Agenda item

To consider a report from the Head of Scrutiny and Member Development presenting a summary of the outcome of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) hospital inspection of services provided by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT), alongside the Trusts associated action plans. 

The Head of Scrutiny and Member Development submitted a report that presented a summary of the outcome of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) hospital inspection of services provided by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT), alongside the Trust’s associated action plans. 

The following representatives were in attendance:

·  Professor Suzanne Hinchliffe –  Chief Nurse and Interim Chief Operating Officer, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

·  Craig Brigg –  Director of Quality, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

·  Russell Hart-Davies – Head of Quality, Leeds’ Clinical Commissioning Groups

The Chief Nurse and Director of Quality gave a brief outline of the inspection, publishing the reports and the process for developing the Trust’s action plan.  As part of the introduction, a number of points were highlighted, including:

·  The Trust felt the reports reflected the position of the organisation and had highlighted areas already identified by senior management.

·  The CQC reports did not present any ‘surprises’.

·  The CQC highlighted a number of areas the Trust ‘must’ improve and additional areas it ‘should’ improve.

·  The initial action plan to address the areas of improvement was briefly discussed at a Quality Summit meeting in July 2014.

·  Progress against the action plan was monitored through the Trust’s Quality Committee.  The Trust also met monthly with Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) to review progress. It was also noted that NHS Trust Development Authority maintained overall oversight of progress.

Members of the Scrutiny Board reflected on the verbal introduction and discussed the details presented on the agenda.  Members raised a number of specific matters including:

·  Accountability of the current and previous members of the Trust Board.

·  Why earlier action had not been taken if the CQC report did not raise any ‘new’ issues / areas for improvement.

·  Confirmation of the processes for monitoring progress against the action plans – both internally and externally.

·  Noting with concern that of the 6 areas of assessment, the CQC had identified that 4 areas required improvement.

·  Given the Trust’s current financial position, the financial implications of addressing the areas for improvement – particularly in relation to staffing shortages.

·  Availability of suitably qualified staff and the Trust’s ability to attract high calibre individuals.

·  Concern around the staff training and low level of appraisals highlighted by the CQC.

·  Quality assurance roles and responsibilities (in general) across NHS/ health services in Leeds.

·  Concern that the flow of the improvement plans did not follow a similar format to that of the inspection reports and areas of assessment: Making it difficult to identify and track improvement activity against the original findings and areas of assessment.

In response, the Trust noted the comments made by the Scrutiny Board and outlined progress against the issues identified by the CQC and detailed within the Trust’s action plans.  The Trust also stated that the CQC’s overall ‘requires improvement’ assessment was comparable with other Teaching Hospitals in England and that the inspection had not identified any critical issues. 

The Scrutiny Board also discussed:

·  Issues associated with the release of deceased relatives to aid timely burials across the Muslim community.

·  The reuse, refurbishment and recycling of hospitals equipment. 

The Board requested that the Trust provide further details of its activity and future plans in respect of the above matters.

RESOLVED –

(a)  To note the report and the information presented and discussed at the meeting.

(b)  To receive a further progress update from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust against its action plans at the Scrutiny Board meeting in December 2014.

(c)  To consider quality assurance processes, including roles and responsibilities, across NHS/ health services in Leeds.