Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any interests in the items under consideration and in doing so state:

(1) the type of interest concerned either a

(a)   personal interest

(b)   prejudicial interest

(c)    disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI)

and

(2) the nature of the interest concerned

If any member requires advice on declarations of interests, they are advised to contact the Head of Democratic Governance in advance of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest on this occasion.

To agree the minutes of the last meeting held on 28 November 2018 as a true and correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 2018 were agreed as a true and correct record.

To provide an update on Lancashire Care Foundation Trust’s (LCFT) progress in making improvement on the actions identified within the Care Quality Commission inspection and the concerns raised by the Committee previously.

The Chairman highlighted that the Committee had requested the special meeting with Lancashire Care Foundation Trust (LCFT) following consideration of an item presented by the Trust in October 2018 regarding the May 2018 Care Quality Commission (CQC) Inspection outcome of ‘Requires Improvement’ when the Trust had been judged as not safe, not effective and not well led. The May 2018 inspection followed previous inspection outcomes of ‘Requires Improvement’ in November 2015 and ‘Good’ in January 2017. He reported that the Committee had not been assured that sufficient improvement was being made by LCFT at the previous meeting and had been unhappy with the quality of reporting.

Mr Bill Gregory, Acting Chief Executive Officer, LCFT placed on record an apology for the Trust’s poor attendance at the previous meeting and highlighted that the Trust was taking the concerns raised by the Committee very seriously.

Mr Paul Lumsdon, Director of Nursing and Quality, LCFT provided an overview of the focus being placed on quality and how the Trust was going beyond the requirements set out in the action plan developed following the CQC inspection. He also addressed issues including ensuring accessibility of mandatory training and that staff were supported. It was reported that a key concern was the high level of Band 5 Staff Nurse vacancies, reasons for which included a reduction in the number of European nationals taking positions and the low number of nurses on the national register. In order to address the number of vacancies work was ongoing to improve recruitment and retention with a focus being placed on good leadership to ensure workers wanted to remain with the Trust.

Members noted that a number of initiatives had been put into place in order to improve recruitment and retention including increased staff involvement in creating the vision and values of the Trust, meaningful appraisals and nurse degree apprenticeships whereby nurses would be employed from the beginning of their training and receive a contribution to fees. Mr Damian Gallagher, Director of Workforce and Occupational Development, LCFT advised that evidence had demonstrated that those applying for apprenticeships were often from the local area and more likely to remain in the area following completion of their apprenticeship.

It was reported that turnover at the Trust had reduced from 14% to 8% over the previous 12 months which was a significant positive reduction. In the same period sickness remained approximately 9% to 13%. In response to questioning, it was reported that there had been incidents of verbal and physical abuse against staff members and that working in facilities such as The Harbour could be a stressful job. Training of staff had been focussed on in order to assist staff in dealing with incidents and to also reduce the number of incidents through de-escalation.

The Committee discussed staff appraisals in detail, noting that the Trust was achieving its target of 80% completions. Concern was raised that an 80% target was not sufficiently high enough for an annual performance appraisal and it was noted that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To approve the final report of the Whole System Transfers of Care Scrutiny Review and submit it to the Executive and relevant NHS organisations for consideration.

The Committee considered the Whole System Transfers of Care Scrutiny Review Final Report and agreed to approve the report for submission to the Executive and NHS partners.

To note the date and time of the next meeting as Wednesday, 13 February 2019. Commencing at 6.00pm.

The Committee noted the date and time of the next meeting as Wednesday, 13 February 2019, commencing at 6.00pm.