NHS Chairs minutes: May 2020
Minutes of the meeting of the NHS Chairs on 18 May 2020.
Attendees and apologies
Attendees
Scottish Ministers
- Jeane Freeman, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport
- Joe FitzPatrick, Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing
- Clare Haughey, Minister for Mental Health
Health Board Chairs
- Lesley Bowie, NHS Ayrshire and Arran
- Karen Hamilton, NHS Borders
- Nicholas Morris, NHS Dumfries and Galloway
- Tricia Marwick, NHS Fife
- Janie McCusker, NHS Forth Valley
- Lynda Lynch, NHS Grampian
- John Brown, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
- Boyd Robertson, NHS Highland
- Neena Mahal, NHS Lanarkshire
- Esther Roberton, NHS Lothian (Interim Chair)
- Meghan McEwen, NHS Orkney
- 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
- Martin Cheyne, NHS 24
- David Garbutt, NHS Education for Scotland
- Jim McGoldrick, Public 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
- Elinor Mitchell, Interim Director General for Health and Social Care for the Scottish Government
- John Connaghan, Interim Chief Executive of NHS Scotland
- Gillian Russell, Director of Health Workforce
- Richard McCallum, Interim Director of Health Finance and Infrastructure
- Donna Bell, Covid-19 Director and Director of Mental Health
- Marion Bain, Deputy Chief Medical Officer
- Fiona McQueen, Chief Nursing Officer
- Jason Leitch, National Clinical Director
- David Williams, Director of Delivery, Health and Social Care Integration
- Alison Taylor, Head of Integration Division
- Caroline Lamb, Director of Digital Reform and Service Engagement
- Jack Downie, APS/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)
In Attendance
- Sir Lewis Ritchie, Professional Adviser, Primary Care
- Paul Cackette, Director of PPE
- Jill Young, Covid-19 Lead for Testing
- Dave Caesar, Head of Leadership and Talent Management
- Andrew Fleming, Head of Territorial Board Sponsorship and Ministerial Support
- Alan Cooper, Executive Support, NHS Chair and Chief Executives Groups
- Laura Parker, Executive Support, NHS Chair and Chief Executives Groups
Apologies
- Gregor Smith, Interim Chief Medical Officer
- Carol Tannahill, Director of Recovery
- David Miller, Chief People Officer
- Richard Foggo, Covid-19 Director and Director of Population Health
Items and actions
Agenda
1. Welcome, Apologies for Absence and Attendees
2. Minutes and Actions from the Previous Meeting
3. Matters Arising
4. Cabinet Secretary Remarks
5. National Response to Covid-19
- TTIS – (Caroline Lamb, Director of Digital Reform and Service Engagement, Covid-19 Portfolio Director for TTIS)
- Testing – (Jill Young, Covid-19 Lead for Testing)
- Care Homes and Action from Boards – (Fiona McQueen, Chief Nursing Officer/Alison Taylor, Head of Integration Division)
6. Recovery and Remobilisation – (John Connaghan, Interim Chief Executive NHS Scotland)
7. Staff Wellbeing including ‘Raising Awareness and Mutual Aid for Wellbeing Services’ - (Gillian Russell, Director of Health Workforce)
8. Feedback from NHS Chairs Private Meeting
(David Garbutt, Chair of the NHS Board Chairs Group)
9. Any Other Business
10. Date and Time of Next Meeting – Monday 22 June 2020
Minutes
Welcome, Apologies for Absence and Attendees
1. A list of those present and apologies is provided at Annex A.
Minutes and Actions from the Previous Meeting
2. The minutes of the meeting held on 23 March 2020 were approved.
Matters Arising
3. There were no matters arising from the previous meeting.
Cabinet Secretary Remarks
4. The Cabinet Secretary thanked NHS Chairs for the leadership and support, both within their Boards and collectively across NHS Scotland in meeting the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic. She invited NHS Chairs to pass on her thanks to senior teams and Board members.
National Response to Covid-19 in Scotland
Test, Trace, Isolate and Support (TTIS) and Testing
5. Caroline Lamb, Director of Digital Reform and Service Engagement, Covid-19 Portfolio Director for TTIS, gave an overview of the Scottish approach ‘Test, Trace, Isolate and Support’ and schedule of activity planned to the end of June. This included details of the ‘Citizen Pathway’ and work undertaken to increase capacity of staff to undertake contact tracing.
6. Jill Young, Covid-19 Lead for Testing then provided some detail on the pathways which have been developed to support pathways for testing and performance information on the numbers of tests carried out on people over 70 in hospitals, staff, and residents in care homes.
7. The Cabinet Secretary thanked Caroline and Jill for all that has been achieved so far. She asked NHS Chairs to help by ensuring that their Boards are maximising the number of staff that can be redeployed to support contact tracing. Some issues still to be addressed included reassurance to the public about the NHS role in contact tracing and how their personal data is handled.
Action: NHS Chairs to seek assurance from Chief Executives that Boards are maximising the numbers of staff that can be redeployed to support contact tracing.
Care Homes and Actions from Boards
8. Alison Taylor, Head of Integration Division, gave an overview of recent developments for care homes. This included detailed clinical and practice guidance for care homes published on 15 May 2020 and Stage 2 Amendments of the Coronavirus Bill being considered by Parliament this week.
9. Fiona McQueen, Chief Nursing Officer then updated NHS Chairs on new arrangements which ensure that every Health Board and their Health and Social Care Partnership colleagues must put in place and support a multi-disciplinary Care Home and Care Professional Oversight Team. Discussion also took place around testing capacity and the potential for health boards to intervene where failures are identified in care.
10. The Cabinet Secretary advised NHS Chairs to take an active role in the work of the Directors of Public Health and Nurse Directors and what they are doing to ensure that testing is being carried out and how they are managing active cases. She asked that NHS Chairs alert SG colleagues to assist if necessary at the earliest opportunity.
Action: NHS Chairs to take an active role in the work of Directors of Public Health and Nurse Directors with regards to the oversight of care homes.
Staff Wellbeing and Raising Awareness and Mutual Aid for Wellbeing Services
14. Gillian Russell, Director, Health Workforce, introduced the discussion on staff wellbeing and Dave Caesar, Head of Leadership and Talent Management gave an update on the launch of the new National Wellbeing Hub.
15. The Cabinet Secretary acknowledged the significant transformation that has been achieved over the last few weeks and how Boards have moved quickly to ensure that support has been provided for staff. She asked NHS Chairs to engage with their HR Directors about what longer term improvements could be made to HR processes and procedures, identifying practices that are no longer required and feedback this information to Gillian Russell.
Action: NHS Chairs to speak to HR Directors about processes which may no longer be required and to feed back to Gillian Russell before the next meeting.
Feedback from the NHS Chairs Private Meeting
16. David Garbutt, Chair, NHS Chairs Group gave an overview of the themes discussed at their private meeting, including:
- Care Homes
- Innovation landscape
- John Burns’ paper on recovery
- What is working well/lessons learned
- Corporate governance – including ‘active’ governance
- Mental Health principles paper and
- Promis
17. The Cabinet Secretary thanked David Garbutt for the update and confirmed that she has asked her office to reinstate her one to one meetings with him. NHS Chairs thanked Mr FitzPatrick for holding weekly catch ups and asked that these continue for now.
Action: Private Office to reinstate the Cabinet Secretary’s one to one meetings with David Garbutt.
Any Other Business
18. The Cabinet Secretary welcomed new Chairs: Meghan McEwen, NHS Orkney; Janie McCusker, NHS Forth Valley; Lesley Bowie, NHS Ayrshire and Arran; and, Esther Roberton, Interim Chair, NHS Lothian, to their first meeting since their appointments.
19. The Cabinet Secretary reflected on the recent retirement of Malcolm Wright from his role as Chief Executive of NHS Scotland/Director General of Health and Social Care and NHS Chairs expressed their appreciation for his work and to wished him well for the future.
Date and Time of Next Meeting
20. The next NHS Chairs meeting will be on Monday 22 June 2020 at 13:00. The meeting will be held virtually on MS Teams.
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