Item 15.2 for 6 Feb 15 GAPF Minute of 19 11 14
NHS GRAMPIAN
Minute of the Grampian Area Partnership Forum (GAPF)
held on Wednesday 19 November 2014 at 2.00pm
in Conference Room, Suttie Centre, Foresterhill
Present:
Sharon Duncan, Staff Side Chair/Employee Director (Chairperson)
Mike Adams, UCATT
Gemma Barclay, SOR
Jim Clark, GMB
Jane Fletcher, AHP Lead - Mental Health & Learning Disabilities
Fiona Francey, Divisional General Manager, Acute
Ian Francis, CSP
Alistair Grant, RCN
Alan Gray, Director of Finance
Laura Gray, Communications Director
Gerry Lawrie, Staff Governance Manager
Steven Lindsay, Unite
Fergus McKiddie, HPA
Martin McKay, UNISON
Terry Mackie, Staff Governance Committee
Heather McRae, Nursing Services Manager (deputy for Sandy Reid)
Deirdre McIntyre, SOCAP
Gary Mortimer, General Manager, Facilities
Anne Ross, Head of Performance and Quality
Kirsten Sawers, RCM
Joan Anderson, Partnership Support Officer
In Attendance
Morag Hives, Occupational Health Service Manager – for item 5a
Item / Subject / Action /1 / Apologies
Apologies were received from Keith Thomson, Head of Health and Safety (no deputy), Eileen Grant, GHP (no deputy), Mike Scott, Staff Governance Committee, Susan Coull, Head of HR, Philip Shipman, HR Manager, Annie Ingram, Director of Workforce, Sandra-Dee Masson, BAOT (and deputy Liz Laing), Bill Howatson, Board Chairman, Pauline Strachan, Chief Operating Officer (no deputy), George McLean, Interim Business Manager, Moray (no deputy), Sandy Reid, Senior Service Manager (Heather McRae deputises), Richard Carey, Chief Executive, Alison Hardy (no deputy), Mike Ogg, General Manager (
2 / Minute of Last Meeting held on 30 October 2014
The minute of the last meeting held on 30 October 2014 was approved.
3 / Matters Arising
Sharon Duncan opened the meeting by reporting that Richard Carey, Chief Executive, who had taken early retirement, would be greatly missed byGAPFand the organisation.
a. Feedback on Health Improvement Scotland (HIS) Activity
The report had been issued to the Executive Team for them to submit any factual amendments. A significant number of amendments on factual accuracy within the report had been submitted. The official publication of the report would be 2 December 2014.
There were three reports due at the same time, the HIS Report,Older People in Acute Hospitals Report (OPAH)and the Royal College of Surgeons of England Report.
Partnership and Staff Side Reps would be involved in the staff briefings of the HIS Reports and be available to support staff as necessary. As would Occupational Health Service, Chaplains and Human Resources Staff.
b. Staff Fridges
Gary Mortimer submitted a report on Staff Fridges. Due to strict environmental health inspection regimes relating to catering, these fridges could not be placed in a room where the Organisation provides foode.g.Staff Dining Rooms. Alternative areas for these fridges should be found and staff using the fridges would be required to take responsibility for keeping them clean, disposing of unused food etc.
As Aberdeenshire Partnership Forum had raised this issue, they would be asked to respond to Gary Mortimer on the report. Other members of the group could respond to the report directly to Gary Mortimer.
c. Annual Review Feedback
Meetings took place with theCabinet Ministerfor Health Alex Neil on 17Novemberalthough the full AnnualReviewwas postponed to 12 January 2014. Representatives ofGAPFmet on 19 November. A number of points were made regarding NHS Grampians proportion of funding andthe NRACformula, High Cost of Living in Grampian, Staff Governance Standards, Accommodation, Recruitment, etc.
Another meeting was formally requested with theCabinet Minister for Healthand reassurance was given that this would happen at some time early 2015. / Shire
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* / Presentation from Acute Sector Partnership Forum
FionaFranceyand FergusMcKiddiereported on the successfulGAPFAcute SectorAwayDay held that morning(report attached).Around 50 participants attended the event. Three workshops took place on Integration, Staff Governance and Partnership, and Dignified Workplace. Feedback on the groups would be written up and used as part ofthework planfor the Sector Partnership Forum for the next year. It was noted that this work dovetailed into the improvement plan and 2020 Vision.
There was discussion on Health and Social Care Integration and the concerns around impact on budgets. It was noted that the culture in local authorities was different to health and a robust communication strategy was key to ensure a smooth transition. Communication managers had been appointed across all four organisations. It was noted that Staff Governance Standards would continue within Health and it was hoped that Local Authority colleagues would take on these principles.
5 / Provided with a Continuously Improving and Safe Working Environment, Promoting the Health and Wellbeing of Staff, Patients and Wider Community
a. Flu Immunisation Update
Morag Hives attended the meeting to give an update on the flu vaccine programme. There had been a mix of appointments and drop in sessions run by the Occupational Health Service and services also offered in Community Pharmacies. There had been 2700 vaccinations to date. This was more than in previous years for this time.
Historically the statistics of those vaccinated traditionally missed NHS Grampian staff who received the vaccine at their GP. This year a form was available on the intranet for those members of staff to complete so they could be added into the numbers.
b. Recruitment
This item was deferred to a future meeting. / SC
6 / Treated Fairly and Consistently, with Dignity and Respect, in an environment where Diversity is Valued
a. Organisational Behaviours Update
Gerry Lawrie explained that this paper had been developed by a small group. The paper had been agreed at Board level but was still to be impact assessed.
The plan was to communicate to staff by a variety of methods eg Learning and Development and Professional Development to share this at all their courses. It was also planned to weave into the e-Learning module for Induction which was based on the organisations values of Caring, Listening and Improving. Members of the small group offered to attend Sector Partnership Forums to discuss the paper.
It was also planned to use this for encouraging potential employees into NHS Grampian.
Further updates on progress would be received at future meetings.
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* / Well Informed
a. Finance Report and National Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) Update
National Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) Update
Alan Gray circulated a report on the NRAC position comparing past years and other Boards (copy attached).
The Financial plan agreed with Scottish Government should have enabled NHS Grampian to achieve parity of funding. However, with changes to the NRAC formula (which increased the NHS Grampian Share) and higher than predicted population changes in Grampian the progression towards parity that had been hoped had not been achieved.
Compared with the four Teaching Boards similar to NHS Grampian, NHS Grampian is furthest from achieving parity. Added to that Highland and Orkney Health Boards were also behind parity which had an impact on overall services in the North region.
If there were no changes to the population or the formula, It was expected that NHS Grampian would be within 1% of parity by 2016/17.
The amount NHS Grampian received per head of population was the least in the whole of NHS Scotland. Sharon Duncan noted that this equated to £49 per person less than the NRAC parity for Scotland.
Sharon Duncan also noted at the meeting on 17 November with the Cabinet Minister for Health Alex Neil this issue was raised and his responses did not acknowledge the fact that NHS Grampian had been and continued to be underfunded for a number of years.
Sharon Duncan made the point that funding and performance did not appear linked by the Scottish Government and regardless of current funding position, NHS Grampian is expected to meet full performance targets.
Staff deserved recognition for the hard work they do every single day in NHS Grampian.
A further report would be received at the next GAPF meeting with the 2015/16 financial position.
Finance Report
Alan Gray reported that NHS Grampian was overspent by £3m at this point in the year which was similar to previous years and the trajectory agreed with Scottish Government.
There was an underspend in nurse pay budgets because of vacancies and difficulties recruiting staff. There was however a corresponding overspending on medical locums because medical staff numbers were under establishment. There were a number of gaps in nursing resource and difficulties getting to funded establishments. Further discussion was required to agree strategies to cope. Another overspend areawas on GP prescribing due to volume and price increases higher than predicted.
A question was asked about whether some of the underspend on nursing budget could be due to the successful recruitment of nursing staff who as new NHS employees would be on below mid-point of the pay scale? Whilst incremental drift remained a factor there were a variety of reasons mainly recruitment issues which had led to the underspend.
b. Partnership Reports from Sectors
Facilities
Gary Mortimer reported that the Aroma Café was now open at the Emergency Care Centre. There would be full access from this area to the rest of the building once work was completed on the surrounding access areas.
An Aroma Cart was to start soon at the Rotunda at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and an Aroma Bar at the Dental School. This made 5 Aroma areas in NHS Grampian including the one at the Aberdeen Village. They were very popular with staff and the public and all profits come back into the NHS for reinvestment.
Aberdeen City
The Human Resources support to Sector Partnership Forums had been updated (copy attached).
Additional financial resource had been received for Health Visiting which had helped with the workforce plan, although this still remained a significant issue.
Most of the integration work was around timelines and membership of groups was at an early stage. The full Integrated Joint Board would be in place by March 2015 and discussion would take place on the dissolution of Community Health Partnerships (CHP).
The integration workshops run by Aberdeen City were open to all staff.
Healthy Working Lives was working towards the bronze award for the City CHP.
Discussions were taking place around Recruitment and Retention Premia (RRP) in difficult to recruit areas.
Discussions were ongoing to organise a representative from the Woodend Partnership Group to attend Aberdeen City Partnership Forum and vice versa to improve and develop both groups.
Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Service
There were ongoing issues with car parking at Royal Cornhill Hospital causing major health and safety risks. Emails were being sent out with registration numbers asking people to move their cars. A permit system would be introduced but this was still some time off.
Introduction of uniforms was going well. There was one outstanding issue to be resolved and that was regarding wearing of tunics and where to attach alarms. A number of solutions were being looked at.
Staff had been involved in choosing the colour scheme for the new staff rest facility and the outcome was purple and pistachio.
Moray
Moray was considering bi-monthly meetings combining health and safety and Partnership to try and encourage better attendance.
Healthy Working Lives Group was looking for a new chairperson.
Complementary Therapies for staff used to be funded by Endowments but this had been stopped. Further discussions would take place as this was very popular with staff.
Moray Partnership Forum wanted to convey their thanks to Richard Carey for his input into Partnership over the years.
c. Workforce Information Report
Gerry Lawrie took the group through some key points in the Workforce Information Report.
NHS Grampian are currently working under-establishment, including bank use. Bank and agency spend so far this year was less than last year.
Other bank use was high including admin.
The absence rate had gone up by 0.2% to 4.75%. This was in line with an increase across the whole of NHS Scotland. It is possible this was related to increased reporting of absence. Some Sectors had increased their absence rate while others reduced. Facilities Sector had halved their absence rate compared to previous years.
The turnover of staff was 12.2%. Gerry Lawrie agreed to look at retention figures and report this to a future GAPF.
There were 368 whole time equivalent nursing and midwifery vacancies which were being actively recruited to across the whole NHS Grampian Board.
The issue of part-time versus whole-time posts being advertised was discussed. Local vacancy panels can only advertise for a post they have funding for.
There was a view that if a full-time post is advertised, a person can request part-time but if only part-time is advertised it is more difficult for someone to request full-time hours.
All part-time vacancies are discussed at the NHS Grampian Scrutiny Panel to ensure they are part-time for the right reasons. A consistent message was required between the Scrutiny Panel and local vacancy panels.
There was a need for a strategy group to discuss all these issues. / AG
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8 / Appropriately Trained and Developed
a. Learning and Development Report
Gerry Lawrie explained that from beginning of December the Learning and Development Team would take on the Induction process for new starts to ensure everyone had an NHS computer account and access to the systems they required. This would not take away any of the role of managers in induction of new staff. Communication would be circulated soon.
The staff handbook was almost ready. The handbook would be electronic with very few paper copies. This was to allow for regular updates to be made.
Learning and Development staff were to begin work with staff at end December, beginning of January on appraisal, access to e-learning, AT learning etc. It was agreed to use the word appraisal, rather than personal development reviews or other names to make it easier understood.
eKSF nationally have renewed the contract for 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016. There will be at least another year of KSF before a new system is put into place.
There had been good uptake on e-learning, although the feedback was that it was too clinically focused. Work was being undertaken to identify the needs of both clinical and non-clinical staff.
Skills Scotland Event on recruitment had taken place in November. The Learning and Development Team attended along with others across a wide variety of professions. It was a good opportunity to collaborate with Universities. They won the best stand in show jointly with their NHS and University stand. This would be highlighted in Up Front.
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* / Involved in Decisions
a. Integration Update
This item would remain on the agenda for the foreseeable future.
Staff Governance Standards would continue for Health throughout integration and there was a request to write Partnership into the process.
b. Nursing Resources Utilisation Implementation Group Update
A paper had been circulated updating the group on the additional funding which had been allocated via this group.
c. Policy Process
Sharon Duncan explained that a policy process had been agreed for development and review of non-clinical policies. The procedure was available from the intranet site, under Departments/HR/Policies and was at the top of this page.
All non-clinical policies affecting staff outwith individual areas/departments should be highlighted to the GAPF Policies Sub-Group for agreement on the way forward for development or review to take place. Partnership Representatives should be involved at initial stages of development of all policies which affect staff in any way.
A global email would be circulated regarding the policy process and the difference for clinical and staff management policies.
d. Staff Governance Report
Terry Mackie reported on the key issues from the Staff Governance Committee meeting on 18 November. The approved minutes would be circulated.
The Committee discussed the Staff Survey response rate for NHS Grampian which had risen to 33%. The poorest response was 7% in one Sector and this was very concerning. Aberdeen City CHP was commended on their excellent response rate.
A Board Governance Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) looked at effectiveness and a report would be going to NHS Grampian Board.
The Committee was about to review their constitution to ensure it was effective and aligned to take account of integration and NHS Grampians 2020 Vision.
The Government had sent a number of questions on the Staff Governance Monitoring Form and these had been responded to and an updated form had been returned (copy attached).
Sharon Duncan reminded the forum that a huge amount of work is being done in many areas on Staff Governance and sometimes this can be overlooked and go unrecognised. It is important to record work undertaken throughout the organisation.
10 / Any Other Competent Business
None.
11 / Communication to Organisation from GAPF
It was agreed to communicate the following to the Organisation:
a. Recruitment processes
b. Learning and Development Induction
c. AT Learning
Further Finance information would be communicated following the discussion at the next meeting.
12 / Date and Time of Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held on 17 December 2014 from 2pm to 5pm, Conference Room, Summerfield House. (Following the meeting the time of the next meeting was changed to 1.30pm to 4pm)
Email:
Telephone: (01224) 558459