NHS GRAMPIAN

Minute of the Grampian Area Partnership Forum (GAPF)

held on 22nd April2015at 1.50pm

in the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC)

Present:

Sharon Duncan, Staff Side Chair/Employee Director (Chairperson)

Gary Butler, Health and Safety Rep (deputy for Mike Adams)

Jim Clark, GMB

Jane Fletcher, Learning Disabilities Service Manager

Alan Gray, Director of Finance

Laura Gray, Director of Corporate Communications

Annie Ingram, Director of Workforce

Gerry Lawrie, Deputy Director of Workforce

Steven Lindsay, Unite

Martin McKay, Unison

George McLean, Business Manager, Moray Integrated Joint Board

Terry Mackie, Non-Executive Board Member

Graham Mutch, Head of Maintenance (deputy for Gary Mortimer)

Sandy Reid, Senior Service Manager, Aberdeen City Health & Social Care Partnership

Anne Robertson, Non-Executive Board Member

Anne Ross, Head of Performance and Quality Improvement

David Tosh, Divisional Lead Nurse, Acute (deputy for Sue Swift)

Rieta Vilar, Programme Manager (deputy for Mike Ogg)

Malcolm Wright, Interim Chief Executive

In Attendance

Caron Fraser, Staff Experience Manager (item 5.a.)

Sarah Lorick, PA (Minute-taker)

Item / Subject / Action
1. / Welcome and Apologies
SD welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Apologies were received from: Mike Adams, UCATT (Gary Butler deputised); Gemma Barclay, SOR; Rebecca Clark, BDA; Susan Coull, Head of HR; Ian Francis, CSP (no VC facilities at AECC); Alistair Grant, RCN (no deputy); Eileen Grant, GHP;Stephen Logan, Chairman NHSG; Deirdre McIntyre, SOCAP (no VC facilities at AECC); Sandra-Dee Masson, BAOT; Rachael Little, SCP/AHP; Gary Mortimer, General Manager, Facilities and Estates (Graham Mutch deputised); Mike Ogg, Head of Integration and Strategy (Rieta Vilar deputised); Mike Park, Unison, Health and Safety; Kirsten Sawers, RCM; Philip Shipman, HR Manager Integration; Sue Swift, Associate Director of Nursing Acute (David Tosh deputised); Keith Thomson, Head of Health & Safety (Margaret Gray, deputy, also submitted apologies).
2. / Minute of Last Meeting
Page 1: add Eileen Grant, GHP, to the list of apologies received.
Otherwise the minute of the last meeting held on18thMarch 2015 was approvedas an accurate record.
3. / Matters Arising
TM raised the item of ‘Review of the Waiting List for Car Parking Spaces’ as reported on page 4 of the minute of the last meeting. TM advised that he chaired the Transport Overview Group, and work on parking spaces at Royal Cornhill Hospital had finished. Paul Allen would be leading a working group. SD noted that new staff are entitled to parking permits, however, there are a limited number of permits and some staff will lose their permits, which will cause a degree of disruption.
AKI referred to page 3 of the minute of the last meeting and raised the issue that the four embedded reports can easily be missed, and thereforeany reports need to be issued separately.
There were no other matters arising reported by the group that were not on the meeting agenda.
  1. Face2Face Updates and Feedback
LG informed the group that the programme of Face2Face meetings is about half way through, so there is still the opportunity to attend some of the sessions. Numbers have not been huge, but this doesn’t matter hugely as Face2Face is just one tool alongside other communication tools. The Management Trainee is supporting the programme, e.g. by compiling the feedback forms. Facilitators have been asked to give the presentation at existing meetings in addition to Face2Face sessions. LG was grateful for the staff side support given.
LG advised that the presentation was there as a back-drop and that the thrust is the opportunity to raise anything at all. Practical issues have been raised e.g. parking. Every question raised is being meticulously logged.
AG noted that staff were keen to see Executives on a regular basis.
AKI noted that Estates colleagues raised specific and other issues e.g. pensions. SD suggested starting with Estates first.
JC suggested that the poor attendance at sessions could be the result of problems with communication. LG advised that it was difficult to know why people don’t attend; reasons could be that they didn’t see or hear about the sessions, chose not to go, or couldn’t get away. Senior Managers are being asked to promote the message e.g. Jason Nicol and Ali McGruther at Woodend. AKI reported the she and AG facilitated a session at Peterhead and it would have been more successful to have 2 sessions i.e. morning and afternoon.
MW informed the group that Face2Face should be viewed as one element in a range of tools e.g. Executive Safety Walkrounds, podcasts etc, and that Face2Face sessions could be continued on a rolling programme. SD suggested it would be useful to put a programme of Face2Face for 2016 in the diary now. AG welcomed a continuous conversation with staff, however, AKI alerted the group that mechanics would need to be in place if a rolling programme was established. SD reported that there were only two people who had attended the Elgin session, however, these two people will pass on the information to their colleagues. MW agreed that the potential for a programme will be considered. LG offered to bring a paper when the Face2Face presentations were finished.
4. / Well Informed
  1. Finance Report
This item was taken earlier in the agenda at AG’s request. AG informed the group that, subject to audit, NHSG has achieved its financial target. This had been a most difficult year, and he thanked teams and staff for working together. He highlighted that drug costs have been significantly higher and this was outwith NHSG’s control. In addition, the rising costs of locums have put significant pressure on finances. Costs of £8m in total were not anticipated.
AG reported that vacancies have led to significant underspend and this has been helpful in managing resources. He highlighted that recruitment is a challenge, £10m operating deficit - the significant part is Acute, and pressures on community based teams.
GMcL reported that Moray has changed its financial position for the better and thanked the Finance Team for their support in achieving this.
MW informed the group that there were significant challenges but NHSG was in a much better position than most Boards.
SD thanked AG for his update, and AG offered to come back once the final position from the Scottish Government is known. AG then left the meeting.
  1. Pension Reforms
As this item was also taken earlier in the agenda, AKI spoke to Lorraine Hunter’s paper, to save LH the journey to AECC. AKI informed the group that NHSG cannot give staff pension advice but needed to inform staff about the changes to the NHS Scotland Pension Scheme. NHSG staff participation rate in the pension scheme is 91.4% through auto enrolment. The main feature of the 2015 pension scheme is a Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) scheme, as opposed to a “final salary” scheme.
Forty information sessions were delivered, NHSG amended the national presentation material, and this is available on the intranet along with the full script of the sessions. It was a concern that only 278 staff attended the sessions, given the high enrolment of the pension scheme. [The e-mail address for any queries is:
AKI reported that members with full protection will not receive their letters from SSPA until November, and she suggested staff contact SSPA if they hadn’t received a letter. However, there will be a catch up exercise in May.
LG confirmed that there is a banner running at the top of the intranet about the changes to the NHS Scotland Pension Schemeand she thought that Lorraine Hunter had done a fantastic job.
GMcL suggested all staff should register on the SSPA website. JC asked that a few more sessions could be scheduled for Facilities staff especially for those with no e-mail account. AKI asked JC to provide a time when it would be appropriate for Lorraine Hunter to talk to Facilities staff.
AKI highlighted the requirement for staff to provide Payroll with their up-to-date home address as the SSPA letter will be sent to that address. She expressed concern that some staff have not received their letter.
GMu reported that Pension Reforms will be discussed at the Estates Partnership Group meeting.
GMcL noted that staff will require more support to keep them working to the retirement age of 67. AKI reported that the Working Longer Review is a national UK group working on this issue. She noted flexible work patterns as staff get older, and suggested that managers need to join the conversation.
SR reported on anecdotal evidence that GPs within the retiral age have been prompted to think about retiring. AKI noted that the recent budget changes to the lifetime pension pot may affect more staff, including managers and may become a risk. She referred to a workshop held last year on General Practice, and noted that Dr Vicki Guthrie has started working one session per week as a GP Advisor Workforce. GL reported on the Return to Practice programme for nurses, European doctors more knowledgeable regarding GP Practice and links with NES and University of Aberdeen at conferences.
MMcK had encouraged a belt and braces approach, with pension reform information by paper and accessing IT at home. He reported that people do know about it. SD suggested it might be worth checking if all staff have received their SPPA letter. / JC
5. / Involved in Decision Making
  1. Staff Survey Feedback
CF attended the meeting to gather feedback to provide to Capita regarding the implementation of the 2014 Staff Survey i.e. local learning and how response rates can be improved.
CF informed the group that last year’s response rate to the NHS Scotland Staff Survey had increased by 5%, which was very positive. She highlighted the difficulties that the survey had started on 25th August 2014 with only 3 weeks’ notice from the first direct contact from Capita. Acute had two other surveys ongoing at the same time (12 hour shift and HWL) so the national survey was competing for staff’s attention. The final survey e.g. local categories, order of local questions, had not been agreed until the day the survey started, and paper copies did not arrive until 3rd September 2014.
Concern had been raised regarding the wording of some of the questions, however SWAG had the final say on the questions, not Capita. The crucial point is adequate lead in time for the survey.
CF asked the group for one named individual from Partnership for her to work with. She also asked for ideas on distribution and whether to keep the local questions the same.
AKI replied that trends can be identified if local questions are kept the same. She asked that CF ensured our colleague on SWAG is aware. The mail room faces significant extra work to distribute 8,000 copies of the survey. NHSG Staff Governance Committee (SGC) was concerned about the low response rate in some sectors. The 2015 national survey will run the same time as the start of iMatter.
SD informed the group that she will attend all the Partnership Forums with CF over the next couple of months to feedback results on last year’s survey and the programming of the 2015 Staff Survey. She will try to find out what caused the difficulty and different response rates.
In answer to MW’s question on how many years NHSG will run both the national survey and iMatter, AKI reported probably 3 years, and if a 60% response rate for iMatter is achieved, potentially then say stop the national staff survey.
SD suggested promoting the staff survey now and not having local ones run at the same time, however it was acknowledged that the timescale has not yet been agreed. LG reported that NHSG should ask for a timescale. Some sector surveys are time dependent but it would be useful to communicate now. AKI noted the good response rate for the 12 hour shift survey due to staff knowing that it affected them.
CF clarified that the national survey will run at the same time as Cohort 2 of iMatter.
The meeting paused at this point for a comfort break.
  1. iMatter
CF informed the group that the first cohort starts on 25th May i.e. the iMatter survey goes live. The link to the survey is sent out to staff by e-mail however there is the option for paper copies. Staff awareness sessions begin on 27th April. The governance framework has been discussed at SWAG and there is national agreement that GAPF and SGC will have sight of Board level reports, however this is unlikely to happen until 2017. CF asked it would be useful to have volunteer representatives of the first cohort do a story board presentation to GAPF. AKI presumed that reports from Corporate would be available in September, however, CF explained that there would be some level of information but not aggregate reports, but that CF can ask for a report. AKI confirmed that she would want to bring the Workforce one to GAPF. She noted that NHS Orkney feedback on iMatter survey results was more positive than anything, so was reassuring, and that CF should ask for a report.
SD suggested that it would be helpful to hear about the experience of it rather than the results. AKI gave her agreement for Workforce to come to GAPF and asked that CF speak to the other Directors.
LG noted that this is a learning curve and CF’s support is invaluable. LG’s area is positive about iMatter but there is concern that small teams need to achieve 100% response rate. She also highlighted the 1 hour awareness session for every member of staff. CF reported that the first cohort is a learning journey, and it has to roll with the parameters that have been set. AKI noted the issue that the first cohort is not representative of the wider organisation. There is an OD resource, and support is required for action plans, however, there is concern regarding the amount of support required.
SL suggested that there will be a significant amount of questions from neighbouring areas once cohort 2 starts, and that an understanding of how much people can share would be useful. CF reported that iMatter will be on Divisional Managers Meeting agenda so staff will be aware when their cohort will start.
CF highlighted that the survey contains 29 questions, no free text and takes 5 minutes to complete. The Non-Executive Board Members awareness session takes place on 12th May.
MW left the meeting at this point in the proceedings.
CF reported that 3 hour sessions to support managers will take place throughout June and July to give support and focus on practical skills. AKI noted that releasing managers for 3 hours will be challenging, and GL indicated that the sessions may not be that long, and will be flexible. CF reported that other Boards are achieving 80% response rates so it is achievable.
SD thanked CF for her time and CF left the meeting. / CF
AKI
CF
6. / Provided with a Continuously Improving and Safe Working Environment
  1. Health and Safety (Fire Report)
SD was reminded that AKI gave an update on the Fire Report at the last meeting and that the Fire Board will go to the Board in June.
7. / Involved in Decision Making (continued)
  1. Policy for the Management of and Learning from Adverse Events and Feedback
SD informed the group that this policy had been through all the consultation stages and is now tabled for agreement from GAPF. The Policy was duly approved.
  1. Communications Sub Group
SD informed the group that representation from every sector was required on the Communications Sub Group. LG reported that the sub group met yesterday, the role and remit is to be refreshed and the sub group revitalised. A strong relationship with GAPF and Partnership Groups is desired.
SD referred to the GAPF Development Session taking place in May and she was keen to use some time to have general discussion on the role of the Staff Communications Sub Group e.g. sectors could bring ideas regarding communication and linkages. AKI asked if a targeted section for discussion with the GM of that sector was required to find out what the issue or problem is. SD noted that 10 reps from each sector are to attend the Development Session. SL noted that sectors may consistently submit reports to the Communications Sub Group and other areas find this difficult, however, this comes in cycles e.g. turnover of personnel.
It was noted that both Terms and Conditions and Policies come to GAPF but Communications is perhaps not so much understood.
SD reported that the plan for the 19th May was Integration in the morning with the three Chief Officers, and in the afternoon Staff Experience and triangulation of Quality and Datix. It was acknowledged that Communication overarches that.
SR reported that he was not aware of the dates of the Communications Sub Group and would be happy to attend. LG stated that she was content to include SR in correspondence and noted that the next Communications Sub Group meeting is on 2nd June at 10.30am-12pm in MR5, Summerfield House.
  1. Video Conference Facilities
GMcL asked if video conference facilities could be made available for 19th May GAPF Development Session, as he had other meetings that day and could video link in the afternoon. AKI noted that if staff and partnership working is key then people should attend in person and the date has been out since the beginning of the year. SD highlighted that the date had been out since January and that no-one had informed her of any problems with the date. Video conference would not be appropriate for group work, however, she acknowledged there was difficulty in securing pool car availability.
DT left the meeting at this point in the proceedings.
SD reminded everyone that nominations of 10 individuals from each sector had been asked for, to attend the session on 19th May.
8. / Any Other Competent Business
  1. Pool Cars
RV asked for an update on Mike Ogg’s behalf on the issue previously raised that OTs/Physios are not covered by insurance when they have patients in pool cars. AKI reported that she had not heard of that being brought up previously at either GAPF or NHSG Occupational Health & Safety Committee. JF indicated that her service regularly transported patients in pool cars. RV undertook to speak to MO, however SD directed her to speak to Paul Allen. The insurance would need to change if this is the case.
  1. Staff Fridges
GMcL raised the issue of staff fridges and the need for clear guidance regarding storage of patient food and staff food. AKI reported that a discussion took place yesterday at an Executive/Staff Side meeting where she had agreed to ask Keith Thomson and Paul Allen to review the issue of staff fridges at Stephen Hospital and Turner Hospital. GMcL asked for the review to cover Seafield Hospital as well and AKI agreed to add Seafield to her note of that meeting.
GMcL left the meeting at this point in the proceedings.
SD thanked everyone for their attendance. / RV
AKI
9. / Reports for Noting
It was highlighted that Partnership Sector Reports were missing from Moray, Acute and Aberdeen City. AKI stressed the requirement to have reports from individual sectors.
10. / Date and Time of Next Meeting
The next meeting, a GAPF Development Session, will be held on Tuesday 19th May 2015 from 9.30am to 4.30pm, Lecture Theatre, Aberdeen Dental Education Centre (ADEC) / All

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