CONFIRMED MINUTES of the
Governors’ Council General Meeting held on 13 February 2014
In CREA, Redhills, Penrith
Version: 1.0
Present:A list of people attending the meeting can be found on the last page.
No / What did we talk about / What was the outcome / Action1. / Welcome and apologies for absence / A list of apologies can be found on the last page.
2. / Eligibility to vote and Declaration of Interests / Governors were reminded that they must ensure their eligibility to vote according to the criteria set out in the Foundation Trust Constitution.
Governors were reminded to ensure that their Declaration of Interests was up to date. Any changes should be provided to Harriet Mouat, Governor Support Officer.
3. / Minutes of the meetings held on 14 November 2013 / The minutes of meeting held on 14 November 2013 were accepted as a correct record.
4. / Matters Arising / Matters arising and actions taken from the previous meetings were noted as complete or date due.
Patient Led Assessment of the Clinical Environment (PLACE) Visits will take place from 4 March to end of May 2014.
5. / Senior Independent Director Report / Mike Taylor, Chair left the room prior to the presentation of this report
Dr Jim Cox, Non-Executive Director and Senior Independent Director presented his summary report on the Chair’s Appraisal which was carried out in 2013.
Dr Cox thanked the governors who took part in the process and stated that he hoped the confidential way in which the appraisal was carried out and the summary provided to the Governors Council would be taken in a positive manner. Consolidated feedback from the Governors Council and the Board of Directors was discussed with the Chair and the outcomes identified and agreed. Dr Cox confirmed that the outcomes identified in 2012 were achieved.
Dr Cox recommended that the Governors Council thank the Chair for his commitment and leadership of the Trust and in particular his leadership in the last few months.
Mike Taylor, Chair was welcomed back into the meeting.
6. / Outcome of reflective practice element of the Monitor/CQC presentations / Governors received the notes, a diagram produced by Keith Amey, Public Governor Copeland, and an action plan on the development needs identified by governors at the session held on 15 January 2014 with the agenda.
Heike Horsborough, Non-Executive Director who attended the morning session of the Development Day feedback provided her views on what the governors had raised in relation to holding NEDs to account for the performance of the Board of Directors.
Heike suggested that governors consider using the ‘De Bonos Hats’ thinking system when considering this and other topics.
Mike Taylor, Chair highlighted the number of days that NEDs work in a month over and above their expected days and advised that this will be considered soon by the Nominations Committee. Mike also advised that due to Heike’s background in working with young people, he had asked Heike to have a watching brief over Children’s Services.
Stephen Newton, Public Governor Furness asked about how patients or carers raise their concerns about an aspect of care.
Daniel Scheffer, Associate Director of Corporate Governance and Company Secretary advised that the initial point of contact should be with the Ward Manager or Head of Service. Other options are contact through PALS or formal complaint service or on the CQC website.
Claire Molloy, Chief Executive advised that she would encourage staff to resolve patient’s concerns immediately and this may mean that some staff will require up skillingcarrying this out effectively. Claire also encouraged patients and carers to use whatever mechanism is available to raise their concerns.
Brian Walker, Public Governor Furness thanked Heike for her list of duties and efforts but asked what did she feel she had achieved and how could this be demonstrated simply.
Heike responded that she felt she had achieved something if she made people think differently, made them feel uncomfortable, which is a good thing. She asks herself what real difference are we making and wants to be part of something good.
Mike Taylor, Chair advised that NED achievements would be identified in their appraisals which are due to take place soon. Appropriate Induction helps NEDs to understand what the Trust is about and trying to do but this could be improved upon and will be for new NEDs.
Brian Walker agreed with their response but questioned what the outcomes and benefits that would bring to the Trust.
Claire Molloy suggested that Brian’s question be raised with the Board of Directors. Claire suggested that it should be simpler to identify once the Trust’s strategic aims and outcomes are finalised and a golden thread translates from the Board of Directors to the frontline staff.
Claire Molloy welcomed Brian’s offer to share his work for the decommissioning of the nuclear industry with the Trust.
Jane Smith’s final comments:
The NED/Governor visits are proving an invaluable source of feedback from staff and patients. We receive performance information and assurances through our meetings. The visits give us the opportunity to triangulate this against ‘how it feels for patients and staff’ within our care. Governors felt it is particularly important for staff Governors to link with staff through the joint visits. Examples of key improvements to information sharing within palliative care and another for the commissioned provision for prison health were given.
Les Hanley publicised an event that may be of interest to the Governors Council being held in West Cumbria. Harriet Mouat, Governor Support Officer to circulate the details.
7. / Reports from Chairs of Committees / The minutes of the meetings were circulated with the agenda.
Governors Advisory Committee
Jane Smith, Chair of the Committee highlighted the issues to be escalated to the Governors Council.
- Locality Groups are confirming their Chair and Vice Chair and any additional local focus at their first meeting of the year and their ToR will be brought to the GC for approval
- The admin support for the locality group meetings will be provided by the locality support as agreed with the Locality General Managers and will be kept under review
- The Governance Special Interest Group Terms of Reference were approved
- There are 4 vacancies on the Committee and only one governor has come forward if anyone else is interested please contact Jane Smith or Harriet Mouat before the next meeting on 5 March.
- Michael Smillie, Director of Strategy and Support Services met with the Advisory Committee on 6 February to consider further development of the Trust’s Annual Plan.
In the absence of the new Chair, Mark Wilson, Public Governor South Lakeland and Deputy Head Governor, Neil Robson, Public Governor Copeland and Acting Chair raised a couple of points from the minutes of the Committee and presented the recommendations on the Membership Strategy 2014/15 and the Terms of Reference.
Neil advised that the Committee:
- were working closely with the Communications Team on the rebranding project
- Jane Smith fed back that the Governance SIG were looking at having Care SIGs that would mirror the proposed Care Divisions/Groups that were part of the consultation
The Governors Council approved the Membership Strategy 2014/15.
The Terms of Reference of the Committee had been approved by the Governors Council meeting on 14 November 2013 but the Committee had a rethink on the oversight of the special interest groups for patients, service users and carers and felt strongly that their involvement should be embedded into the service focused Special Interest Groups for example Mental Health and Children’s Services.
Neil also advised that the Terms of Reference have been amended to take note of the new arrangements of the Deputy Head Governor as Chair of the Committee. A Vice Chair is to be agreed at the next meeting. The Committee were unhappy that a Chair had been imposed on them at a point when they had just agreed a new Chair.
Jane Smith, Staff and Head Governor stated that the Deputy Head Governor Job description had been developed after feedback from staff that they wanted a clearly defined role for the Head Governor. In addition, there was feedback that there needed to be a review of the purpose of the Membership and Communications Committee. It was agreed by the Governors Council that the Advisory Committee would be asked to advise on whether another review was needed.
Claire Molloy, Chief Executive welcomed the special interest group on physical and community health to link with the way services are being organised into Care Divisions.
Dr Jim Cox, Non-Executive Director commended the approach to embedding the views of service users and carers into the special interest groups and encouraged governors to do more. The Trust is looking at patient experience and discussions with patients, service users and carers are part of the process.
The Governors Council approved the revised Terms of Reference.
Nominations Committee
Mike Taylor, Chair presented the minutes of the Nominations Committee meeting which took place as part of the Non-Executive Director recruitment process. The recommendation on a new Non-Executive Director will be discussed at Item 12.
The Chair thanked those governors who had shown an interest in being a member of the Nominations Committee and reminded governors that they should all have received a voting paper on arrival at the meeting today and they were asked to place their votes in the box prior to lunchtime. The votes will be counted and announced before the end of the meeting at Item 18.
8. / Governors’ Special Interest Groups (SIG) Update / Children’s Services
David Galloway, Public Governor and Chair of this group advised that a year ago the Governors Council received a good honest report on the Childrens’ Services. Major change has been achieved but further problems are expected. The SIG did not wish to be unhelpful in their approach so chose a watch and support approach.
David highlighted three things that have been done by the group:
- a the meeting took place with Julia Morrison and Cllr Anne Burns from Cumbria County Council and had highlighted the approach and cultural differences between our organisations
- Governors met with a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service Team and issues were raised informally with Russell Norman, General Manager following the meeting
- Serious Untoward Incident Report was received. David felt there were missed opportunities in the report. Further discussion will be held by the group with senior officers in the Trust to raise fundamental questions on culture and organisation.
The notes and actions from the January meeting of the Mental Health Services group were circulated with the agenda. Jim Bradley, Public Governor and Chair of this group advised that the group were considering how best to collect members’ views and their relationship with the Patient Experience and Involvement Team. The main priority for the group is the parity of mental health services; developing input to the development of mental health services. Governors were asked to raise any issues on mental health services in their localities to this group.
Governance
The notes and key issues from the meeting held on 6 December were circulated with the agenda. Elissa Robinson, Public Governor Eden identified that the notes did not correctly reflect what she said at the meeting and this would be corrected prior to their next meeting. It was noted that these were draft notes.
David Galloway, Public Governor Eden and Chair of this group commented on the decision by the Membership and Communications Committee to change their Terms of Reference in line with their views on the involvement of service users and carers in all SIGs (Item 7), he had concerns and felt this should be discussed at the next meeting of the Governance SIG. David did not feel that the Governors Council was working effectively on member engagement especially with vulnerable groups. The Membership Strategy was strong on recruitment but not successful on engagement. The focused responsibility of the Deputy Head Governor would hopefully encourage a change in this direction.
The work of the Governance SIG was put in place to support the processes for the Governors Council. David felt that there was limited progress in the agreement to set up special interest groups on quality, performance and safety, and on finance. A further meeting to be held in March.
A number of governors felt that all the special interest groups should be considering quality and performance data as part of their work and that a plethora of interest groups would be a concern.
Jane Smith, Staff and Head Governor commented that governors’ involvement was important in gaining assurance. A number of options could be considered including further training on finance at a development session for all governors and certified training online could be made available. This is to be considered further by the Governance SIG.
9. / Governors Locality Groups / The notes and actions from the following Locality Groups were circulated with the agenda for information:
Allerdale, Carlisle, Copeland, Eden and South Lakeland
Governors from each group highlighted good news/issues:
Allerdale:
- NED/Governor Visit went well
- Cockermouth Hospital opened – visit to be arranged
- Staff recruitment
- electronic patient records
- Clinical Co-ordination Centre based in Cumberland Infirmary – hope to visit soon
- Reiver House – visit soon
- Frail Elderly project
- 2 Governors attend the local governance meeting
- Hadrian Unit too large and requires to be split into two smaller single sex units;
- Neuro physio – waiting times continue to be too long with temporary staff brought into help reduce waiting times whilst discussions on-going with CCG on resource allocation in Carlisle
- Stroke rehab – extra staff recruited to the service who support neuro physio team
- 3 Governors visited Copeland Unit supported by the Sister. Successful visit; staff were happy. Further locality visits to be arranged.
- 2 Governors attend the local governance meeting where locality issues can be raised
- Suggest Governors photos should be displayed on entrance to wards etc
- Annual plan – lack of continuity with top level plans
- Recruitment and retaining staff
Eden:
- Adopted Terms of Reference and elected Ian Robb, Public Governor as Chair and Barbara Cotton, Appointed Governor as Vice Chair
- Caroline Evans, Manager of the Neurological Service gave an insight into the service and the current issues. They are using a Consultant who travels from Budapest.
- Visit to Penrith Hospital and new Jubilee Hub
- Local governors invited to a Safeguarding event in March
- staffing levels – regional and national solution required
The Cumbria Health Alliance is working collectively on recruitment and there is to be a workshop with Clinical Leaders soon.
Les Hanley, Appointed Governor CCG commented that staffing issues in Cumbria is well recognised and there is an issue with GP recruitment too. The local environment needs to be taken into consideration for instance the decommissioning of the nuclear plant at Sellafield will have an impact; workers that move away to find work elsewhere with partners that currently work in the health service.