Discussion:
Members
considered reports from the Medway and Swale Integrated Care
Partnership and the Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group
(CCG) which highlighted the key components of the NHS restart and
recovery programme.
The Kent and Medway NHS Restart
Programme Director and the Chief Operating Officer for the Medway
NHS Foundation Trust introduced the report and also updated Members
on the winter plan. With regard to independent sector utilisation,
Members were advised that, since the report had been written, two
Independent Sector Providers had been removed from the
West Kent element of the national
contract.
The Trust had re-commenced 100% of diagnostic
cancer and elective services across the Medway and Swale Integrated
Care Partnership and the Trust and was on target to meet its
October targets.
In terms of winter preparedness, the Trust had
submitted its Winter Resilience Plan and initial feedback was that
the Medway and Swale element of the plan was seen as an exemplar.
Planning for winter was more complicated this year due to EU exit,
flu and winter related illnesses and
also the second wave of the pandemic. The Winter Plan had been
stress tested twice and needed further work but was more developed
than ever before.
The following
issues were discussed:
- Reporting
symptoms - how to encourage people not currently being treated,
but who had developed symptoms, to seek advice was queried. Members
were advised that a key risk was restoring public confidence to use
NHS and primary care services and for people to come forward if
they developed symptoms. GP referrals for cancer were down 25%
compared to the pre-Covid period. An engagement plan to restore
confidence had been drawn up. In response to a query about how the
Trust would deal with an increase in referrals, Members were
advised that extra capacity and more use of virtual appointments
would help reduce waiting lists.
- Cancer
referrals – concern was expressed at the reduction in
cancer referrals for the last week in the period that the report
showed data for. The Committee was advised that the number of
referrals had since increased and the figure in the report may
increase when the data was re-validated.
- Waiting list
targets – the point was made that the continuing to
penalise Trusts for not meeting targets was unfair in the current
circumstances and whether this was being resisted in Medway was
asked. Members were advised that the regional team was encouraging
the Trust to address waiting lists on a risk basis and for
hospitals to help each other where they had spare capacity. No
pressure was being placed on the Trust regarding access
targets.
- Staff flu
vaccinations – Members were assured this was a top
priority and, while not mandatory, staff were strongly encouraged
to receive a vaccination. 48% of staff had been vaccinated and the
Trust hoped to achieve close to 100% in the coming months. In
response to a concern that there may not be enough supplies,
Members were assured that there was enough supply for everyone who
needed to be vaccinated.
- 111 first
deployment – reference was made to media reports that
staff had been quickly recruited at the start of the pandemic in
the 111 service and some had been required to work in non-Covid
secure circumstances leading to illness. This inevitably impacted
on the Trust. Members were advised that the Trust had been an early
adopter of this system and it had already led to a 6% reduction in
visits to accident and emergency. The Trust worked closely with
SECAmb and had not needed to raise any concerns.
- Staff
welfare – Members expressed their appreciation of the
work done by staff over the last few months and queried what was
being done to support their welfare and those suffering from
fatigue. The Chief Operating Officer assured Members that staff
welfare was paramount and any staff experiencing stress or fatigue
received support. The Trust was
listening to employees’ experience of the first few months of
the pandemic. Well-being hubs for staff had been set up and staff
were encouraged to speak to colleagues in other organisations with
similar experiences and to also take two weeks leave over the
summer. Processes were in place that allowed staff to raise any
concerns.
- New tiered
lockdown system – whether the Trust’s plans
accorded with the demands of the new tiering system across England
was queried. The Chief Operating Officer believed that the winter
plans were robust enough to meet the demands of the new lockdown
system but there was a need to review how the Trust would respond
to the requirements of each tier. Services would not be closed down
unless there was no other choice. The Director of Public Health
added that lessons had been learned from the first lockdown in
terms of the impact on other hospital services and there was now a
clear focus on people being able to access NHS care in a safe
way.
- Elective
surgery – it was clarified that the Trust were now moving
towards 100% of last year’s planned activity.
Decision:
The Committee agreed to note the update on the
NHS restart and recovery programme, as set out in Appendices 1 and
2, of the report.