Minutes of Executive Board Meeting
held Wednesday 10th February 2016, 14:00 – 16:00. Burlington House. Boardroom.
Agenda Item / DetailPresent / Maureen Kelly (MK) (Chair)
Libby Kitt (LK) (Locality Representative – South Sefton)
Lionel Johnson (LJ) (Locality Representative – Southport and Formby)
Roger Hutchings (RH) – Organisational Representative.
David Skelton (DS) (Equality Representative),
Nigel Bellamy. (NB) Deputy Chief Executive. Sefton CVS
Will Melia. (WM) Director of Corporate Resources. Sefton CVS.
Staff Member: Diane Blair (DB)
Guest:
John Keogh, Contract and Commissioning manager, Sefton MBC
- Apologies and Welcome.
2. Declaration of Interests. / It was confirmed that declarations of interest had not changed since the last meeting held. NB and WM declared their interest for agenda item 6.
3. Introductions with John Keogh, Sefton MBC / JK will be the appointed officer for Healthwatch Sefton and has been working on the new contract. There will be a contract in place rather than a service level agreement and JK explained how he has been working on the draft contract to make it easier to understand. The key functions of Healthwatch as described in the current service level agreement, will form the basis of looking at how Healthwatch Sefton is performing. MK informed JK that this was currently how Healthwatch Sefton aligned its work and how progress had been previously sharedwith the Health and Well Being Board.
The appointment of chair was discussed in depth with MK coming to the end of the 3 year term (31st March 2016). The original advert for the volunteer position of chair had been promoted/circulated and included an application process including interview by a panel. The panel had included: a person nominated by a commissioning body of the company, 1 person (elected cabinet member of Sefton MBC) nominated by Sefton Council and one person nominated by CVS. Representatives from the Clinical Commissioning Groups were also involved. When MK had been appointed as chair, Healthwatch Sefton had not been set up. Now Healthwatch Sefton is established, directors agreed a board member should be on the recruitment panel. ACTION: JK to confirm how the recruitment of the chair should be undertaken and who should be on the panel.
JK has set quarterly meetings with DB to discuss progress against the contract and will have regular contact with DB and directors. ACTION: JK to share the draft contract with directors for review when available.
MK invited JK to stay for the full meeting.
4. Minutes of previous meeting – for approval. / The minutes from the previous meeting held17th December2015 were agreed as an accurate record.
5. Matters Arising. / Page – 4 – DB shared with directors a paper showing the start dates of locality representatives. The majority of representatives started in October 2013 and therefore there term will end October 2016. It was agreed that some work to review the role could be undertaken prior to this to ensure its working and help shape the role description for the elections in September. ACTION: DB to meet with locality representatives to review the role.
Page 5 – WM stated that a review of volunteer travel expenses had not been undertaken.
6. Healthwatch Sefton budget including discussion on LHM and Young Persons engagement. / WM gave an update on the budget (income and expenditure). Additional £4000 included due to the commission from Southport Macmillan support and information centre for engagement work undertaken.
DB updated Directors on the discussion with LHM on the purchase for the Feedback and Information centre. 20% discount had been agreed by LHM against the original cost for the premium package. Directors discussed the system and the benefits this would bring to the organisation and agreed to purchase the system. ACTION: DB to work with LHM and WM to purchase the system and get it set up.
Next steps to progress engagement with children and young people was discussed. There had been a presentation at the last Board meeting on the findings from the pilot. DB informed directors that when the report had been presented at the January meeting of the steering group there had been some discussion about the next piece of work and who would be commissioned to undertake it. LK stated that the plan needs to be in line with current strategies and the recommendations from the pilot work. ACTION: it was agreed that DB inform Laura Goad (Sefton CVS) that LK be involved in the planning work. Plan to be brought to the next meeting for further discussion.
7. Monitoring of contract/statutory functions. / MK informed directors of the discussion which had taken place at the last Healthwatch Sefton ‘Quality Group’ meeting where members questioned who monitored how effective Healthwatch Sefton is. Was it the quality group or the board of directors? It was agreed that this was the role of directors.
JK was asked how Sefton MBC would be monitoring Healthwatch. JK stated this would be through the contract via the quarterly meeting with a focus on how well the functions of Healthwatch were being met. DB highlighted the quality statements which Healthwatch England (HWE) has been working on. ACTION: It was agreed that information from the HWE event which MK was attending would be shared with members at the next meeting. Once the contract has been signed, the board to agree how to monitor work against each of the functions.
8. Healthwatch Sefton Staff and Volunteer update. / DB informed members that the code of conduct case previously raised was ongoing. ACTION: an update to be provided at the next meeting.
9. Update on changes to Healthwatch England. / MK worked through the paper which detailed the changes to Healthwatch England. Healthwatch England staff will continue to be employees of the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The recruitment process for the interim Chief executive had been halted with the organisation being led in the future by a ‘National Director for Healthwatch’. In the interim, Susan Robinson will take on this role.The new chair will be accountable to the Secretary of State through the Chair of the CQC rather than the Department of Health. There are no changes to Healthwatch England’s statutory functions or powers. ACTION: Directors to be kept up to date.
10. Any Other Business / There was no other business raised.
Date and Time of next meeting:
Wednesday13th April 2016. 2pm – 3:30. Boardroom. Burlington House.
Signed …………………………………………….
Position………………………………………………
Date ………………………………………..
Healthwatch Sefton Ltd.
Company Ltd. by Guarantee Reg. No: 8453782
Healthwatch Sefton Registered Office: Sefton Council for Voluntary Service (CVS)
3rd Floor, Suite 3B, North Wing, Burlington House, Crosby Road North, Waterloo, L22 0LG
Tel: (0151) 920 0726 ext 240