NHS Chairs minutes: March 2019
Minutes of the meeting of the NHS Chairs on 25 March 2019.
Attendees and apologies
Scottish Ministers
- Jeane Freeman Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport
- Clare Haughey Minister for Mental Health
Health Board Chairs
- John Raine NHS Borders
- Nicholas Morris NHS Dumfries and Galloway
- Tricia Marwick NHS Fife
- Alex Linkston NHS Forth Valley
- Lynda Lynch NHS Grampian (by VC)
- Ross Finnie Vice-Chair, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
- Boyd Robertson NHS Highland
- Neena Mahal NHS Lanarkshire
- Brian Houston NHS Lothian
- Ian Kinniburgh NHS Orkney
- Gary Robinson NHS Shetland (by VC)
- Lorna Birse-Stewart Vice-Chair, NHS Tayside
- Ian Burgess NHS Western Isles
- Susan Douglas-Scott Golden Jubilee Foundation
- Carole Wilkinson Healthcare Improvement Scotland
- David Garbutt NHS Education for Scotland
- David Crichton NHS Health Scotland
- Elizabeth Ireland NHS National Services Scotland
- Terry Currie The State Hospitals Board for Scotland
- Eddie Frizzell, Vice Chair, Scottish Ambulance Service
- Paul Edie Care Inspectorate
Scottish Government officials
- Shirley Rogers Chief People Officer and Director of Health Workforce, Leadership, Reform and EU Exit Preparations
- Jason Leitch National Clinical Director
- Catherine Calderwood Chief Medical Officer
- Fiona McQueen Chief Nursing Officer
- Donna Bell Director of Mental Health
- Gordon Frame Head of Scheduled Care Performance and Delivery
- Richard McCallum Deputy Director, Health Finance and Infrastructure
- Alison Taylor Head of Integration Division
- Gordon Frame Head of Scheduled Care Performance and Delivery
- Elizabeth Saddler Head of Health Improvement Division
- Laurie Whyte Office of the Chief Executive NHS Scotland
- Andy Corr PS/Cabinet Secretary Health and Sport
- Hugh McAloon Deputy Director, Children and Young People’s Mental Health
- Phil Raines Head of Children and Young People’s Mental Health Delivery
- Sarah Hildersley Officer of the Chief Executive NHS Scotland
In attendance
- Karen Hamilton Vice-Chair, NHS Borders
- David Bedwell NHS Scotland Executive Support
Observers
- Katherina Tober Scottish Clinical Leadership Fellow
- Stephen Fenning Scottish Clinical Leadership Fellow
Apologies
- Joe FitzPatrick Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing
- Martin Cheyne NHS Ayrshire and Arran
- Esther Roberton NHS 24
- Tom Steele Scottish Ambulance Service
- John Brown NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde/NHS Tayside
- Malcolm Wright Director General for Health and Social Care for the Scottish Government and Chief Executive of NHS Scotland
- Christine McLaughlin Chief Finance Officer NHS Scotland and Director of Health Finance, Corporate Governance and Value
- John Connaghan Chief Performance Officer and Director of Delivery and Resilience
Items and actions
Welcome, apologies for absence and attendees
1. A list of those present and apologies is provided at Annex A.
2. The Cabinet Secretary welcomed Boyd Robertson, Chair of NHS Highland to his first meeting of the NHS Board Chairs Group.
Minutes of the previous meeting
Matters arising
Cabinet Secretary remarks
5. The Cabinet Secretary updated Chairs on the following topics:
- Board governance
- maintenance and infection control
- Health and Care (Staffing) Scotland Bill
6. The Cabinet Secretary welcomed the progress that has been made to implement the Blueprint for Good Governance and said that she looked forward to receiving copies of Board action plans by the end of April 2019.
Action: NHS Board Chairs to submit Action Plans on Board Governance by end of April 2019.
7. The report of the safety and cleanliness inspection of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital site was published on 8 March 2019. The Cabinet Secretary asked Chairs to assure themselves that all recommendations from the report have been implemented in their Boards as standard practice. She emphasised the importance of maintenance and domestic services in the prevention of healthcare associated infection and asked Chairs to ensure that action is being taken to fill all vacancies in areas such as food, laundry and domestic cleaning as a matter of priority.
Action: NHS Board Chairs to assure themselves that all recommendations are being implemented from the safety and cleanliness inspection of QEUH and that key vacancies are filled as a matter of priority.
8. Stage 1 and stage 2 of the Health and Care (Staffing) Scotland Bill’s passage through Parliament is now complete. The Cabinet Secretary brought to the attention of Chairs a list of amendments lodged at the end of stage 2. The majority of these amendments were around ensuring that the legislation is adequate for both health and social care. The timetable for stage 3 is still to be finalised. NHS Board Chairs should contact officials from the Chief Nursing Officer Directorate if they would like to discuss any of the amendments or if they need further information.
Cabinet Secretary standing items
Access and performance
9. Gordon Frame, Head of Scheduled Care Performance and Delivery, Scottish Government, gave an update on access and performance. He confirmed that the additional £26 million invested in Boards is beginning to make an impact to reduce waiting times nationally. Gordon Frame explained that as part of the Annual Operational Planning (AOPs) process, officials would be working with individual Boards to agree realistic trajectories for 2019/20.
10. The Cabinet Secretary underlined the importance of focusing on reducing the longest waits and reminded NHS Board Chairs that Boards should be fully engaging with the six essential actions improvement programme. She asked NHS Board Chairs to assure themselves that Chief Executives are carrying out the detailed analysis required to help understand the key issues that have affected performance.
Action: NHS Board Chairs to seek assurance from Chief Executives that they are carrying out a detailed analysis of the key issues that have affected performance.
Health and Social Care integration
11. Alison Taylor, Head of Integration Division, Scottish Government gave a brief update on work taken forward since the publication of the Ministerial Strategic Group (MSG) review of progress with integration, in February 2019. A key priority is the development of a delivery plan, which will be shared with partners and will set out a route to jointly achieving key outcomes.
12. Health Boards, Local Authorities and Integration Joint Boards have been asked to evaluate their current positon in relation to the findings of the MSG review using a self-evaluation tool. The results of which, will contribute to an improved understanding of pressures, cultures and drivers in different parts of the system.
13. Paul Edie asked what had become of the “National Care Criteria” and whether these were still in place in relation to provision of care. Alison Taylor agreed to look into this and provide a response.
Action: Alison Taylor to look into “National Care Criteria” and provide a response to Paul Edie.
‘Better Mental Health in Scotland: the programme of reform to improve support for mental health’ - NHSCH/18/19/09
(Clare Haughey, MSP, Minister for Mental Health and Donna Bell, Director of Mental Health, Scottish Government)
14. Ms Haughey, Minister for Mental Health led a discussion on the ambition, actions and progress to improve support for mental health in Scotland through the Mental Health Strategy and Programme for Government. She explained that an extensive programme of work, underpinned by an additional investment of
£250 million, is now being taken forward. This work will focus on improving waiting times performance as well as wider system change and will be informed by the recommendations of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Taskforce and the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group.
15. The Cabinet Secretary confirmed that ‘Mental Health’ would be a standing item on the agenda for all future meetings. NHS Board Chairs were asked to assure themselves that they understand the performance data on mental health for their Boards.
Action: NHS Board Chairs to assure themselves that they understand the performance data on mental health in their Board areas.
Feedback from Chairs private meeting
16. Ian Kinniburgh, Chair of the NHS Board Chairs Group shared feedback from their morning meeting. This included:
- updates from thematic groups
- a presentation from Ruth Glassborow, Healthcare Improvement Scotland on data to support Integrated Joint Boards
- alignment of Chief Executives Groups with thematic groups and priorities
- ensuring NHS Board Chairs are engaged with Scottish Government groups
17. The Chairs of each of the thematic groups gave a brief overview of progress made since the last meeting. NHS Board Chairs are now working to align the activity of the thematic groups with the working groups recently established by the NHS Board Chief Executives Group.
Any other business
18. The Cabinet Secretary informed NHS Board Chairs that information will be issued to Boards this week on the supply of medicines following withdrawal from the EU in the event of a ‘no deal’. This will then be followed by information about medical devices and workforce. NHS Board Chairs will be copied into the communications.
19. The Cabinet Secretary noted that John Raine, Chair of NHS Borders stands down from the role on 31 March 2019, following an 8 year appointment term. She thanked him for his dedication and commitment over the years and the significant contribution that he has made to the work of the NHS Board Chairs Group during this time.
Date and time of next meeting
- NHS Board Chairs to submit Action Plans on Board Governance by the end of April 2019.
- NHS Board Chairs to confirm that they have implemented all recommendations from the safety and cleanliness inspection of QEUH and that action is being taken to fill key vacancies as a matter of priority.
- NHS Board Chairs to seek assurance from Chief Executives that they are carrying out a detailed analysis of the key issues that have affected performance.
- Alison Taylor to look into “National Care Criteria” and provide a response to Paul Edie.
- NHS Board Chairs to assure themselves that they understand the performance data on mental health.
March 2019
Contact
Corporate Business Management: cbmt@gov.scot
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