Agenda item

To consider the Annual Plan and Quality Account for 2023.

Jeremy Rushmer, Executive Medical Director, and Rachel Carter, Safety Director, of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust attended the meeting to present the Annual Plan and Quality Account.

It was highlighted that over the last year the Trust had been dealing with the aftermath of Covid which created new and different challenges.  This included one of the hardest December/January periods that been seen locally and across the region, with an unprecedented level of demand across all services, and particular pressure in emergency and elective services.  There has also been an increase in patients presenting with greater illness due to reduced access to healthcare during the pandemic.

It was noted that the 2022-23 safety and quality and improvement priorities had been:

1.     Ambulance handover

2.     Cancer pathway – urology

3.     Medical devices in maternity

4.     Medication errors in community

5.     Patient experience

6.     Staff experience

For 2023-24 there are 7 proposed priority areas.  These will be:

1.     Improving flow – reducing ambulance handover delays

2.     Medication errors – timeliness of critical medications (Parkinson’s Disease (PD)

3.     Improving cancer pathways

4.     Deteriorating patient – community NEWS (C-News)

5.     Improving delirium – assessment and management

6.     Involving people in the development and improvement of Trust services

7.     Developing a collaborative approach to improving staff experience

Members asked whether the situation during December and January could have been worse without the high take up of flu and Covid vaccines in the borough.  It was noted that the flu vaccine in particular had helped a difficult situation.  It was also noted that Covid had not been the main issue over the winter period in comparison with previous years.

There was some discussion about the instances of Strep A and the additional pressure this had caused.  It was noted that Strep A is an issue in winter with fluctuating levels.  There had been a surge in demand linked to parents who had concerns about their children, and this was part of the increased pressure in paediatrics.

There was some discussion about digital systems and the benefits this has brought to managing beds, ambulances etc.  There had also been improved communication systems with the ambulance service, including clinician to clinician calls, and this has helped to manage and improve the handover process.

It was noted that partnership working was important and relationships between organisations had been working better as a result of joint working across the pandemic.  There were aims to improve partnership working with primary care and mental health services and that the Trust is committed to partnership working.  It was also noted that partnership working with adult social care services was also important.

There was a specific question about the priority linked to ward medication systems and the role of ward medications assistants.  It was noted that medication assistants would not be administering drugs, but were involved in looking at which patients need medications and when they are needed.

The Chair thanked the representatives of Northumbria Healthcare Trust for the presentation to the Sub-committee.  It was noted that the draft Quality Account would be provided to the Council in April to request a response to be included in the final version and published on the Trust’s website.

The Sub-committee agreed:

·       To note the information provided by Northumbria Healthcare Trust

·       To delegate responsibility for finalising the Sub-committee’s statement on the Quality Account to the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Sub-committee.