PRESENT: IN ATTENDANCE:

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1 Minutes of a meeting of the Southern Health and Social Care Trust Patient Client Experience Committee held on Friday 18 September 2009 at 2.00 pm in the Meeting Room, Trust Headquarters PRESENT: Mrs Roberta Brownlee, Non Executive Director (Chairman) Mr Edwin Graham, Non Executive Director Mr Francis Rice, Director of Mental Health and Learning Disability Mrs Stella Cunningham, Southern Area Manager, Patient and Client Council Mrs Jennifer Holmes, Board Secretary IN ATTENDANCE: Mrs Edel Corr, Patient Support Officer Mrs Melanie McClements, Assistant Director of Promoting Well-being Miss Stacey Nesbitt, Project Support Officer (Minutes) 1. APOLOGIES Apologies were recorded from Dr Gillian Rankin, Director of Older People and Primary Care, Mr Brian Dornan, Director of Children and Young Peoples Services and Mr Kieran Donaghy, Director of Human Resources. 2. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS Mrs Brownlee welcomed the attendees. She asked that each person take this opportunity to suggest what they would like to get out of the Committee and what they perceived the role and function of the Committee to be. Mr Rice noted that there has been an increased emphasis on patient experience and patient safety over the past year. He recommended that current systems and processes within the Trust should be utilised and that the Committee should build on these to make them better PATIENT CLIENT EXPERIENCE COMMITTEE MEETING: PAGE 1

2 and more tailored from a patient/client perspective. Mr Rice suggested that by collating information in relation to patient/client views should lead to an optimum level of service and provision, where there are confident and competent staff. Mr Rice noted that if this process became robust, then the Committee will be able to identify key areas that may need improvement and target these. Mrs McClements suggested that the role of the Committee should be to drive the Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) agenda across the whole of the organisation, recognising how patient involvement and views influence the actions of the Trust. Mrs McClements noted that through her work, key areas for action have been identified in some areas; however this Committee could close the loop on some of the gaps identified. Mrs Cunningham agreed with Mrs McClements, suggesting that if patient/client views are collated in relation to patient safety, PPI and community development, that the Committee can then map the best way forward for the Trust. Mrs Cunningham also highlighted the importance of embedding values within the organisation that take into consideration client views and experiences in order to benefit staff and service users. Mrs Cunningham suggested that the Patient Client Experience Committee should be used as link to corporate level, as a mechanism to make patient experience real. Mr Graham stated that he is particularly interested in the link between the Southern Trust and carers issues. He noted that historically, the Southern Board area has a good reputation for considering carers experiences; however Mr Graham raised concern that there is a need for a more robust information system to ensure that all the issues are being considered and there are no gaps. The Patient Client Experience Committee should be able to close the loop on any of these gaps. Mrs Holmes advised that the Patient Client Experience Committee should assure the Board of Directors that patient/client experience is being given consideration and is being embedded through the organisation. The Committee therefore should be confident that there is evidence of good systems in place and be able to identify and address any gaps. The Committee must be confident and satisfied PATIENT CLIENT EXPERIENCE COMMITTEE MEETING: PAGE 2

3 that the Southern Trust is delivering the requirements that are necessary to meet necessary standards and that those staff with responsibility and who are held to account are in a position to feedback this information to the Committee. Mrs Corr noted that she considered the Committee to be a forum to discuss the issues of patient/client experience and through this, develop services within the Southern Trust. 3. DRAFT TERMS OF REFERENCE The members agreed with Mrs Holmes when she stated that the Patient Client Experience Committee needs to be a broad, strategic committee and therefore needs to have assurances that all issues in relation to user involvement are being addressed. The members discussed the draft Terms of Reference in detail. The members agreed that the role of the Committee should be to provide assurance to the Trust Board that the Trust s services, systems and processes provide effective measures of patient/client and community experience and involvement; and to identify opportunities and development of plans to deliver ongoing improvement. The members agreed that the Committee will seek assurances in the following areas:- Patient and Public Involvement Strategy and Action Plan DHSSPS Patient and Client Experience Standards Complaints Commendations User experience and feedback Mrs Holmes agreed to amend the Terms of Reference to reflect the Committees discussions. 4. MEMBERSHIP PATIENT CLIENT EXPERIENCE COMMITTEE MEETING: PAGE 3

4 Membership of the Patient/Client Experience Committee was agreed as:- Mrs Roberta Brownlee, Non-Executive Director (Chair) Mr Edwin Graham, Non-Executive Director Mrs Stella Cunningham, Southern Area, Patient Client Council Mr Brian Dornan, Director of Children and Young People s Services/Director of Social Work Mrs Jennifer Holmes, Board Secretary Dr Paddy Loughran, Medical Director Dr Gillian Rankin, Director of Older People and Primary Care Services Mr Francis Rice, Director of Mental Health and Disability Services/Director of Nursing Mrs Joy Youart, Acting Director of Acute Services Two patient/client representatives (to be rotated on an annual basis) The need to have another Non-Executive Director to join the Committee was noted to ensure quorum and Mrs Brownlee undertook to speak to Mrs Balmer re this area. Members discussed the need to have patient/client representatives who feel confident and comfortable sitting on a high level Committee, and who have the ability to look strategically at the polices and procedures within the Southern Trust. The members agreed it is important to ensure that patient/client representatives do not feel intimated if sitting on the Committee. Training and development will be necessary for those selected. Mrs McClements advised that under the PPI agenda, there has been a trawl for service users who would be willing to sit on a Service User Panel. Through this development model, service users will be offered training on key skills and practices involved in strategic meetings and will be given the opportunity to build up experience and confidence, progressing to sharing their views with the Strategic Management Board. PATIENT CLIENT EXPERIENCE COMMITTEE MEETING: PAGE 4

5 Members agreed that this was a good way forward and through this process, the Trust should aim to have one or more patient/client representatives sitting on the Patient/Client Experience Committee within one year. It was also agreed that the following people should be in attendance at some meetings as required:- Mrs Melanie McClements, Assistant Director of Promoting Wellbeing Representatives from Medical Directorate (patient/client safety managers) Representatives from Patient Support Services 5. INTERFACE WITH TRUST GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE The members agreed that the Committee will provide regular updates to the Governance Committee on patient/client experience. The members discussed the need to ensure that there is no repetition with agenda items discussed at Governance, but also the need to ensure that issues of a similar nature are fed back appropriately. The members agreed that Mrs Brownlee and Mr Graham would feed back information to the Governance Committee as necessary. 6. OVERVIEW AND INTERFACE WITH CURRENT USER INVOLVEMENT INITIATIVES i) PPI Strategy Mrs McClements gave an overview of the current Trust arrangements for User Involvement which fall under the PPI Strategy and Action Plan and includes the development of baseline position, action plans, a consultation scheme and the Patient Client Experience Standards. The guidance introduced by the Department in September 2007 gave clearly defined values and principles that should be embedded within each Trust in relation to user involvement. PATIENT CLIENT EXPERIENCE COMMITTEE MEETING: PAGE 5

6 Mrs McClements reported that an internal base-line exercise has just been completed to identify the current state of user involvement. This will be fed up through the divisions and directorate in the form of action plans, due to be completed on 16 October 2009, to use as a base from which to start to build upon current user involvement activities. Mrs McClements advised the members that under the Health and Social Care Reform Act, the SH&SCT should have a consultation scheme in relation to user involvement and PPI in place by December She informed the members that a Consultation Report has been finalised and that the SH&SCT will be meeting with other Trusts before the formal consultation process begins. In relation to the Patient Client Experience Standards, Mrs McClements informed the members that there has been a pilot in Acute Services to develop a methodology to show evidence of how the SH&SCT are meeting the 5 standards. Mrs McClements advised that this will be rolled out to other directorates in due course. Mrs McClements noted that in order to meet these standards, training is needed for staff. As the current training is often confusing, Mrs McClements advised that Professor Tritter is holding a workshop to encourage a regional way forward, and to identify specifically what he feels each Trust needs to work upon. Mrs McClements agreed to provide an update on all three streams of the PPI Strategy for the next meeting of the Committee. ii) Complaints Procedures The members noted that all information in relation to complaints is captured on the Datix system. The members agreed that from this, the Committee needs to be assured that complaints are being dealt with appropriately to ensure that lessons are learned across the Trust. The assurance that lessons learnt are disseminated back to local staff and that real learning takes place, where improvement is audited to ensure results are sustained and quality outcomes shared across services. PATIENT CLIENT EXPERIENCE COMMITTEE MEETING: PAGE 6

7 The members agreed that a report on complaints should be tabled at each meeting of the Committee to show the following information:- Number of complaints Comparison of number of complaints from last period Response times to complaints Which complaints were locally resolved? Independent Experts: how many complainants asked for this? how many were refused? Independent Reviews: how many complainants asked for this? how many were refused? iii) Patient Client Council and SH&SCT Workshop Mrs Cunningham referred to the workshop due to be held on 30 September between the Southern Trust and Southern Area of the Patient Client Council with patients/carers in relation to information sharing on the regional Changing the Culture document and the work of the Southern Trust on HCAI to date. Mrs Cunningham noted that she hoped this would be the start of a longer process to enable the Southern Trust, in conjunction with the Patient Client Council and the Department, to identify public fears, priorities and issues and how best to include users experience within the Southern Trust policies and procedures. Mrs Cunningham agreed to feed back on the outcomes of the workshop at the next meeting of the Committee. 7. FREQUENCY OF MEETINGS The members agreed that the Committee should meet quarterly and that meeting dates and times should be circulated annually, in the same manner as the Audit and Governance Committees. 8. ANY OTHER BUSINESS PATIENT CLIENT EXPERIENCE COMMITTEE MEETING: PAGE 7

8 The members had nothing further to discuss. 9. DATE OF NEXT MEETING Due to the large number of apologies, Mrs Brownlee requested that Miss Nesbitt arrange the next meeting for October. Meetings will then be held quarterly after this. PATIENT CLIENT EXPERIENCE COMMITTEE MEETING: PAGE 8