Agenda item

(To receive a report from the Lincolnshire People Board, which advises the Committee of the current challenges and opportunities to deliver on the People Plan for Lincolnshire.  Maz Fosh, Chief Executive, Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust and Ceri Lennon, Senior Responsible Officer for the Lincolnshire People Board will be in attendance for this item)

Consideration was given to a report from the Lincolnshire People Board, which advised the Committee of the current challenges and opportunities to deliver on the People Plan for Lincolnshire.

The Chairman invited the following presenters Ceri Lennon, Senior Responsible Officer for the Lincolnshire People (in person in the Chamber), Dr Adrian Tams, Associate Director of People, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT), Dr Kevin Thomas, GP, Claire Low, Deputy Director of People ULHT, Amy Beeton, Deputy Director of People Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (LPFT) and Saumya Hebbar, Associate Director of People, Lincolnshire Integrated Care System (all attended remotely via Teams) to present the item to the Committee.

The presentation referred to:

·       Workforce challenges in Lincolnshire and the commitment of working together to find long-term sustainable solutions, building on the opportunities Covid-19 had presented, with regard to relationships across health and care;

·       The make-up of the Lincolnshire People Board and the ambition of senior people leaders in Lincolnshire to deliver the People Plan, a copy of which was attached at Appendix A to the report;

·       The formation of a People Hub, an innovative programme delivery arm of the People Team who were focussed on delivering the eight key priorities of the 2022/2023 Lincolnshire People Plan;

·       Attraction campaigns which included ‘Be Lincolnshire’, International recruitment (including the Refugee Doctor Programme);

·       The Primary Care Workforce Strategy;

·       The Rural and Coastal Transformation Programme; and

·       Retention and workforce planning.

During consideration of this item, the Committee raised some of the following comments:

·       The number of GPs working full time.  The Committee was advised that a lot more GPs now wished to work part-time.  It was also noted that part-time working was a retention tool to allow some GPs to semi-retire; and to allow others to have a more flexible approach to working;

·       Confirmation was received that the GP pension issue had not been resolved;

·       The need for more resources into primary care, to help alleviate the issue of patients being unable to access a GP appointment.  The Committee was advised of the short and medium plans within the Primary Care workforce strategy, details of which were shown on page 55 of the report pack;

·       The need for key performance indicators (KPI’s) or milestones against the initiatives proposed.  It was reported that some areas already had KPI’s and targets and that this information could be shared with the Committee.  The Committee noted that with the recently created People Hub, further KPI and milestone information would become available as delivery of the eight priorities for 2022/2023 progressed;

·       The need to have more attractive recruitment campaigns, for example, a video, to attract potential applicants and their families into Lincolnshire; and why were some applicants choosing other areas over Lincolnshire.  It was reported that the ‘Be Lincolnshire’ campaign promoted Lincolnshire as a great place to live and work.  It targeted those with young families, due to the excellent schools in the county; those fifty and above to come to Lincolnshire for their last career move prior to retirement; and those with an interest in delivering training, due to the Medical School and the growing University opportunities; 

·       Some concern was expressed that more junior GP’s working part-time would cause a lack experience and knowledge in the longer-term, which in the future could cause the system further problems;

·       Training and development of direct patient care staff.  It was reported that various development measures were ongoing in Lincolnshire, which included: the Lincoln Medical School, the Rural and Coastal Transformation Programme, expansion of training programmes targeted at nursing roles with Lincoln University, a partnership arrangement with Boston College; and an increase in student clinical placements options through the Talent Academy;

·       Internal recruitment and whether the permit rules needed to be relaxed;

·       Whether GP partnerships was still being offered, as the report indicated that there were more salaried GPs.  It was reported that the picture in Lincolnshire was representative of the trend regionally and nationally, a steady decline in the number of senior partner/senior partners in Primary Care and an increase in the number of salaried GPs and training grade GPs;

·       Inclusion and belonging – It was reported that inclusion and belonging was promoted as part of the People Plan, to ensure that staff were protected in the Trust.  It was highlighted that there was a need for inclusion and belonging to be promoted within communities, a suggestion was made for the Lincolnshire Association of Local Councils to be contacted help get the message out to town and parish councils; as communities needed to be able to embrace change; and

·       Page 83, fourth bullet point referred to the Health Education England (HEE) report which referred to a plan to interact with the local population to support successful rural workforce transformation, one member enquired whether this was something planned for Lincolnshire and what the timescales were likely to be.  It was reported that Lincolnshire had been selected as one of four ‘test beds’ for education, training, and workforce transformation; and that the findings of the pilot would be shared to deliver transformation with other rural and coastal areas.  It was reported that work was already underway, details of the HEE offer were shown in Appendix 4, on pages 107 to 115 of the report pack.

Councillors Mrs L Hagues and S R Parkin left the meeting at 12:42pm.

The Chairman on behalf of the Committee extended thanks to the presenters.

RESOLVED

1.      That the People Board Strategy for 2022/23, including the various initiatives to drive forward improvements in the overall staffing position be noted.

2.      That a further report be received at the 15 March 2023 meeting on the outcomes of the 2022/2023 strategy, and information on performance indicators and timescales.