Meeting documents

Health Scrutiny Panel
Friday 14th August 2020

Chairman: Cllr Mitchell
Venue:        Virtual meeting Microsoft Teams
Time:          11.30 a.m.
E-mail Address: dean.gillon@northlincs.gov.uk

Watch this meeting live

AGENDA

1. Substitutions.

2. Declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests and personal or personal and prejudicial interests and declarations of whipping arrangements (if any).

3. To take the minutes of the meeting of the panel held on 20 May 2020 as a correct record and authorise the chairman to sign.

4. Public speaking request (if any).

5. Discussion with senior representatives from Northern Lincolnshire & Goole NHS Foundation Trust.

i.   Endoscopy Service
ii.  CQC Reports and Progress
iii. CQC Progress Report
iv. Next stages (if applicable)

6. Added item (if any).

7. Any other items which the Chairman decides are urgent by reason of special circumstances which must be specified.

MINUTES

PRESENT:- Councillor Mitchell in the Chair.

Councillors Armiger and Wilson.

Penny Spring, Director of Public Health, also attended the meeting.

The panel met via MS Teams.

542 DECLARATIONS OF DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS AND PERSONAL OR PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS AND DECLARATIONS OF WHIPPING ARRANGEMENTS (IF ANY) - There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests, or personal or personal and prejudicial interests.

No whip was declared.

543 MINUTES – Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of this panel held on 20 May 2020, having been printed and circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded and be signed by the chairman.

544 PUBLIC REQUESTS TO SPEAK - There were no requests received.

545 NORTHERN LINCOLNSHIRE & GOOLE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST - The Chairman welcomed Peter Reading, Chief Executive, Dr Kate Wood, Medical Director, Shaun Stacey, Chief Operating Officer, Claire Hansen, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Ruth Kent, Head of Clinical Sciences, and Adrian Beddow, Associate Director of Communications, Northern Lincolnshire & Goole NHS Foundation Trust to the meeting. The Chairman explained that the Trust representatives had been invited to update members on endoscopy services and to discuss the Trust’s Improvement Plan to February 2020 CQC report.

Peter introduced a detailed presentation focussing primarily on the Trust’s CQC Improvement Plan. This covered the CQC’s findings, priority actions and areas for improvement, next steps, and an overview of the Trust’s response to Covid-19. The presentation ended with a description of the temporary suspension of GP referrals to endoscopy services, confirming that other routine and emergency referral pathways continued as usual.

Each of the Trust representatives outlined a specific issue within the presentation, responding to members’ questions throughout. The Chairman then led a wide-ranging discussion and question and answer session with the witnesses, covering topics such as the extent of the Covid-19 impact locally, including actions taken by the trust and their consequences, the implications of recent guidance and direction from NHS England, the use of remote or socially distanced patient consultations, and a number of other concerns identified in the CQC report.

Penny Spring highlighted ongoing work to deal with address health inequalities through the development of an Integrated Inequalities Plan. Shaun confirmed that the Trust would be very happy to contribute to this.

Peter summarised the Trust’s position that the situation remained very challenging, but that there were encouraging signs in many areas, with improvements to both services and culture. The Chairman confirmed that the panel welcomed the Improvement Plan and would maintain an interest in overseeing progress.

Resolved - (a) That Peter Reading, Shaun Stacey, Dr Kate Wood, Claire Hansen, Ruth Kent and Adrian Beddow be thanked for their attendance, their presentation, and for providing answers to members’ questions; (b) that the situation be noted; (c) that a further update be provided to the panel in the coming months, and (d) that the Director of Public Health initiate contact with the Trust around health inequalities.

546 ADDED ITEM - There was no added item for consideration at the meeting.