NHS Chairs minutes: January 2020

Attendees and apologies

Attendees 

Scottish Ministers:

• Jeane Freeman, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport
• Clare Haughey, Minister for Mental Health 

Health board chairs

• Lesley Bowie, NHS Ayrshire and Arran (Vice-Chair)
• Karen Hamilton, NHS Borders
• Nicholas Morris, NHS Dumfries and Galloway (by VC)
• Tricia Marwick, NHS Fife
• Alex Linkston, NHS Forth Valley
• Rhona Atkinson, NHS Grampian (Vice-Chair)
• John Brown, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
• Ann Clark,  NHS Highland (Vice-Chair)
• Neena Mahal, NHS Lanarkshire
• Brian Houston, NHS Lothian
• David Drever, NHS Orkney (Vice-Chair)
• Gary Robinson, NHS Shetland
• Lorna Birse-Stewart, NHS Tayside (Interim Chair)
• Ian Burgess, NHS Western Isles  
• Susan Douglas-Scott, The Golden Jubilee Foundation
• Carole Wilkinson,  Healthcare Improvement Scotland
• Madeline Smith, NHS 24 (Vice-Chair)
• David Garbutt, NHS Education for Scotland
• David Crichton, NHS Health Scotland
• Keith Redpath, NHS National Services Scotland
• Terry Currie, The State Hospital Board
• Tom Steele, Scottish Ambulance Service  
• Suzanne Dawson, Scottish Health Council
• Paul Edie, Care Inspectorate 

Scottish Government officials:

• Malcolm Wright, Director General for Health and Social Care for the Scottish Government and Chief Executive of NHS Scotland
• Elinor Mitchell, Director of Community Health and Social Care
• Shirley Rogers, Director of EU Exit and Transition, Chief People Officer and Director of Health Workforce, Leadership and Reform
• John Connaghan, Chief Performance Officer and Director of Delivery and Resilience
• Richard McCallum, Interim Director of Health Finance and Infrastructure
• Donna Bell, Director of Mental Health
• Richard Foggo, Director of Population Health
• Catherine Calderwood, Chief Medical Officer
• Fiona McQueen, Chief Nursing Officer
• Jason Leitch, National Clinical Director
• David Williams, Director of Delivery, Health and Social Care Integration
• Caroline Lamb, Director of Digital Reform and Service Engagement
• Andy Corr,  PS/Minister for Mental Health
• Robert Kirkwood, Corporate Business Management Team (Secretariat)
• Laurie Whyte, Corporate Business Management Team (Secretariat)
• Hannah Mackay, Corporate Business Management Team (Secretariat) 

Observers: 

• Andrew Flemming, Head of Territorial Board Sponsorship and Ministerial Support
• Katherine Ritchie, Scottish Clinical Leadership Fellow
• Savita Brito-Mutunayagam, Scottish Clinical Leadership Fellow 

In attendance:

• Alan Cooper, Executive Support, NHS Chair and Chief Executives Groups
• Chris Campbell, Executive Support, NHS Chair and Chief Executives Groups 

Apologies: 

• Joe FitzPatrick, Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing
• Martin Cheyne, NHS 24
• Lynda Lynch, NHS Grampian
• Boyd Robertson,  NHS Highland
• Jim McGoldrick, Shadow Chair, Public Health Scotland  

Items and actions

Agenda

• welcome, apologies for absence and attendees 
• minutes and Actions from the previous meeting
• matters arising 
• Cabinet Secretary remarks 
• Cabinet Secretary standing items - Community Health and Social Care – NHSCH/19/20/27; Access and Performance – NHSCH/19/20/28 
• feedback from NHS Chairs private meeting (David Garbutt, Chair of the NHS Board Chairs Group) 
• Hospital at Home guidance implementation – NHSCH/19/20/29  (Carole Wilkinson, Chair, Healthcare Improvement Scotland) 
• mental health waiting times performance - NHSCH/19/20/30  (Donna Bell, Director of Mental Health) 
• data in health and social care – NHSCH/19/20/31 (Richard Foggo, Director of Population Health) 
• any other business 
• date and time of next meeting 

Minutes

Welcome, apologies for absence and attendees 

A list of those present and apologies is provided at Annex A.

The Cabinet Secretary noted that Alex Linkston, Chair, NHS Forth Valley, stands down on 31 March 2020 following an eight year appointment term. She thanked him for the contribution and his commitment to the role.  

The Cabinet Secretary also thanked Shirley Rogers, Director of EU Exit and Transition, Chief People Officer and Director of Health Workforce, Leadership and Reform for the significant impact she had made on health and social care during her time in the Scottish Government and wished her well for the future.   

Minutes and actions from the previous meeting 

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 December 2019 were approved.   

The Cabinet Secretary thanked NHS Chairs for the information that they provided on the uptake of the flu vaccine within their Boards. There was a discussion around patient safety and the role that the flu vaccination programme can protect both patients and staff. Fiona McQueen, Chief Nursing Officer agreed to discuss this further with the Chief Medical Officer, explore options and lead a discussion at a future private meeting of the Chairs.  

Action:

• Fiona McQueen to attend a future Chairs private meeting to discuss strengthening the flu vaccination programme for staff

David Williams, Director of Delivery, Health and Social Care Integration indicated that social care provision would be included in the Annual Operating Plans to assist with winter planning. The Cabinet Secretary asked David to consider how to raise preparation of social care services for winter with Chief Officers of the Integrated Joint Boards. 

Action:

• David Williams to consider how to raise the preparation of social care services for winter with Chief Officers of Integrated Joint Boards before the next meeting

Matters arising 

There were no matters arising from the previous meeting.  

Cabinet Secretary remarks 

The Cabinet Secretary highlighted a number of issues to NHS Chairs, including: 

• managed moves of NHS Chief Executives
• escalation of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and support
• Escalation Framework
• active governance
• the Scottish 2020-21 Budget 
• population planning

The Cabinet Secretary asked John Connaghan, Chief Performance Officer and Director of Delivery and Resilience to lead an agenda item on the Escalation Framework at the next NHS Chairs meeting in March 2020. Alongside the review of the Framework, will be a review of how it links to the Blueprint for Good Governance.

Action:

• John Connaghan to lead an agenda item on the Escalation Framework at the NHS Chairs meeting on 23 March 2020

There was a discussion about how Chairs actively ensure good governance and how this is evaluated.  David Garbutt, Chair of the NHS Board Chairs Group agreed to consider with NHS Chairs how to take this forward. 

Action:

• David Garbutt to consider with NHS Chairs what needs to be done to ensure that the Blueprint for Good Governance covers ‘active’ governance, before next meeting

 The Cabinet Secretary told NHS Chairs that the Scottish Budget would be published on 6 February 2020 in advance of the UK Budget. It was agreed that a full discussion would take place at the next NHS Chairs meeting in March 2020.

Action:  

• Richard McCallum to lead a discussion on the Health Budget at the NHS Chairs meeting on 23 March 2020

The Cabinet Secretary recently wrote to Tricia Marwick, Chair, NHS Fife about concerns that health boards are not fully engaged with local authorities about provision of health services when planning new housing developments. Tricia Marwick raised concerns that Health Boards are not statutory consultees during the planning process. The Cabinet Secretary agreed to raise this with Kevin Stewart, Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning, and she asked NHS Chairs to consider the issue for further discussion at a future meeting. She asked Richard McCallum, Interim Director of Finance and Infrastructure to consider whether funding contributions for health facilities could come from developers.    

Action:

• Cabinet Secretary to raise the statutory aspect with Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning and Richard McCallum to investigate whether developers could provide funding for health facilities

Cabinet Secretary standing items 

Community Health and Social Care – NHSCH/19/20/27 

Elinor Mitchell, Director of Community Health and Social Care gave a brief update on work that has progressed since the last meeting.   

Access and Performance – NHSCH/19/20/28 

John Connaghan, Chief Performance Officer and Director of Delivery and Resilience gave an update on access and performance. Officials continue to work with Health Boards facing the greatest challenges. The Cabinet Secretary asked NHS Chairs to review, with their Chief Executives, the provision accident and emergency and primary care provision (including of out of hours services) in their Boards and to engage with Chief Officers of Integrated Joint Boards on their plans for the deployment of the 800 additional mental health officers. 

Action:

• NHS Chairs to review accident and emergency and primary care provision in their Boards (including out of hours) and explore with Chief Officers of Integrated Joint Boards their plans for the deployment of the 800 additional mental health officers.

Feedback from NHS Board Chairs private meeting 

David Garbutt shared feedback from their morning meeting. This included:   

• whistleblowing champions 
• reform and innovation
• Healthcare Improvement Scotland Hub
• hospital at home 
• flu vaccination 
• CAMHS targets
• infrastructure 
• escalation framework

EU withdrawal  

Shirley Rogers, Director of EU Exit and Transition, Chief People Officer and Director of Health Workforce, Leadership and Reform provided an update on the transition arrangements for withdrawal from the EU, which commence on 1 February 2020. The Cabinet Secretary asked for regular updates to be included at future NHS Chairs meetings. 

Hospital at home guidance – NHSCH/19/20/29 

Carole Wilkinson, Chair, Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) gave an update on the work that has been progressed since the last meeting. The resource ‘Hospital at Home: Guiding Principles for Service Development’ will be published in January 2020.  Jason Leitch, National Clinical Director, advised that HIS would revisit this work in the future to find out whether this mechanism worked to accelerate spread of good practice.   

Mental Health Waiting Times Performance - NHSCH/19/20/30  

Miss Haughey, Minister for Mental Health told NHS Chairs that she was disappointed by the variability across NHS Boards in terms of completion rates for the required datasets and asked NHS Chairs to prioritise the collection of mental health data for CAMHS and Psychological Therapies in their Boards. She encouraged them not to wait for the published information but to make use of the data available to them in their own Boards.  

It was agreed that there would be a further discussion at the next NHS Chairs meeting in March 2020. The Cabinet Secretary encouraged Chairs to engage with NHS Borders and NHS Grampian around the service redesigns that have been carried out and have resulted in significant improvements to waiting times. Shirley Rogers encouraged Chairs to ask executive colleagues what has been done in their Boards to consider ‘job-planning’ in this area. 

Action:

• NHS Chairs to prioritise collection of mental health data and secretariat to include a further discussion on Mental Health Waiting Times as an agenda at the March 2020 meeting
• NHS Chairs to share good practice around mental health service redesign and explore how similar resdesign could work in their Boards.  They should also ask what has been done around job planning for mental health services

Data in health and social care – NHSCH/19/20/31 

Richard Foggo, Director of Population Health asked NHS Chairs to note the content of the paper that had been circulated to them. Due to recent developments he suggested that there should be a fuller discussion at the next meeting on 23 March 2020. 

Action:

• Secretariat to liaise with Richard Foggo to include Data in Health and Social Care as an agenda item at the March 2020 meeting

Any other business 

Gary Robinson, Chair, NHS Shetland provided an update on recent international interest in the ‘Attend Anywhere’ programme.   

Date and time of next meeting 

The next NHS Chairs meeting will be on Monday 23 March 2020 at 13:00 in the Scottish Health Service Centre, Edinburgh. 

Office of the Chief Executive for NHS Scotland January 2020 

NHS Chairs minutes: January 2020

File type

7 page PDF

File size

256.1 kB