NHS Board Meeting 10 August 2011 Paper 18 NHS Board Meeting Wednesday 10 August 2011 Subject Purpose Recommendation Minutes of the Staff Governance Committee To report to the Board To receive the draft Staff Governance Committee Minutes of 27 June 2011 1. Background 1.1 Committees of the Board should submit approved and draft minutes to the Board. 2. Current situation 2.1 Attached are the draft minutes of 27 June 2011. 3. Conclusion 3.1 The Board is asked to receive the minutes. Mr Ian Welsh Chairman Staff Governance Committee July 2011 1 of 8
STAFF GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE Thursday 27 June 2011 Room 1, Eglinton House, Ailsa Hospital Present: Ex-Officio: Mr Ian Welsh, Non-Executive Board Member (Chair) Mr John Callaghan, Employee Director Cllr Hugh Hunter, Non-Executive Board Member Mr Mark Adderley, Director of People and Organisation Development Mr Stewart Donnelly, Chair, East LPF Mr Gordon McKay, Chair, North LPF Mr Ewing Hope, Chair, South LPF In attendance: Ms Claire Bulloch, HR Manager Medical Staffing (for item 7.1) Mr Hugh Currie, Head of Occupational Health & Safety Mrs Mary Davie, Clinical Nurse Manager, Workforce Planning (for item 7.2) Mr Craig Lean, Workforce Modernisation Manager (for items 4.1,4.2,4.3) Mrs Susan Simmons, Executive Assistant (minutes) 1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Action Apologies were noted from Mr Martin Cheyne, Mr John Dever, Cllr Drew Filson, and Prof Bill Stevely. 2. MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 24 March 2011 The minutes were approved as an accurate record of the meeting. The minutes were proposed by Cllr Hunter and seconded by Mr Callaghan. 3. TTERS ARISING 3.1 The update was noted and there were no further matters arising. 4. STAFF GOVERNANCE DEVELOPMENT 4.1 Staff Governance Working Group (SGWG) Update Members noted that recent SGWG discussions had focused on requirements arising from the Staff Survey and on the Sustainable Futures programme. Mr Callaghan suggested there might be the potential for a disconnection between the Sustainable Futures work and staff understanding of why changes were taking place within the organisation. There was a brief 2 of 8
discussion around how such issues were communicated to staff, with particular reference to the new format of Team Brief, which had just been issued. The Committee agreed to revisit the topic of communications in general at a future meeting. /SS 4.2 Quarterly Workforce Update Members noted that, as prescribed by the Scottish Government Health Department, bank, agency and locum staff were not included in the statistics. Mr Lean highlighted that NHS Ayrshire & Arran had been successful in reducing its workforce related costs during 2010-11. Although the organisation had achieved a reduction of 33.1 WTE posts against a predicted 111.8 WTE posts, bank and agency costs had been greatly reduced over the year, and this had resulted in the organisation being able to retain a greater proportion of permanent staff. A large number of Fixed Term Contracts had ceased on 31 st March 2011, and these would be included in the 2011/12 workforce predictions. Mr Donnelly commented on the greater than anticipated reduction in nursing and midwifery staff. Mr Lean suggested that this might be due to data issues, with staff being categorised incorrectly. He agreed to investigate and to respond in due course to Mr Donnelly. CL 4.3 Performance Report and Action Plan Development Mr Lean presented the report, which had been submitted provisionally to the Scottish Government Health Department. Committee welcomed the improved performance against each of the Staff Governance Standards, compared with 2009/10. Mr Callaghan queried the funding period for OHSXtra, which was listed in Annex B as 3 additional years from 1/4/11. Mr Lean agreed to seek clarity on this item. Mr McKay raised concerns that the unions had not agreed that such funding should come wholly from the Endowment Funds. It was agreed that both should discuss further outwith the meeting. CL JC / GMcK Members noted that Annex C had been circulated previously for comment. Committee welcomed the sharpened focus on a reduced number of significant items within the Action Plan. Members discussed the mechanism for following up staff reports of incidents of violence or aggression, and it was noted that a sub-group of the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee monitored such issues. It was agreed that reports from this sub-group to the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee should also come to the Staff Governance Committee. HC 3 of 8
Committee recognised that there might be an opportunity to re-energise the zero tolerance approach towards violence and aggression against NHS staff at a national level. NHS Ayrshire & Arran s own Staff Charter had been relaunched in December 2010, which had highlighted the Zero Tolerance policy and the right of staff to be treated with dignity and respect. Mr Currie advised that the organisation was aiming towards a 15% reduction on physical assaults over 2011-12. It was suspected that verbal abuse was under-reported by staff, as incidents were sometimes uncovered at a later date as part of a wider investigation. Committee agreed that it would be useful to receive a presentation on violence and aggression issues within the organisation, including staff training to deal with incidents, and how incidents affect staff absence statistics. 4.4 Approved Corporate Risks relating to Staff Governance Committee for the period 1/10/10 to 31/03/11 Mr Callaghan commented that it would be useful to have a measure of quality against some of the risks rather than a single measurement showing figures achieved, as this would better reflect the impact on the workforce. Mr Hope highlighted that there was a link between the risks of achieving HEAT sickness standard of 4% and managing stress in the workplace. Because of this, he felt that these two risks should share a common risk level. The Committee agreed that the current 80% achievement of eksf/pdr was no longer a high risk, and once the APF have determined the way forward for KSF and PDR, this risk would be reworded to cover quality rather than quantity of reviews. Committee agreed that the risks would be reviewed by the owners, updating actions and ensuring consistency, and the Committee would discuss again at the meeting in August. / JC 5. PRIORITY TOPICS 2010/11 5.1 Efficiency & Lean Update Members noted that work was ongoing from the five Sustainable Futures workstreams in order to achieve the required efficiency savings for 2011-12. 5.2 Partnership Development Committee noted the efforts being made by all the Local Partnership Fora (LPF) to ensure a good level of engagement with staff and to maintain an enthusiastic and varied discussion around the table. The South LPF had elected new joint Chairs and was working hard to increase interest in the activities of the Forum. 4 of 8
5.3 Staff Governance Standards Dignity at Work Members recorded their support for the initiatives described in the paper and acknowledged the excellent local promotion of the Give Respect, Get Respect agenda by Lorna Kenmuir, Head of Learning Futures. 6. STAFF DEVELOPMENT 6.1 Attendance Monitoring Mr Adderley reported that the organisation had implemented initiatives such as the new Stress Policy and the Single Point of Contact for Occupational Health and Staff Care services in order to try and address staff absence. However, it was too early at the moment to judge how much impact these were having. Mr McKay expressed concerns relating to the recently piloted Bradford Score system, and agreed to raise these with Mr Adderley outwith the meeting. Mr McKay also highlighted the disturbing rate of absence due to musculoskeletal problems which were not related to back injuries. Mr Adderley agreed that this category would be further investigated to see if any particular departments or staff groups had cited this as a reason for absence. Following discussion, it was agreed that a short written report would be made available to members listing the various initiatives recently implemented or proposed to assist in tackling absence. RMcM / HC Committee strongly acknowledged the need to make progress through good absence management and welcomed the opportunity to have detailed analysis of specific areas at the next meeting. 6.2 e-ksf Completion Report Committee noted the excellent outturn of 88% against the HEAT target of 80% for staff to take part in an annual review against their KSF post outline. Members commended all involved for this achievement. It was noted that the levels would be kept under review to ensure momentum was maintained. 6.3 Directorate Reports Committee noted the report. 5 of 8
7. AUDIT REPORTS 7.1 Using Locum Doctors in Hospitals Ms Bulloch advised that, while there were still some gaps in the Action Plan to address the recommendations arising from the audit report, progress was being made. Particular difficulties remained in having no single source of management information to identify and meet local needs. Use of the national framework providers had resulted in a disappointingly low fill rate and there appeared to be some discrepancy in the performance information being provided by the agencies to National Procurement, when compared against local data. Discussions were ongoing with the Finance Directorate to ensure that sufficient funding was available to cover gaps on the rota which required to be filled. Members discussed the unique difficulties for this group of staff, acknowledging that the organisation was required to provide cover in a way which was compatible with both the European Working Time Directive and the need to provide trainee doctors with the opportunity to leave frontline duties in order to attend training. There was a strong view that the current national framework system was not satisfactory in assisting the organisation to meet its staffing needs and had resulted in significant internal consequences. In response to a question, Ms Bulloch confirmed that there was no evidence that NHS staff were taking on additional shifts through external providers. Regarding the policy for use of locum doctors, Ms Bulloch clarified that this required to be ratified through a number of directorates, each of which would have their own requirements for escalation procedures, and that this had delayed production to an extent. Committee noted that meetings had been requested with representatives of National Procurement to explore the way forward and that the matter had been raised at national level at various fora. Committee welcomed the report and offered any assistance which might be required in raising the profile of the difficulties being experienced locally. Cllr Hunter left the meeting at this point. With only two remaining members, the Committee was inquorate, and it was agreed that any decisions would be homologated at the next meeting in August. 7.2 Nurse Workforce Planning Mrs Davie highlighted that some changes had already been implemented in order to address the recommendations within the report, particularly in formalising processes around rostering shifts. Discussions would take place with staff colleagues regarding some of the recommendations, because of the implications on traditional ways of working. 6 of 8
Mrs Davie confirmed that the organisation was moving away from use of internal bank staff to cover rotas through additional or overtime shifts, but with due regard to staff and patient safety in allocating additional hours. Mr McKay expressed concern regarding the consistency of approach and highlighted the need to apply the organisational change policy when staff were having their hours of work restructured in order to meet organisational needs. Mr Callaghan drew attention to the lack of representation from frontline staff or staffside in the list of those who had assisted in the review. He also highlighted the emphasis on financial considerations among the findings, which were listed as higher risk than those of a clinical nature. Mr Adderley agreed to raise these matters with PriceWaterhouseCoopers prior to the production of future reports. He advised members that the areas for consideration by the Staff Governance Committee in 2011-12 would focus on the recruitment process and Voluntary Redundancy. One further report regarding Allied Health Professionals performance and productivity was still to be confirmed as belonging to the Staff Governance remit. 8. ANY OTHER BUSINESS 8.1 Electronic Employee Support System (eess) Mr Adderley advised that a local Implementation Board had been formed to oversee the introduction of the new HR and Payroll systems, scheduled for April 2012. Mr Adderley and Mr Callaghan also attend the national Implementation Board, and a potential deferment of the new system in Ayrshire & Arran was anticipated by two weeks from the original start date. 9. ITEMS FOR INFORTION 9.1 Staff Governance Annual Report It was agreed to change the reference under item 5.1.8 from PIN guidelines, to ensure that the wording reflected their status. 9.2 Risk Management Annual Report Members noted that staff who had been involved in adverse incidents did not always receive a copy of the report, on completion of the investigation. It was agreed that Professor Craig White be asked to address the Committee on the subject of Significant Adverse Event Reports at a future meeting. SS 9.3 Area Partnership Forum Annual Report The report was noted and members expressed their continued support for the work of the Forum. 7 of 8
9.4-9.6 Items 9.4 9.6 were noted. 9.7 Remuneration Committee minutes of 4 April & 9 May 2011 With reference to item 6(c) on the minute of 9 th May, Mr McKay asked how frequently Directors who received on-call payments had been called out. Mr Adderley responded that this information was not known and Mr McKay stated that he would pursue the question formally. Mr Hope raised an issue under item 6 (b) of the minute of 9 th May concerning an individual who had left the organisation under voluntary redundancy. Mr Adderley agreed to respond to Mr Hope on this matter outwith the meeting. 10. DATE OF NEXT MEETING 10.1 The next meeting of the Staff Governance Committee would take place at 2.00 pm on Tuesday 30 th August 2011, in Meeting Room 1, Eglinton House, Ailsa Hospital. 10.2 Mr Welsh indicated that the schedule of future meetings might be subject to change. 8 of 8