Director of Corporate ServicesReport
Author:Keith Cox, Board Secretary/Director of Corporate Services
Date:10 December 2012 / Version:0b
Publication/ Distribution (on completion):
- Executive Team
- Public Health Wales Intranet
- Public Health Wales Internet
Purpose and Summary of Document:
The purpose of this paper is to provide the Boardwith a report on Public Health Wales’ key governance issues, which includes corporate, incidences and concerns
Date: 10 December 2012 / Version: 0b / Page: 1 of 8
Public Health Wales / Director of Corporate Services Report
1Corporate
1.1Policies
The following policies are currently out for consultation/due to be circulated:
- Medicines Management policy
- Infection Control policy
- Decontamination policy
- Claims Management policy
- Incident reporting policy
- Policy and Procedure for the Receipt and Dissemination of Alerts / Safety Notices
The following policies have been signed off by the Partnership Forum and are waiting to go to the next Information Governance Committee in December for approval:
- Handling requests for information
- NHS Number compliance policy
The following policies are due to be presented for sign off at the next Partnership Forum meeting in December.
- Salary overpayments policy
- Damage and loss to personal property policy
1.2Claims
1.2.1Clinical negligence and personal injury claims
Public Health Wales currently has 13 open cases (clinical negligence and personal injury claims only).
1.2.2Damage to personal property
A claim in relation to damage to property has recently been received from a member of staff. There is currently no formal process for the consideration of these claims and authority for approving the claim currently rests with the Chief Executive.
As an interim measure, a claims panel, as outlined in the draft policy has been established and will propose a recommendation to the Chief Executive
1.3Service Level Agreement
Following a paper presented at a meeting of the Executive Team on 4 September 2012, a decision has been made to terminate the SLA with Velindre.
Velindre have been notified that Public Health Wales will not need to renew the SLA in 2012-13.
The preferred way forward is to deliver as many of the services currently provided by Velindre in-house, which will enable Public Health Wales to become more independent. This will be undertaken through the provision of training to existing staff and recruiting additional support where required.
In circumstances where it is not feasible to provide the service in house, some services or elements of the service will be contracted out.
Service leads within Public Health Wales are currently working to ensure a smooth transition and projects to cover the Financial Services and DATIX elements of the SLA have been established.
It is estimated that the cost of delivering the services in house can be met through existing SLA funding and it is anticipated that savings will be made.
The Service Level Agreement (SLA) for 2012-13 with Velindre currently remains unsigned, but work is being undertaken with Velindre to resolve this position as quickly as possible.
1.4Analysis of Legal Advice Matters with Morgan Cole
This report provides an analysis of the current matters that Morgan Cole is acting on for the Trust in the areas of Commercial, Workforce & Organisational Development (WF&OD), Governance and Property Law.
1.4.1Current matters
The current number of matters being managed by Morgan Cole is 17.
These matters are split as follows:
- Commercial – 2 matters equating to 12% of the work
- WF&OD – 10 matters equating to 58% of the work
- Governance – 1 matter equating to 6% of the work
- Property – 4 matters equating to 24% of the work
A fuller report will be provided for the next Executive Team monthly meeting.
1.5Datix
1.5.1Datix Restructure
The Public Health Wales upgrade was completed on 26 October. There were a number of minor problems encountered late October/early November, which have now been resolved.
All Divisions/Teams are now able to submit risks into the DATIX Risk Register. Training of staff to carry out review of risks is still to be organised.
1.5.2Datix SLA
A small project group has been established to take forward the implementation of Datix following the discontinuation of the SLA with Velindre NHS Trust. The group will meet with DATIX on 3 December to view a demonstration of the system and then discuss the implementation requirements for Public Health Wales.
1.5.3Incidents
A total of 49 incidents were reported within the month of November 2012, with the highest type report being Health & safety.
The table below details the incidents broken down by service area.
A total of 27 were graded for risk as detailed below and 22 are awaiting review:
6 / Low16 / Mod
5 / Sign
Details in relation to the incidents that have been graded as significant are shown at appendix 1
1.5.4Complaints
A total of two complaints were received for this period. Briefly these were:
- complainant expressed concerns with breast screening received
- complainant expressed concerns about not being invited to participate in Bowel Screening programme
1.5.5Claims
The claims profile for the Public Health Wales is detailed in the table below:
Cumulative Number of Ongoing Claims / 13Number of New Claims this Period / 1
Number of Settled Claims this Quarter (costs outstanding) / 0
Number of claims closed this Quarter and all costs paid / 0
Number of Withdrawn Cases this Quarter / 0
Aggregate Value of Claims in Progress / £2,723,718
Number of Claims that have arisen from an Incident / 12
Anticipated Public Health Wales Liability in respect of claims / £215,931
Anticipated Welsh Risk Pool Liability in respect of claims / £2,507,787
The new claim in this period relates to Cervical Screening.
Date: 10 December 2012 / Version: 0b / Page: 1 of 8Public Health Wales / Director of Corporate Services Report
2Estates
2.1Accommodation pressures
2.1.114 Cathedral Road
The additional ground floor space is not completely full but will be shortly once moves and recruitment are completed.
2.1.2Cwm Taf Public Health team
The locality Public Health team has now moved from both the Abercynon and Merthyr sites to a combined Health Board site in North Merthyr.
2.1.3Cardiff and Vale Public Health team
The Health board plan to close the Cardiff based (Trenewydd house) and are moving to Whitchurch hospital in the early New Year.
2.1.4Swansea and Carmarthen sites
There are similar pressures on space both at Swansea and Carmarthen sites. Facilitated meetings in Carmarthen and Swansea to discuss these pressures are planned.
2.1.5Temple of Peace
There are requests for additional accommodation from a number of teams in the Temple of Peace. Options are currently being explored.
2.1.6Nantgarw
The need to house additional staff at Nantgarw is being considered. Discussions with line management are ongoing.
3Asbestos
3.1Asbestos Policy
This has been approved.
3.2Asbestos training
Once the new facilities manager is in post and the appropriate regional support structures are in place, Santia will host a training session for these staff to show how the new web based Asbestos Risk Assessments can be accessed and reports created.
4Fire Safety Managers report for Board Secretary
There have been no reported fire incidents during this period.
4.1Training
Training for fire safety has progressed well and the current planned series of training for this quarter is complete.
5Health and Safety
For the last four weeks much time has been spent supporting the Workboost team and negotiating with Welsh Government and the team how best to use resources available which have resulted in us having the potential use of funds for safety films and master classes.
In addition, there have been meetings with shared services procurement to ensure that any proposed spending plans were complying with NHS rules, as well as WG needs.
A number of business partners have been identified as willing to host and manage arrangements for our master class events:
- Federation of small businesses North and South Wales
- Care forum Wales North and South
- Working well togetherand Health and Safety Executive construction groups North and South Wales
- Swansea and West Wales safety group
- All Wales local authority manual handling group
I have met with a number of staff to discuss priorities for our Health and Safety Action Plan, and met with several colleagues to confirm how access to work can be embedded into the organisation while meeting the requirements of staff, Occupational Health, HR and Finance.
Date: 10 December 2012 / Version: 0b / Page: 1 of 8