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 3 February 2022 as a true and correct record.

The minutes of the last meeting held on 3 February 2022 were signed by the Chair as a true and correct record.

To consider any requests from members of the public to speak at the meeting.

There were no requests from members of the public to speak on this occasion.

To provide an update on the Enhanced Network Model of Acute Stroke Care and Rehabilitation in Lancashire and South Cumbria as previously agreed by the Committee.

Ms Sharon Walden, Project Manager, Acute and Specialised Services Portfolio, Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS), Ms Hayley Michell, Interim Project Director, Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Stroke and Neurorehabilitation Delivery Network (ISNDN) and Ms Catherine Curley, Clinical Director for Stroke in Lancashire and South Cumbria provided a presentation on the work to develop Stroke Services at Blackpool Victoria Hospital. It was noted that the aim of the work was to standardise stroke care across the whole ICS and it was acknowledged that a key driver of this work was that stroke services in Blackpool were behind those provided in other areas.

The presentation highlighted the key treatments required following a stroke and the importance of a speedy response. It was reported that Blackpool would be one of three stroke centres provided across the ICS and the key aims of he work were to reduce the number of deaths and the number of long term disabilities resulting from stroke. The programme was incremental over three years, and now, towards the end of Year 1 progress could already be evidenced.

The Committee queried whether the programme was meeting key targets in terms of recruitment and the deadline by which the hyper acute care would be provided at Blackpool Victoria Hospital. In response, Ms Walkden advised that the provision of hyper acute care was a final step in the programme and was scheduled to be in place by April 2024. She advised that a full timeline of implementation could be circulated and that recruitment was intended to be gradual over the three years of the programme.

In response to a question regarding reducing the length of stay by stroke patients, Ms Michell advised that improvements to ambulatory care and community rehabilitation would allow patients to be discharged from hospital as soon as they were medically well reducing the length of stay.

Members noted the challenges that Blackpool Victoria Hospital had in meeting targets to see patients arriving at the Emergency Department within four hours and questioned how the ICS could be sure that stroke patients were seen much more quickly. Ms Curley advised that the programme would put in place specially trained nurses who operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the ‘front door’. These nurses would triage arrivals, identify patients with a suspected stroke and put them immediately on the correct pathway.

In reference to the training of staff, Members were informed that due to Covid a simulation suite had been provided across the ICS to provide the essential training required and assurance was provided that staff in Blackpool had been adequately trained.

The Committee queried a number of statistics including the target for the use of thrombolysis and the number of deaths resulting from stroke. In response, Ms Walkden advised that thrombolysis must be undertaken within four and a half hours of the stroke to be effective. There was a national target of 15%, with hospitals across the region gradually increasing their use to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

This report is being presented to the committee prior to publication of the Blackpool Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report.  All partner agencies have been consulted with and contributed to the content of the report.

Mr Stephen Ashley, Independent Chair, Blackpool Safeguarding Adults Board (BSAB) presented the Annual Report to the Committee. He advised that the statutory requirement to produce an annual report during the pandemic had been removed, however, the BSAB had wanted to highlight the good work undertaken by all partners during this time and had therefore chosen to produce one. He noted that some work had been suspended during the pandemic, with emergency provision put in place and that there had been an increase in safeguarding activity.

Mr Ashley also advised that the BSAB was developing its future workplan which it would present to the Committee in approximately six months. The themes expected to be included in the workplan were mental health and inpatient bed availability, self neglect, domestic abuse, the care system and Covid recovery.

The Committee noted that 65.3% of the number of people who had expressed their desired outcome in relation to the safeguarding concern they raised had fully achieved the outcome they desired and how success was determined in this area. In response, Mr Ashley advised that the BSAB had the highest figure in Lancashire for achieving their desired outcome and that in the remainder of cases the outcome desired was unrealistic and could not be achieved.

Members commented that it was unclear from the report what ‘other safeguarding enquiries’ might relate to and Mr Ashley advised that it could be in relation to a health referral rather than a safeguarding concern and that he would ensure future reporting was better explained.

Reference was made to Blackpool as a whole being an outlier in many categories should as alcohol and substance misuse and queried the work of the BSAB in making improvements. Mr Ashley noted that Blackpool was a national outlier in many areas of concern and advised that there was a huge amount of work ongoing to address the concerns. He noted that there were long term plans in place that did not have an immediate impact and that finances continued to be a struggle. Councillor Jo Farrell, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health added that Young Adder, Adder and Changing Futures had all be established to address such areas of concern and that partnership working had improved with a new Health and Wellbeing Strategy expected to be developed in the near future.

In relation to the Health and Wellbeing Board, Members queried the role of the third sector on that Board. In response, Councillor Farrell advised that there were two third sector representatives on the Board and that other relevant partners could be invited to attend as and when necessary. Mr Ashley added that training and development provided by the BSAB was also open to third sector organisations.

From the Annual Report Members had concluded that the same themes and trends from reviews had been repeated and it was queried whether lessons were being learned. Mr Ashley agreed that themes from the Safeguarding Adult Reviews tended to be repeated and acknowledged that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The purpose of this report is to provide Blackpool Adult Social Care and Health Scrutiny Committee members a further update relating to the implementation of the Initial Response Service (IRS), which was presented to the Committee in February 2022, and to give a progress update in relation to actions following on from the Trust’s CQC inspection in April 2021 at The Harbour, following the pervious presentation to Committee members on 29 September 2021.

Ms Joanna Stark, Director of Operations, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT), Ms Linda Bennett, Director of Nursing and Quality, LSCFT and Dr Mark Worthington, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, LSCFT provided an update to the Committee on the progress made in relation to the Initial Response Service and an improvement report following the previous Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection of the Trust.

In relation to the improvement made since the ‘requires improvement’ CQC inspection, Members noted the absence of an action tracker in the report and queried whether all actions identified following the inspection had now been completed. In response, Ms Bennett advised that the CQC action plans had been completed. She added that recruitment remained an ongoing consideration and that a number of transformation projects had been introduced across the Fylde locality to allow for the natural progression of staff.

Ms Bennett added that the Trust had recently met with CQC inspectors to discuss progress, evidence and statistics and feedback from the Commission had been positive despite the additional pressures caused by the pandemic. In response to a question, Ms Bennett advised that there would not be a further report from the CQC at this time, however, detailed feedback had been received by the Trust.

The Committee discussed the issues with recruitment in detail, and queried whether issues with staff turnover contributed to the continual need to recruit. Dr Worthington advised that staff turnover varied across different parts of the workforce. He advised that there had been a change at The Harbour, an area of previous concern for staffing, with the change and progress made having a positive impact on staff. Ms Bennett advised that staffing was the biggest challenge facing the NHS nationally and that despite this the Trust had been very successful in recent recruitment for senior members of staff.

In response to further questions, Ms Bennett advised that apprenticeships and training programmes were on offer where possible to support workers into skilled and qualified professions. She added that the Trust was making the training as attractive and interesting as possible to staff.

Members discussed the introduction of the Initial Response Service (IRS) in detail and noted that the premises for the service had not yet been secured. It was queried whether the delay in securing a building would delay the overall introduction of the service to Blackpool. Ms Stark advised that there had been difficulties in securing a local estate from which to run the service and that a deadline had been set to find an alternative site should the original estate identified not be procured. Following further questions, Ms Stark advised that it was possible that the introduction of the Service would be delayed and agreed to provide an urgent update to the Committee once the deadline for the estate procurement had expired. A full report would then be provided to the Committee at its next meeting.

The Committee went on to consider the identified bed deficit and noted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To review the work of the Committee, the implementation of recommendations and identify any additional topics requiring scrutiny.

The Committee agreed to add consideration of Maternity Services in Blackpool to its workplan for October 2022 and noted the update on the implementation of its previous recommendations.

To note the date and time of the next meeting as Thursday 23 June, subject to confirmation at Annual Council. A special meeting of the Committee will be held on 11 May 2022, commencing at 6pm.

The date and time of the next meeting was agreed as Thursday 23 June 2022, subject to confirmation at Annual Council. It was also noted that a special meeting of the Committee would be held on 11 May 2022, commencing at 6pm.