Agenda item

CQC LOCAL SYSTEM REVIEW

To receive a report from the Corporate Director of Children, Families and Wellbeing.

Minutes:

The Corporate Director of Children, Families and Wellbeing (CFW) updated the Committee on Trafford’s position following the CQC’s Local System Review report which was published on 18th December 2017. She stated that, whilst there were a number of negatives expressed within the report, the CQC had been very positive about the progress being made. The CQC had also noted that Trafford was in a very unique and complex position. They had identified that the level of attendances from care homes was too high and that there were a lack of services available in the community to enable patients to leave hospital and go home. The CQC were convinced that whilst the Continuing Health Care performance was poor at the time of the review large improvement was underway.

 

A Committee Member stated that many of the issues highlighted by the CQC had been ongoing for a number of years with little improvement. The Member then asked why these problems continued to persist especially with regard to the quality of Nursing and Care Homes. The Corporate Director CFW agreed with the Councillor that Trafford had historic issues and that the Council had been attempting to resolve for a number of years. Trafford had issues with external providers which were the result of numerous factors many of which were beyond the Council’s control. One such issue was maintaining a low paid workforce in the sector when the cost of homes in the area was so high. Trafford also suffered from having too many care homes in the borough and not enough nursing homes. The Council were creating a new provider group to try and tackle these problems collaboratively with the private sector.

 

Additionally, a large amount of work had been done to improve the urgent care pathway which would alleviate some of the pressure on these services. The Corporate Director CFW suggested that this may be of particular interest to the Committee and that she would be happy to provide them with information on progress in this area. The Chairman of the Committee accepted the offer for information and also requested that the Corporate Director CFW send the Committee a presentation that she had given on the work of Mary Moor and social care.

 

Another Committee Member asked about the level of flu vaccinations given to both residents and staff members in residential and nursing homes. The Corporate Director CFW responded that she did not have the figures at hand to answer that question and that it would best directed to the Interim Director of Public Health after the meeting. However, the Corporate Director CFW was able to inform the Committee that there had been a high level of uptake across the borough but some of the vaccines given were not as effective as others.

 

The Committee then enquired as to what the next steps would be. The Corporate Director CFW told the Committee that an action plan had been drafted and submitted to the CQC on the 17th January. The action plan was to be owned by the Health and Wellbeing Board and it would be submitted to that Board once it had been agreed by the CQC. When the action plan had received full sign off it would be sent to the Committee for information.

 

A Member of the Committee asked when Trafford could expect to see the increased levels of access to GPs that the report recommended. The Interim Accountable Officer (IAO), Trafford CCG responded that the New Models of Care that were part of the Trafford Transformation plan would increase the access to GPs across Trafford. Trafford CCG had a new heat map which enabled them to assess the levels of admissions from areas across Trafford and to plan services accordingly. The IAO offered to share the new heat map with the Committee.

 

A Member of the Committee asked whether there was more that could be done to overcome the challenges of recruitment. The Corporate Director CFW stated staffing issues were a national problem and that Trafford’s main issues were in retention of staff rather than recruitment, apart from recruiting senior nurses. The Committee then requested that they be kept updated on changes to staffing structures and work that was focused upon improving retention of staff.

 

As a significant amount of time had been spent on this agenda item the Chairman requested that any further questions be sent to officers via email after the meeting.

 

RESOLVED:

1)    That the Corporate Director CFW send the Committee information on the progress of the urgent care pathway.

2)    That the Corporate Director CFW send the Committee the presentation that she had given on the work of Mary Moor and social care.

3)    That officers contact the Interim Director of Public Health to obtain data on the level of vaccinations given to residential and nursing home staff and residents.

4)    That the Trafford action plan be sent to the Committee once it was fully signed off.

5)    That the IAO send is to send the heat map showing the levels of admissions for areas across Trafford to the Committee.

6)    That the Committee are to be kept updated changes to staffing structures and work that was focused upon improving retention of staff.

7)    That Committee Members send any additional questions to the Chairman or Officers.

Supporting documents: