Welcome to the second edition of the SY & Bassetlaw Cluster News.
Update from the Board Meeting
The first full meeting of the Board took place in Barnsley on Monday 17 October. As this Board now represents all of the PCTs across the cluster it was a very full agenda. A summary of the meeting is below
Andy Buck attended the CEOs conference at which David Nicholson gave some key information to take forward. The NHS Commissioning Board will work as a 1-4-50 model – that’s 1 Commissioning Board (from 31st October 2011), 4 Sectors and 50 Cluster areas (in the transition period). The executive teams and boards for each of the SHA Sectors have already been announced.
The Department of Health operating framework for 2012/13 is planned for publication on 24 November with priorities and rules for the coming year, including details of running costs. The operating plans will be developed at a cluster level with sub-components for PCTs. One of the important areas which the operating framework will cover is that all contracts must be signed by 31st March 2012 and this will be non-negotiable. There is no further detail on the definition of running costs and once this is known further discussions across the cluster and with Chief Operating Officers and staff will take place.
Further national work is being done around alignment of staff. Whilst across the cluster a letter has been issued providing staff with information about where potentially their roles may fit, further correspondence from the National Commissioning Board will be issued in the New Year.
Patient Safety and quality is a key deliverable and it is anticipated that the outcome from the Francis enquiry (the enquiry into the Mid-Staffordshire Hospital patient safety concerns), will be far reaching and will require a review of current processes and systems.
The development of commissioning support units for clinical commissioning is high on the National Commissioning Boards agenda. Some information has already been published nationally and a further version of the national guidance is expected. In the meantime, the cluster executive team and clinical commissioning groups are working in partnership to co-produce the first of a draft commissioning prospectus by 25th November.
Overall performance across the cluster is high. There has been lots of work done on healthcare acquired infections - all our areas have made significant improvements but some further work remains.
There is a lot of pressure on A&E across the patch already, and whilst the type 1 (emergency) attendees are being treated within four hours there are still ongoing issues around non emergency attendances. Similarly the ambulance service is delivering in all patches but we could see some issues over the winter months. Ensuring that we maintain performance and patient safety over the winter period is a high priority.
In an attempt to alleviate these pressures; a number of activities are being implemented across the patch to raise awareness with the public to use the right services. The ‘Choose Well’ campaign will signpost members of the public to the right services and hopefully reduce the pressure on A&E and the ambulance service.
The Board considered the matter of delegation of budgets and commissioning responsibilities to CCGs, and establishment of CCG’s as sub committees of the board. The four CCGs in Bassetlaw, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield were all approved to proceed and a letter to that effect has been issued to the four CCG chairs. Copies of the letter will be made available at the next Trust board meeting in November. As the CCG in Barnsley is still developing, the board agreed to the establishment of an advisory board to be set up to manage the commissioning across Barnsley until such time as the CCG can take over this function.
All of the five PCTs finances are on track and are predicting break even or better for financial year end.
The Board agreed to the recommendations to release resource in support of the national 111 number programme. Find out more about 111 by visiting the www.nhs.uk
The Board received a paper on the ‘More Choice for Patients’ engagement exercise which was conducted across the cluster. This was the first in part of a consultation to improve services for patients, and giving more choice. The Department of Health has asked each region to select a list of health services/ treatments that could be provided by more than one organisation from September 2012 onwards.
Margaret Kitching – Nurse Director
As Nurse Director, Margaret is primarily responsible for the quality and patient safety processes across South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw. She has a number of cluster wide accountable roles including infection control, safeguarding children and adults, accountable officer for controlled drugs and the Caldicott guardian. As lead nurse she is responsible for nursing practice and clinical governance arrangements across the cluster. A key area of work is around supporting and advising the cluster board and the CCG's in all areas of clinical practice through this transitional period.
Robert Bailey Non-Executive Director and Audit Committee Vice chair David Liggins Non-Executive Director & Vice Chair
Melvyn Morris Associate Non-Executive Director
Melvyn Lunn Non-Executive Director and Audit Chair
Roger Greenwood Non-Executive Director and Vice Chair
Dr Leslie Ranson Associate Non-Executive Director
Tom Sheard Non-Executive Director and Vice Chair
Alan Tolhurst Non-Executive Director and Vice Chair
Pat Wade Non-Executive Director
