Agenda item

This report updates the committee on the proposed integration between Medway NHS Foundation Trust and the Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust.

Discussion:

Prior to the Chief Executive of Medway NHS Foundation Trust giving a presentation updating Members on the proposed merger with Dartford and Gravesham Trust, the Chairman asked for a quick update on a recent legal finding against the Trust.

He stated that, following a patient incident in May 2009, where a patient had fallen from a window, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had issued a notice to improve window safety across the Trust, specifically to place window restrictors on every hospital window and ensure adequate measures were in place to prevent falls from them.  These actions had been implemented by the Trust promptly within the required timeframe and full compliance was signed off by the HSE at the time.

The HSE subsequently took the decision to prosecute and the Trust had pleaded guilty.  A fine of approximately £40,000 had been imposed which was a lower figure than could have been set, based on the quick response of the Trust to the requests and the financial position of the Trust.

Responding to a question he stated while the Trust had insurance against clinical negligence claims they did not have insurance to cover such incidents.  He felt that the level of fine reflected this fact.

He then updated the Committee on the current position with regards to the proposed merger with Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust and stated that plans were submitted to Monitor in December.  There was an anticipated board-to-board meeting between the hospital board and Monitor on 1 March 2013 with a recommendation back to the hospital board by the end of March 2013.

In relation to the concerns expressed by Members earlier, he stated that the hospital trust, along with Mark Reckless, MP and Tracey Crouch, MP had met with the Minister to discuss the promise of funding offered in relation to the PFI debt from Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust.  He stated that he was now assured that the funding would be forthcoming.

He stated that plans were in place to recruit to the potentially merged Hospital Board in anticipation of a merger.  In addition to this there had been an ongoing dialogue between the relevant Clinical Commissioning Groups, namely Medway, Swale and Dartford and Gravesham to ensure alignment with the clinical strategy and services provided.

The Committee thanked the Chief Executive for his reassurances and asked a number of questions to which he responded as follows:

·        In relation to the Chief Executive’s confidence in Monitor agreeing to the merger he stated that he could never be sure of Monitor’s response but he hoped their approval would be forthcoming. 

·        With regard to availability of specialist staff he explained the measures already put in place to increase the availability of specialist staff 24/7

·        As far as impact on staff, pensions, terms and conditions etc. it was stated that Medway staff were not affected in this regard on the basis this was effectively an acquisition by Medway.  He stated that for staff at Dartford and Gravesham would be transferred and protected by TUPE into the new Trust.  There would be some redundancies in corporate functions. 

·        In respect of the sustainability of the Trust he said that larger trusts were more able to perform well in the current financial climate so by merging the two Trusts it would build in more resilience.

·        Following a question about the Accident and Emergency and Maternity departments at both hospitals he said that neither could cope with the demand from the other in addition to its own demand so both would be retained.

·        In relation to the Trust obtaining the views of its own staff he stated that there were focus groups and opportunities for staff to use Twitter and other forms of social media to put forward questions or comments to the integration team.

·        Following a query about the lack of parking at the hospital which often caused queues to get into the site, he stated that work was in progress to negotiate with staff alternative arrangements such as a park and ride facility and car sharing arrangements to free up spaces for the public.

·        Concern was expressed that with the proposed merger some of the Medway specific data could be lost.  The Chief Executive undertook to ensure that, following any merger of the two Trusts, the Medway specific data would be retained.  He stated that this specific data would also be important for the Clinical Commissioning Group in Medway.

·        With regard to page 31 of the agenda where the report referred to ‘optimising the efficiency of our estate by reducing the footprint of the Medway Maritime Hospital site’ this referred predominantly to the reduction of the mental health footprint on site and did not relate to reducing clinical estates

Decision:

The Chief Executive of Medway NHS Foundation Trust was thanked for his attendance and requested to take note of the concerns expressed with regards to Medway specific data as set out above.