To consider updates from Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust relating to:
· Financial Update
· Workforce Update
· Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) Update (presentation to follow)
· Greater Manchester Mental Health Update (Verbal)
Minutes:
The Chair welcomed attendees to the meeting, and invited Anthony Hassall, Chief Executive (Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust) to introduce the presentation.
The Chief Executive firstly commented on the BBC Panorama investigation that had uncovered patient abuse at Edenfield Centre, a mental health hospital in Greater Manchester. It was explained that the Edenfield Centre was one of the biggest mental health hospitals in the UK and could accommodate more than 150 patients. The hospital was a medium-secure facility intended to care for people held under the Mental Health Act who were at serious risk of harming themselves or others. This included people who had a learning disability or autism.
The BBC investigation exposed a toxic culture among staff, which included a number of incidents of patient abuse, mistreatment, inappropriate restraint and seclusion. The Edenfield Centre had now been closed down.
The Chief Executive explained that Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust hospital was a low-secure facility and provided rehabilitation services. In light of the BBC investigation, there had been discussions at Pennine Care Board level and with staff about the importance of ‘speaking up’ and challenging inappropriate behaviours. There was ongoing review and improvement of the mechanisms that promoted the voice of the patient. The findings of the BBC investigation would be scrutinised to ensure any learnings were implemented.
Financial Update
The Chief Executive reported that the revenue position was in line with the plan. Although there remained a significant risk to the delivery of the financial plan at an Integrated Care System level. There was no forecast risk to achieving the £11.3 million efficiency target. The challenge would be to deliver savings on a recurrent basis.
Workforce Update
Panel Members were informed that the staff headcount had increased by 292 over the last 12 months.
There continued to be a shortage of qualified medical professionals. There were currently 33 vacancies for highly qualified staff at Pennine Care Trust. Work was ongoing to understand the staffing challenges and promote retention and investment in training roles and continued support to ‘grow our own’.
The distinction between ‘bank and ‘agency’ staff was explained to the Panel. Bank staff were existing employees whom chose to work additional flexible hours. Agency staff were not permanent members of staff, and therefore, did not have a strong affinity to the organisation. It was explained that a flexible pool of staff was necessary, however there was a keenness to reduce the use of expensive agency staff.
There was some discussion about the importance of engagement with schools to promote medical professions as a career option. It was noted that there were significant challenges to overcome in order to open up opportunities for children from lower socio-economic backgrounds, as medicine seemed to have become a ‘closed career’, increasingly doctors were the children of doctors.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) Update
Consideration was given to an update regarding Pennine Care CAMHS provision.
It was reported that there was increasing demand for services and investment was not keeping pace. The demand for services was far greater than current capacity.
The Panel was informed that notwithstanding the existing challenges there had been a number of successes in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale, such as the #Thrive service, partnership working to develop parent and peer support models, and locality CAMHS link worker embedded in neighbourhoods.
RESOLVED – That the update presentation be noted.
Supporting documents: