Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Igwe and Christine Godwin. 

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. 

There were none. 

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.

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. 

Shirley Griffiths, LINk representative, declared a personal interest as a Member of Medway NHS Foundation Trust and South East Coast Ambulance Trust and as a trustee of Medway Crossroad Care.

Councillor Sheila Kearney declared a personal interest as a Member of Medway NHS Foundation Trust and South East Coast Ambulance Trust. 

This report seeks a response from the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee to a request from Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust for its application for Foundation Trust status.

Discussion:

The Chief Executive Officer from Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT) gave a powerpoint presentation setting out the Trust’s vision for the future as part of the application for foundation trust status.  She explained that the intention was to have a strong membership organisation directly influencing actions and referred to the numbers of Medway residents who had already expressed an interest in membership.   She referred to the foundation trust status being like a quality badge and an accreditation for Medway with freedoms to allow flexibility and growth. 

She referred to the milestones leading up to achieving foundation trust status and advised the Committee of flagship achievements in Medway including the Kent and Medway forensic service which was classified as being in the top five in the country.  The Committee also noted the focus being given to areas where improvement was required, including access times, patient experience, care planning, standards for patients with learning disabilities and quality.

The Head of Regional Compliance South (East) from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) explained the role of the CQC around inspecting and regulating health and social care but clarified that it was not the role of the organisation to comment on the suitability of applications for foundation trust status.   She referred to the different types of inspection; unannounced inspections, responsive inspections (responding to particular issues) and themed inspections around a topic such as dignity and nutrition and learning disability reviews.  A revised copy of the letter from the Care Quality Commission was handed to all Members present at the meeting and she referred to the areas of concern highlighted in the letter around patient experience, staffing and environment.

Members of the Committee put forward a number of observations and questions to KMPT.  During debate Dr Pujara, on behalf of Medway Commissioning Group stated that the group were working closely with KMPT and had expectations of them progressing well and working collaboratively.

Concern was expressed about a number of outstanding legacy issues, which had undermined the confidence of the Committee in KMPT.  These included difficulties experienced around the transfer of staff back to the Council from KMPT such as the significant delays in obtaining access to RiO the patient information management system.  The Chief Executive Officer undertook to share, with all present at the meeting, the audit trail documenting these delays.

Reference was made to continuing and unresolved dialogue between the Trust and the Council about closure of final accounts and a dispute about the basis on which Medway had historically been charged for services provided. 

A number of other concerns were expressed by the Committee which are summarised below:

• The Committee referred to ongoing concerns with relation to patient experience, which had been highlighted in a submission by the Medway Service Users Forum.  The Chief Executive Officer stated that she would need to look into the comments made as she had only had sight of them the previous day.  She stated that patient experience was improving but accepted there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 474.