Agenda item

            The Board considered a report which provided an overview of the key findings and recommendations of the second Francis Inquiry and the actions to be delivered locally to ensure the quality and safety of health care provision for the population of Halton.

            The Francis 2 High Level Enquiry (following on from the first one published in 2009) outlined the appalling suffering of many patients at the Mid Staffordshire Hospital.  This was caused by a serious failure on the part of the Provider Trust Board who did not listen sufficiently to its patients and staff or ensure the correction of deficiencies brought to the Trust’s attention.  It failed to tackle an insidious negative culture involving a tolerance of poor standards and a disengagement from managerial and leadership responsibilities.

            Following on from the Inquiry, all NHS Provider Trusts were now required to review this high level enquiry and assess and have an action plan in place for monitoring by the Governance Committee on behalf of the Board of Directors.  This was a requirement within the Quality Contract for 2013/14 for submission to the Commissioners during early 2013.

            Members were advised that the Government had produced its response to the second Francis Inquiry in March 2013 – Patients First and Foremost, in which it stated that the NHS was there to serve patients and must therefore put the needs, the voice, and the choice of patients ahead of all other considerations. The response outlined actions in five key areas:

·         Preventing problems;

·         Detecting problems quickly;

·         Taking action promptly;

·         Ensuring robust accountability; and

·         Ensuring staff were trained and motivated.

            In order to ensure the full implementation of all areas of the Inquiry recommendations, NHS Halton Clinical Commissioning Group had/would:

·         Included within the contract requirements the submissions of review and action plan for the Francis Inquiry report including a commitment to the Duty of Candour;

·         Included within the contract quality metric in relation to time to care, nursing/care assistant training, clinical leadership and organisational culture;

·         Receive and review outcomes including delivery of actions required of internal reviews and respond appropriately;

·         Develop and maintain a process to ensure cost improvement programmes within providers were reviewed and impact assessed for any potential impact on quality and safety;

·         Develop and maintain processes for GPs and others including members of the public to raise concerns regarding the quality of care and ensure these were investigated and acted upon;

·         Develop and maintain a robust early warning system for care quality across all providers and ensure any issues were acted upon effectively;

·         Be an active member of the Quality Surveillance Group;

·         Work with providers in a supportive way to support continuous improvements and developments in quality whilst ensuring any issues were monitored and managed effectively; and

·         Ensure open, regular and robust reporting of performance of providers locally and ensure local people are engaged in these processes for reporting.

It was commented that the Quality Surveillance Groups would meet locally and regionally to provide leadership for quality improvement.  They had proved useful for people to exchange information and share ideas in an open and honest way.  It was noted that the local Healthwatch group were represented on the Quality Surveillance Group. 

This agenda item would also be taken to the next meeting of the Safeguarding Adults Board.

RESOLVED: That

1.    the contents of the report and the findings of the Inquiry be noted; and

2.    the actions planned locally be noted.