Purpose of the item: To agree the
minutes of the Joint Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee
(Frimley Park Hospital) held on 6 September 2024 as a true and
accurate record of proceedings.
The Minutes were AGREED as a true and
accurate record.
19/24
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
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All Members present are required to declare,
at this point in the
meeting or as soon as possible thereafter
(i)
Any disclosable pecuniary interests and / or
(ii)
Other interests arising under the Code of Conduct in respect of any
item(s) of business being considered at this meeting
NOTES:
·
Members are reminded that they must not participate in any item
where they have a disclosable pecuniary interest
·
As well as an interest of the Member, this includes any interest,
of which the Member is aware, that relates to the Member’s
spouse or civil partner (or any person with whom the Member is
living as a spouse or civil partner)
·
Members with a significant personal interest may participate inthe
discussion and vote on that matter unless that interest could be
reasonably regarded as prejudicial.
The Chairman declared an interest that he was
a community representative to Frimley Health. The Vice-Chairman
declared that his wife worked for Surrey Heath on the community
side. Cllr Tony Virgo declared he was a volunteer for Radio Frimley
Park at Frimley Park Hospital.
20/24
PUBLIC QUESTIONS
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The deadline for public questions is seven
days before the meeting
Carol Deans, Director, Communications and
Engagement (Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust)
Alex White, Programme Director, New Frimley
Park Hospital Programme (Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust)
Caroline Hutton, Deputy Chief Executive and
Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for the New Frimley Park Hospital
Programme (Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust).
Sam Burrows, Chief Transformation, Delivery
and Digital Officer (NHS Frimley Integrated Care Board)
Key points raised
during the discussion:
The Programme Director took the
Committee through the Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC)
maintenance plan. There is an on-going pro-active planned
preventative maintenance programme to address risk. One issue with
the maintenance work was that certain areas of the hospital had to
be vacated while works were undertaken. The works did not address
other constraints such as ventilation. Three key areas of the
contingency plan included the proactive rolling programme of
engineering works, keeping everyone appraised of the issues being
faced and alerting management teams of any issues as they arose,
and an urgent response situation which would be applied to
operational issues.
Concerning the operational impact
and contingency plans, the SRO explained that the planning required
to manage and coordinate capacity plans and the RAAC mitigation
programme was significant.
The SRO highlighted that staff were
aware of the RAAC situation and reported anything unusual. Planning
ahead scenarios were also factored into staff training and
awareness. The emergency preparedness, resilience and response
(EPRR) plans included NHSE and regional teams. Scenarios were also
worked through with colleagues in the event of needing to move
patients.
A Member asked how many wards/areas
of the current hospital could be closed at one time due to RAAC
maintenance. The SRO explained that usually no more than two
wards/areas would be closed at one time. For example, the
hospital’s day surgery units were closed at the same time as
the theatres. It was variable in terms of what arose at
inspections. This needed to be factored into operational planning
and mapped out ahead of time as far as possible.
A Member asked for more details
around the process and engineering involved in the maintenance
works. The New Frimley Park Hospital Programme Director explained
that the ongoing works were predominately to reinforce the roof
which were made of RAAC planks. Typically, suspended ceilings were
removed, and services underneath the RAAC planks need to be
removed.
In terms of the maintenance works,
the Member asked whether the hospital would be better repaired, or
if the building was still at risk in relation to all of this work
being done. The New Frimley Park Hospital Programme Director
explained that the maintenance works did not address other issues
associated with the age of the hospital, such as ventilation
requirements. A ward would ordinarily require six air changes per
hour, and the current hospital did not currently have the
engineering to achieve this. The RAAC planks also had a limited
life despite maintenance works.
Carol Deans, Director, Communications and
Engagement (Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust)
Alex White, Programme Director, New Frimley
Park Hospital Programme (Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust)
Caroline Hutton, Deputy Chief Executive and
Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for the New Frimley Park Hospital
Programme (Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust).
Sam Burrows, Chief Transformation, Delivery
and Digital Officer (NHS Frimley Integrated Care Board)
Key points raised
during the discussion:
The SRO noted the change of
leadership updating the committee of the new CEO for Frimley Health
NHS Foundation Trust, Lance McCarthy as well as Alex White as the
Programme Director and explained the revised governance which
ensured closer working across the system. A new Trust Board
sub-committee was being established to provide assurance on the New
Hospital Programme. There would also be a New Programme Board
including colleagues from the system, national teams, and regional
NHS teams. The New Frimley Park Hospital Programme was working
closely along the journey to avoid unnecessary delays with
leadership teams in the Department of Health and NHSE which was
expected to continue. The first thing that was done was to invite
The Department of Health SRO, Natalie Forest, to visit the Trust to
have a conversation about their plans and ambitions for
transformation, as well as the NHSE team on delivery and
transformation. There was an opportunity to ensure that future
strategy and planning considered the Darzi Review recommendations
and the emerging NHSE 10-year plan. The principle of these were to
move more services into the community, move from analogue to
digital working and focus more on preventing sickness. The clinical
strategy within the acute setting but working across the whole
system with system colleagues, was being revisited to see how the
transformation plans considered opportunities across the whole
system. A lot of work was done to implement advanced digital
technologies in both acute and community settings such as
Artificial Intelligence (AI), an advanced electronic patient record
system, and virtual wards. The new hospital was expected to be a
Smart hospital. The SRO brought attention to Heatherwood Hospital,
which was recognised nationally as an exemplar surgical hub which
was digitally enabled with continuous improvement by staff, and
encompassed things looked for by the NHS. The SRO noted there were
further opportunities such as the potential expansion of
Heatherwood to take more elective work. This may be built into
their business case. The other site was Wexham Park, and the SRO
noted some of the difficulties in moving some clinical services
there, and the opportunities to do more remote monitoring, virtual
monitoring, virtual wards and digital hubs which would mean that
some of the budget could be invested to Wexham Park, which would
serve the whole system. There were out of hospital models and
conversations around adopting hospital in the High Street type
models. The expectation was to produce a high-level clinical
strategy and transformation plan and the details of the development
and delivery of those were being aligned to the national plans to
deliver to the ...
view the full minutes text for item 23/24
24/24
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
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The next public meeting has been proposed for
Friday 20 December
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