Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Igwe, Kearney and Maisey and Dr Ussher, Healthwatch Medway.  Priti Joshi, substitute representative from Healthwatch Medway also gave apologies.

The Chairman will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report. 

At the invitation of the Chairman the Head of Democratic Services advised  there may be members of the press and public taking photographs, filming or audio-recording and reporting the proceedings. This was permitted under the Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014, which took effect on 6 August 2014. The Head of Democratic Services asked anyone exercising this right to do so in a way that did not disrupt the meeting and to ensure that any members of the public who were present to observe or participate in the proceedings were not filmed or recorded against their wishes. People wishing to make use of this new law were requested to move to the front row of the public gallery.

(A)              Disclosable pecuniary interests and other interests

A member need only disclose at any meeting the existence of a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) in a matter to be considered at that meeting if that DPI has not been entered on the disclosable pecuniary interests register maintained by the Monitoring Officer.

A member disclosing a DPI at a meeting must thereafter notify the Monitoring Officer in writing of that interest within 28 days from the date of disclosure at the meeting.

A member may not participate in a discussion of or vote on any matter in which he or she has a DPI (both those already registered and those disclosed at the meeting) and must withdraw from the room during such discussion/vote.

Members may choose to voluntarily disclose a DPI at a meeting even if it is registered on the council’s register of disclosable pecuniary interests but there is no legal requirement to do so.

Members should also ensure they disclose any other interests which may give rise to a conflict under the council’s code of conduct.

In line with the training provided to members by the Monitoring Officer members will also need to consider bias and pre-determination in certain circumstances and whether they have a conflict of interest or should otherwise leave the room for Code reasons.

(B)            Whipping

The Council’s constitution also requires any Member of the Committee who is subject to a party whip (ie agreeing to vote in line with the majority view of a private party group meeting) to declare the existence of the whip.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other interests

Cllr Juby declared a non-pecuniary interest as members of his family work for Medway Foundation Trust in various roles.

This report advises the Committee of the findings of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) Inspection of Medway NHS Foundation Trust Medway Maritime Hospital published in July 2014 and sets out the initial response from Medway NHS Foundation Trust. The Acting Chief Executive and the Chairman of Medway NHS Foundation Trust will be present to respond to Members’ questions. 

Discussion:

The Chairman welcomed everyone to this special meeting of the Committee which had been set up to scrutinise the initial action plan from Medway NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) in response to the recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) Inspection report which had rated Medway Maritime Hospital (MMH) as inadequate.

Dr Barnes, the Acting Chief Executive of MFT was congratulated on his appointment and thanked for attending the meeting. The Chairman invited Dr Barnes to introduce the report. Dr Barnes started by reading out a statement provided by Mr Christopher Langley, the Interim Chair of MFT who had been requested to attend the meeting but was not present. The statement provided an update on the recruitment process for the appointment of a permanent Chair of MFT, which had been agreed on 16 July 2014 at a joint meeting of the Council of Governors and Board of Directors at MFT. The statement advised the Committee that interviews were scheduled for early September and that it had been agreed that Mr Langley would leave the Trust as soon as a new Chair was appointed. Monitor had agreed this approach. Mr Langley’s statement explained that, as an experienced interim Chair, he had been asked by Monitor to support Medway in January 2014 on a fixed term contract of 12 months starting in February. His sole aim had been to guide the Trust out of special measures by improving the quality of care. The statement concluded by recognising the many challenges still to be overcome by the Trust and the commitment of the hospital staff to delivering safe and high quality care for the people of Medway.

Members of the Committee collectively expressed their disappointment that Mr Langley had decided not to attend the meeting given he was still in post and the meeting had been arranged on a date when he could attend to answer questions and be held to account for the failings and lack of progress identified by the CQC. Members asked for Monitor to be advised of Mr Langley’s decision not to attend the meeting, the disappointment of members and the wish of the Committee that any future Chair of MFT should be advised of the expectation they will attend Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings on a regular basis.

In response to a question the legal adviser confirmed the Committee could discuss and debate the role and performance of the Interim Trust Chair insofar as this related to the findings of the CQC relating to governance and leadership at MFT.

Dr Barnes introduced the action plan included on the agenda, clarifying that this was the plan taken to the CQC Quality Summit on 4 July. He highlighted five core actions underway to address key issues and areas of risk, principally relating to A and E:

• Additional medical and nursing support was being provided in A and E with enhanced levels of support and challenge
• There was a new clinical lead in A and E who was providing focus on care as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 201.