The process of job-planning, which will inform how much this liability will be, is not yet complete
  • the cost of part-time workers holiday pay retrospectively to July 2000, the liability for which was difficult to calculate.
  • £3.4m borrowed from the Scottish Executive Health Department which has to be repaid a year earlier than anticipated
While detailed work is ongoing to determine the Trust's liability under these exceptional headings, the expectation based on current intelligence is that the Trust will overspend by between £5m- £6m in total.
The Chairman wished to thank staff for the hard work which had gone into managing cost controls, particularly as this had been alongside an increase in activity.
(c)Audit Planning Memorandum
Miss Smart referred to page 18 as the key page in the document, which summarised the External Audit work for 2003/04, which will take place in 2004/05. Following discussions with the auditors these have been agreed as an appropriate set of activity actions.
Mr Gall explained that processes were robust and effective and that the overspend position did not reflect on the Trust's internal control mechanisms.
(d)Statement of Internal Control
TMT noted the Statement on Internal Control (SIC) supported by the Chief Internal Auditor's Assurance Framework, which summarised the work undertaken by the Trust to enable to Chief Executive to sign the SIC as part of the annual accounts and annual report. The external and internal auditors had reviewed the processes and confirmed there were no material weaknesses in the controls. This statement would normally be signed in June along with the Annual Accounts. With the dissolution of the Trust, responsibility for signing the Annual Accounts will pass to NHS Grampian, the Chief Executive of which will be reliant on this statement. Following agreement of Members, the Chief Executive signed the SIC.
(e)Dissolution of Trust and Hand-over to NHS Grampian
It was noted that the TMT would normally be responsible for signing off the Annual Accounts. As stated previously, this would now be the responsibility of NHS Grampian. The information to be provided to NHS Grampian from TMT and the various committees was considered to be robust. Mr Gall confirmed that the TMT had discharged its duties.
6 / Any Other Business
(a)Waiting Times Targets
Ms Grant was pleased to inform TMT that the Trust had achieved its waiting times targets. The Chairman wished to record thanks to all staff involved and for that message to be transmitted to relevant staff.
(b)Message of Thanks
Ms Grant wished to record thanks to Mr Cumming on his last day as Chief Executive.
Professor Logan, as chairman, expressed thanks to:
  • staff at GUHT who had made a fantastic effort over and above the call of duty to make the hospital work
  • the Executive group members who provided support to him as Chairman
  • the Trustees whose involvement and effort with the Trust had made it more effective
  • the Chief Executive, with whom he had worked on many major issues and whose leadership and management had been hugely significant in the success of the Trust
Mr Cumming agreed to ensure a message of thanks to staff be circulated.
7 / Resolution to Discuss Confidential business in Closed Session
It was agreed to take confidential business in private on the grounds that publicity would be prejudicial in the public interest because of the confidential nature of the business to be transacted.

Signed……………………………………………… Dated…………………………………….

Chairman

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