Agenda and minutes

To consider improvement progress made concerning the provision of quality care and safe patient services within The Harbour inpatient mental health facility in Blackpool.

Mr Steve Winterson, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Engagement, Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust (LCFT) explained that progress reports had been given in November 2015 and April 2016 to the Resilient Communities Scrutiny Committee concerning The Harbour, LCFT’s adult in-patient mental health facility in Blackpool.

Improvements had been sought following public concerns and a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2015. The inspection and resulting improvement plan had covered LCFT’s services across Lancashire including The Harbour.

More details had been requested following the April 2016 meeting concerning safeguarding of patients and the serious incident that resulted in a suicide on the Byron Ward (psychiatric care) in July 2014. Members noted that the Coroner had recently concluded his public inquest into the incident so comprehensive information was available.

Dr Leon Le Roux, Clinical Director, LCFT referred to the range of improvement work, challenges and plans.

Staffing and Patient Care

Dr Le Roux stated that staffing was arguably the biggest challenge trying to ensure that staff resource, including nurses and doctors, was sufficient, highly skilled and the coverage right at all times. A Staff Strategy had recently been developed.

Dr Le Roux explained that recruitment was an ongoing demand with staff shortages often covered by agency staff and the Trust’s own (on-call) ‘banked’ staff. He acknowledged that using agency staff was not ideal in terms of continuity and familiarity of staff and higher costs but stated that permanent staffing was a national problem and agency staff allowed greater flexibility although the Trust was aiming to eliminate use of agency staff. He added that securing medical staff at consultant level was particularly difficult and there was a high vacancy rate.

Members queried whether staff turnover was high for nursing staff due to their stressful occupations and what was learnt through staff exit interviews. Dr Le Roux explained that turnover of all staff was at times as high as 20%. However, with the use of banked staff, average rates were 50% better than a year ago. He noted that there had been an expected legacy issue when The Harbour had opened in 2015 whereby some staff had been geographically displaced so had chosen to work closer to home. Members expressed disappointment that development plans had been pursued notwithstanding awareness of staffing issues. They queried how many original staff remained and requested a written reply. Mr Winterson explained that LCFT’s Chief Executive had addressed early staffing issues at previous meetings. Bridgett Welch, Associate Director of Nursing (Safeguarding) added that the Trust had been nominated as one of the Top 50 NHS employers and highly recommended for patient care.

Dr Le Roux agreed that staff were working in a tough environment where patients needed considerable care and emphasised the importance of retaining staff through effective support and training.   He advised that banked staff had access to all training and some training was available to agency staff. Members queried how agency staff qualifications were verified. Ms Welch explained that recruitment agencies were responsible for vetting their agency  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To note the date and time of the next meeting as Tuesday, 29 November 2016

commencing at 6pm in Committee Room A.

The Committee noted the date and time of the next meeting as Tuesday 29 November 2016 in Committee Room A, Blackpool Town Hall.