Agenda item

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the Committee and reported, with sadness, that Lynne Moody (Director of Quality and Executive Nurse for South Lincolnshire CCG) had announced she would be retiring in March 2016.  The Chairman went on to make the following announcements:-

i)             United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust – Retirement of Chairman

On 27 November 2015, the Chairman of United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Ron Buchanan, announced his retirement in March 2016 following two years in the role.  A replacement Chairman was being sought and a requirement for the successful candidate was to have "experience of leading organisational change to achieve improvement, proven governance and financial skills, and an understanding of the challenges facing NHS healthcare providers".  The Chairman felt that this would be a challenging role and looked forward to the appointment of the new Chairman.

ii)            United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust – Meetings

On 27 November 2015, the Chairman met with Kevin Turner in his role as Acting Chief Executive of United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust.  This was the final meeting with Kevin Turner in his role as acting Chief Executive as Jan Sobieraj formally took up the appointment as substantive Chief Executive of the Trust on 7 December 2015.

Kevin took on the Acting Chief Executive role in July 2015, following the retirement of Jane Lewington.  The Chairman intended to write to Kevin to formally thank him, on behalf of the Committee, for his contributions to the work of the Committee over the last few months, in particular for his candour and openness at meetings of the Committee.

On 10 December 2015, the Chairman met with Jan Sobieraj, Chief Executive of the Trust, where a number of issues were discussed, including recruitment and retention of staff, the financial position of the Trust and the importance of providing services to patients.

iii)          Treatment for Anxiety and Depression in Lincolnshire

A report by the Health and Social Care Information Centre was released on 7 December 2015, entitled the Psychological Therapies Annual Report, which highlighted the fact in Lincolnshire the improvement rate for anxiety and depression was far higher than the national average of 60.8%.  The services provided in the Grantham and Sleaford areas had seen a treatment improvement rate of 76.8% which was the highest in the country.  These therapy services were provided by Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and it was positive to see Lincolnshire recording the highest figure in the country.

iv)          East Midlands Congenital Heart Centre

The Chairman was pleased to report that the East Midlands Congenital Heart Centre had continued to develop its services in line with NHS England's commissioning standards, following the New Congenital Heart Disease Review.

A Consultant Congenital Cardiac Surgeon had been newly appointed to replace a surgeon who had recently left the Centre.  This Consultant would be working alongside two existing Congenital Cardiac Surgeons bringing the Centre's complement of surgeons to three.   Additionally, two Paediatric Cardiology Consultant posts had been filled, specialising in intervention and MRI respectively.

Work was underway to physically expand the unit to ascertain how extra beds could be accommodated within the Unit.  This included plans to use the existing parent accommodation for beds in the Unit with the refurbishment of some nearby rooms for use as the new parents' rooms.  Heart Link had agreed to refurbish the rooms and provide new carpets if the rooms were decorated.

On 14 January 2016, the Chairman would be attending the next Stakeholder Meeting at Glenfield Hospital where some of the artistic impressions of the proposed changes would be shared by the architects.

v)            Healthwatch Lincolnshire – Views on Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services

It had been intended for the Committee to receive a report from Healthwatch Lincolnshire providing their views of Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), however the item was removed from the agenda following the agenda planning meeting on 3 December 2015 as the Chairman felt it did not give a balanced view in relation to commissioners and providers.  This item would be rescheduled for February 2016.

vi)          St Barnabas Hospice – Chief Executive

On 15 December 2015 the Chairman met with Chris Wheway who had been recently appointed as Chief Executive of St Barnabas Hospice.  The discussion included developments at St Barnabas and it was agreed that the Committee would receive a general presentation on St Barnabas' contribution to palliative and end of life care at the meeting in March 2016.

vii)         Health Scrutiny Committee Training – 18 November 2015

The Chairman thanked Gary James (Accountable Officer – Lincolnshire East CCG), for his support at the Committee training session.  The session had been well attended with 13 members and two replacement members in attendance.  Suggestions for future training sessions would be discussed during Item 9 – Work Programme.