Briefing Sheet following Council of Governors Meeting – July 2019
This summary has been produced following the latest Council of Governors meeting that was held in public on 12th July 2019. We do hope that you find the content useful:
- Jo Segasby has been appointed to the role of Chief Operating Officer from 1st July 2019.
- The Care Quality Commission are due to make an unannounced inspection later this summer. The hospital encourages staff to treat every day as a possible inspection day, so preparation is ongoing. Staff are encouraged to be open about service improvements and proud of what they do for our patients.
- Nominations for the Remarkable People Awards have now closed with nearly 500 entries being received from both patients and staff. The award ceremony will take place in October.
- An important focus for the hospital remains on the health and wellbeing of its staff and we will be working with an external partner, “Clever Together”, to deliver enhanced staff engagement.
- The James Paget Charity will relaunch later this year to raise funds for a CT scanner in the Emergency Department (ED), as well as a Bereavement Suite, a Paediatric area and Minors Enhancements all in the ED area. Any donations to this worthy cause will be gratefully received for services that ‘NHS money can’t buy’.
- Work continues to improve the hospital with the new public toilets now open in the foyer and the exterior of the hospital receiving its five-yearly re-paint. Work is also underway to refurbish x-ray room 6 which will house a new x-ray machine providing superior image quality.
- A waste and recycling sustainability group is being set up to help reduce plastic waste, to raise awareness about recycling and to explore transferring the pool cars to electric vehicles.
- The interviews to appoint a permanent Chief Executive are scheduled for 30th July 2019.
- The SHMI mortality figure has reduced for the fifth time to 1.11, the lowest it has been for over two years. This is now within the normal range and reflects the understanding of, and the improved use of coding.
- The complaints annual report shows a 23% increase in the number received in 2018/19 (225) although the actual number of complaints upheld has reduced. The Non-Executive Directors were assured to know that a process is followed in dealing with these and that staff learn from them, with details included in each month’s Quality and Safety Report to the Board.
- Maintaining a sustainable workforce is an ongoing risk and staff sickness absence remains a key concern. Initiatives to support staff health and wellbeing, such as enhanced engagement, are being introduced and the Chaplaincy team are also supporting staff.
- At a successful education conference Sharon Crowle and Claire Whitehouse received the Chief Nursing Officer “Silver Award” and Julia Hunt received a “Gold Award”. Many congratulations to Julia, Sharon and Claire on receiving these prestigious awards.
- As reported in the last briefing, the Trust achieved its financial target with a deficit of just under £(5.7)m. In order to try and achieve the £9m transformation programme for 2019/2020, the Trust will focus on four areas: diagnostics, outpatients, theatres and workforce, by concentrating on the utilisation of assets and by ensuring processes work efficiently and effectively.
- The ED performance improved with ambulance offload delays being reduced thanks to initiatives such as discharge planning. Referral to treatment in 18 weeks reached 90% in June against the 92% target. However, achieving the cancer standards is challenging due to increased referrals but the team is focussing on this to improve performance for patients.
- Financial statements for 2018/2019 have been approved and a clean audit report received. The Board approved annual report document has now been published.
If you have any questions, would like clarification on any of the items covered, or have any other matters that you would like to raise please do not hesitate to contact us. You can do this via the Governors’ email which is governors@jpaget.nhs.uk. We would welcome your feedback and look forward to hearing from you.