To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Cocks (Rochdale Borough Council), Councillor Cosgrove (Oldham MBC), Councillor Homer ad Councilllor T. Smith (Tameside MBC).

Members are required to declare any disclosable pecuniary, personal or personal and prejudicial interests they may have and the nature of those interests relating to items on this agenda and/or indicate if S106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.  

There were no declarations of interests.

To consider the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held 17^th September 2021.

Resolved:
That the Minutes of the meeting of the Joint Scrutiny Committee for Pennine Care, held 17^th September 2021, be approved, as a correct record.

To consider the financial position appertaining to Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, including Capital Programme proposals.

The Committee received a presentation from the Trust’s Director of Finance which informed Members of Pennine Care’s financial performance, thus far, in 2021/2022, noting that the Trust had delivered a breakeven position at the end of September 2021 – the midpoint of the current financial year.

The Committee was advised that at 30^th September 2021, capital expenditure was slightly behind plan by £0.6m. Delays on the e-rostering scheme and the ICT infrastructure programme were the main drivers of the performance; both schemes were delayed during the worst months of the Covid-19 pandemic and were currently being re-scoped to maximise benefits from recent changes in technology.

The Director of Finance reported that whilst release of efficiency savings was ahead of plan this had mainly been driven by one-off budget underspends and the challenge remained to ensure these savings would be recurrent in nature. A Value Improvement Group, has been established and was led by the Trust’s Deputy Medical Director to develop a three year programme to identify value improvements which should lead to improvements in productivity and sustainable cost reductions.

In terms of the workforce, at month 6 (September 2021) temporary staffing expenditure was £12.7m, equating to c14% of total pay spend.  Challenges around recruitment and retention coupled with increased acuity, had led to the enactment of business continuity plans in a number of core services, and in these areas higher rates were having to be paid to ensure services can be safely staffed.  The mobilisation of new and enhanced services, underpinned by additional income received from local commissioners and nationally funded programmes, is commencing across all localities.  A workforce transformation group was tracking appointments to all new posts to try and minimise any further risk to core services through internal appointments.

The Committee were advised of the Trust’s priorities in terms of the provision of mental health services:

•      delivery against in-year ICS workforce plans, making full use of new roles, and development of a multi-year mental health workforce plan

•      accelerating the recovery of face-to-face care in community mental health services and submitting the re-categorisation of community mental health spend over autumn

•      reducing out-of-area placements, long lengths of stay and long waits in EDs for mental health patients

•      continuing to increase access to CYP community mental health services, including eating disorders, crisis and school-based  mental health support teams; NHS-funded talking therapies, individual placement and support (IPS) and specialist perinatal mental health services

•      advancing equalities, including delivering the target for physical health checks for people with severe mental illness (SMI) and recovering the dementia diagnosis rate

•      delivering actions to enable whole pathway commissioning for provider collaborative front runners from April 2022

•      ensuring that digital capabilities are in place across mental health services to drive interoperability and improvements in patient safety

In terms of efficiency savings the Trust had been asked to find £3.4 million by the end of 2021/2022. Most of these savings could be found by not filling vacant posts. In  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

Pennine Care Trust to report

The Trust’s Director of Finance reported on the development of information management and technology across the organisation’s footprint. A ‘5 Year’ Infrastructure Plan outlined the Trust’s current ICT Infrastructure and how this would need to change and improve over the next five years for the technology to remain safe, secure, reliable and up to date with the latest developments as Pennine Care moved towards cloud based provision and the use of innovative practises such as Artificial Intelligence. The Trust sought to connect its services to the most critical applications and connect data more swiftly and efficiently whilst providing a platform for growth, development and innovation. The 5 Year Infrastructure Plan was built upon five strategic objectives:

a.    Making it easier for staff to work with technology

b.    Services are kept safe and secure from attempted cyber-attacks

c.    Services are made more efficient through the use of technology

d.    Customer satisfaction rates increase year on year

e.    Staff can work remotely and with agility

Resolved:
that the report be noted.

To consider proposals for the roll-out of electronic patient records across the Trist’s footprint.

Further to Minute 6 of the Committee’s last meeting, held 17^th September 2021, Members were updated on the Trust’s commitment to roll out electronic patient records across their hospital sites and other facilities.

The Trust had commenced the roll-out of ‘Cohort 3’ in May and June 2021. There was evidence of real-time admissions discharges and transfers taking place but challenges were being faced with digital maturity and skills. Most of the records were being stored on the NHS’s PARIS network and an upgrade to the PARIS 7.1 model, which Pennine Care used, was due to be completed by the end of February 2022. Some other staff not conversant would be trained for use and this would be rolled out to those remaining staff. Therefore by the end of April 2022 it was anticipated that all essential staff would be conversant with the PARIS system.

Members of the Committee in considering this matter requested clarification as to the Trust’s Information Technology system’s compatibility with the ICT systems which were used by the local authorities in whose areas the Trust operated. The Committee also sough clarity on the confidentiality of electronic prescribing. The Committee was advised that these two issues were a priority for Pennine Care and were being examined in detail.

Resolved:

That the report be noted.

To inform the Committee of the Trust’s infrastructure projects across the districts, including the new PICU centre in Ashton-under-Lyne).

The Trust’s Director of Finance reported upon the Trust’s Capital Programme which comprised mainly of two large infrastructure projects:

a.     PICU Centre in Tameside (which was due to be opened in June 2022)

b.     The refurbishment of the CAMHS facilities at Stopford House, Stockport (which was due for completion in May/June 2022)

The Trust’s Director of Finance extended an invitation to Members of the Committee to view these facilities when they were open and ready for use.

Resolved:

That the report be noted.

To consider dates/times for future meetings of the Committee and also for ‘informal’ meetings between the Committee’s membership and representatives of Pennine Care’s Board of Governors.

The Committee was advised that the following reports were to be included in the Committee’s Work Programme 2021/2022:

a.     ICS Update - (January 2022)

b.     ‘Getting to Good’ progress report - (January 2022)

c.     Budget 2022/2023 (Capital and Revenue) – (March 2022)

d.     Update on PICU Unit/Stopford House refurbishment – (March 2022)

e.     Staffing report (including engagement of temporary and agency staff and staffing vacancies) – (March 2022)

Resolved:

1.     That the Committee’s work programme be noted.

2.     The Committee hold its next two ‘formal’ meeting on Tuesday, 18^th January 2022 and Tuesday, 22^nd March 2022; both meetings to commence at 2.00pm and to be held in the Training and Conference Centre, Number One Riverside, Smith Street, Rochdale, Ol16 1XU.

3.     The Committee’s clerk be requested to arrange an informal meeting between Committee members and the Chief Executive of Pennine Care and a senior representative of the Trust’s governing body on Tuesday, 14^th December 2021.