Agenda and minutes

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To provide an update on Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT) and partners’ progress in making improvement on the actions identified within the Care Quality Commission inspection report, the outcomes of the external review undertaken, the impact of the pandemic and the discussions and recommendations made at the previous meetings of the Committee.

Ms Caroline Donovan, Chief Executive, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT) introduced the report which had been co-written by Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (BTH) and advised that due to the ongoing pandemic representatives of BTH had been unable to attend the meeting. Mrs Sharon Davis, Scrutiny Manager advised that all questions for BTH would be forwarded following the meeting for a written response.

Ms Donovan advised that it had been one year since the Trust had last reported to the Committee on progress due to the meeting scheduled for March 2020 being delayed by approximately six months as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. She reported that in this time significant improvements had been made and that the journey of improvement was continuing. She cited the additional funding of resources in the Emergency Department which had brought about a significant reduction in the long waits for mental health patients at the department as an example of the improvement made. The number of 12 hour breaches had reduced to 0.8% of patients and the reason for the breaches that had taken place was most often suitable bed availability. She added that there had also been a significant improvement in the process for section 136 admissions.

It was reported that demand for services had increased on the previous year and that despite the increases progress had continued to be made thanks to significant investment in the creation of the new ‘crisis house’, the ‘crisis café’ and through the introduction of new teams of nurses, psychologists and peer recovery workers. A new ‘frequent attendees’ team had also been created and the hours of the Psynergy scheme would soon be increased to 2pm to 2am each day. A new 24/7 crisis line had also been established.

As mentioned the key reason for any significant delays had been identified as suitable bed availability. Ms Donovan reported that a strategy had been devised to increase the number of beds and that a new unit had been opened in Preston. Within the last week a new rehabilitation unit had also opened within Fylde and funding had been obtained for an urgent care centre to be opened at Blackpool Victoria Hospital. Work was also ongoing with the private sector to re-register beds in order to make them available for local people.

Partnership working had been a key area of improvement and LSCFT had been working proactively with partners in order to build relationships. She advised that a Service User Council was also being established to ensure engagement with those using services, their families and the voluntary sector.

In reference to the concerns raised previously by the Committee regarding drug and alcohol misuse at The Harbour, Ms Donovan advised that there had been a 76% reduction in drug and alcohol related incidents with just nine being reported this year. To put this in context, it was noted that there were three times the number of drug and alcohol admissions in Blackpool than national figures. In  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.