Agenda item

Purpose of the item: The purpose of this report is to update the committee on the recent public engagement undertaken by Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust and the Frimley Integrated Care System (known as NHS Frimley) on the criteria to evaluate a shortlist of possible sites for a new hospital. This report serves as an update to the previous report presented to the committee by the Trust and NHS Frimley on 7 December 2023.

Witnesses:

Emma Boswell, Director for Partnerships and Engagement

Cain Thomas, Interim Programme Director

Key points raised in the discussion:

1. A Substitute Member asked if Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust felt enough was being done with engagement, given the survey conducted received 3,399 responses but Frimley HealthNHS Foundation Trust had a customer base of around half a million. The Director of Partnerships and Engagement responded that there could never be enough engagement achieved but Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust would always strive to do more. The engagement completed so far was at the beginning of the new hospital’s journey, with many lessons to learn from it and plans were in place to improve. Partners were relied on in terms of sharing information as well as using Frimley Health’s own networks.

2. The Substitute Member suggested that Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust needed to do more to make residents feel their views were important. The Substitute Member also referenced from the report that only 25% of responses from the engagement was from Frimley Health’s staff and asked what Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust was going to do further to improve on this. The Director for Partnerships and Engagement said there were several different ways Frimley HealthNHS Foundation Trust engaged with staff, one of which was through the online survey. There were two all staff events, attended by over 600 staff members. The new hospital programme team engaged with staff through existing meetings within Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust and in other ways. This engagement was continuing. There was an engagement plan, that would be refreshed considering the outcomes of the early engagement so far. The Interim Programme Director added that the feedback of the surveys undertaken was contributing to the selection criteria and considered when reviewing sites for the new hospital.

3. A Member asked how ethnic minority groups with cultural/language barriers were being addressed in Frimley Health’s engagement. The Director for Partnerships and Engagement explained that Frimley HealthNHS Foundation Trust was committed to engaging with all sections of the community with reducing health inequalities being a core ambition. Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust had good examples of working with local community groups, faith leaders, the voluntary sector and interpretation services to ensure ethnic minority communities could engage with Frimley Health’s work. However, this had not come through in the work. Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust would revisit these communities to ensure elements of best practice were built on.

4. The Member also asked what questions were asked in Frimley Health’s public consultation process. The Director for Partnerships and Engagement explained this would be checked and a response would be provided to the Committee.

5. A Member asked Frimley Health to elaborate further on the consultation process. The Director for Partnerships and Engagement explained it was imperative for Frimley HealthNHS Foundation Trust to offer a broad range of opportunities to engage in the work and recognise the different needs of the communities. Engaging with communities, conducting face-to-face sessions, and offering access to virtual sessions and surveys mattered in achieving this. The hospital’s strong partnerships and networks would be used to ensure different communities were reached.

6. The Member referred to the new hospital public engagement report where the survey found that 1% of people felt a site where the owner had an appetite to sell was important in choosing a site for the new hospital. The Member felt this was not a good option to consider, as the owner may not choose to sell. The Director of Partnerships and Engagement agreed but explained it was important to engage with local communities to ensure what people thought was important was not missed. Useful information was received from the survey about what people thought mattered. Some things would not be relevant because of the systems and processes Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust would need to undertake.

7. The Member asked if Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust had a programme in place for the various stages before building the new hospital, such as the site selection, design, planning permission and putting contractors in place. The Interim Programme Director explained that progress had been made in the last few months to applying a hurdle criterion to a list of possible sites to establish the viability and non-viability as Frimley HealthNHS Foundation Trust moved from priority sites to preferred sites. The programme was challenging but Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust was working with experts, consultants, and the national New Hospital Programme (NHP). There were assurances and a piece of work to understand the programme and how, with modern construction methods and technology, the project could be delivered by 2030. There was also a detailed risk register and mitigation plan for any potential challenges.

8. The Member raised a concern regarding the lack of importance given to bus transport in Frimley Health’s engagement. The Interim programme Director referred to the progress that had been made in transport assessments, such as the transport modelling to the existing hospital to understand where patients and visitors travel from. These metrics had been applied to the sites currently being looked at. There was understanding of the public transport network on the sites being reviewed, and what was needed to improve it, to replicate and improve public transport facilities.

9. The Chairman asked what consideration Frimley HealthNHS Foundation Trust had given to how the NHS and medicine was transforming, and what was being done to ensure the new hospital was future proofed. The Director of Partnerships and Engagement explained that there was a unique opportunity to transform health services for local communities. This could be done by working with partners and the systems approach, thinking about the direction of travel around modern services, care closer to home, and using technology and digital solutions to improve services. Keeping agile and having a site that had expansion potential was also being considered. Engaging with subject matter experts and thinking about how Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust designs the clinical service model also needed to be considered. The Interim Programme Director added that the new hospital would need to have the ability to expand which was being considered so there would be suitable future provision. This would be done sensitively and in line with developing clinical strategy, with consideration of the locality and local population.

10. A Substitute Member asked what Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust was going to do to make things better for residents in the interim period, such as with parking and traffic around the hospital. The Director of Partnerships and Engagement noted the importance of working with partners to ensure only people required to go to the hospital site attend, and that care services could be provided from other locations using modern technology, but there would be issues with congestion in the interim period. The Interim Programme Director explained that opportunities to phase the delivery of the new hospital were being reviewed in terms of sequentially moving out services when the new facility would be ready. The expectation would be to ease the traffic congestion, but this would be towards the end of the project. The infrastructure upgrades were being reviewed sensitively and work would be done with the local authority and stakeholders to ensure the necessary infrastructure upgrades were accessible, improved, and deliverable.

11. A Member asked if Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust was still confident that the current hospital site would be sustainable up until the new hospitals 2030 deadline. The Director of Partnerships and Engagement explained that the risk mitigation plans that were put in place to ensure the safety of the site up until 2030 was addressed at the December 2023 Select Committee meeting. The Interim Programme Director added that work was continuing with subject matter experts and consultants to ensure the safety of the current hospital site and the monitoring of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC), with specialist advisors and the Health and Safety Executive. Processes would continue to be implemented to ensure safety and functionality of the current hospital site.

12. The Chairman asked how Frimley HealthNHS Foundation Trust was going to meet sustainability requirements and the required 10% biodiversity net gain (BNG), while still meeting the current planning requirements. The Interim Programme Director explained that the new hospital programme had some of the best designers, with good experience of healthcare development, along with some of the most modern technology. This aligned with the programme’s ambition to ensure some of the most sustainable and environmentally friendly hospitals. The Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method accreditation would be excellent. The new hospital’s objective was to be net zero and all-electric, and Frimley HealthNHS Foundation Trust would work with the local planning authority on the net zero and BNG agendas to ensure compliance.

13. A Member asked if Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust had to look for a greenbelt site. The Interim Programme Director explained that there was a selection criteria based on the viability of the site, and several considerations for what a new hospital would look like in a certain area and piece of land. This was being considered under several different areas such as ecology, transportation, flood risks and utilities. There was a significant level of due diligence being applied to each reviewed site.

14. The Member asked if there had been engagement with an architect. The Interim Programme Director confirmed there was an architect as part of a team of professional advisors, appropriate for the new hospital programme’s current stage.

15. A Substitute Member asked who was overseeing Frimley Health’s new hospital programme. The Interim Programme Director said there was a robust governance structure which reported to the Trust’s Board. There was a programme team on the Trust Board, which reported through a governance procedure in the trust, which then reported to external stakeholders. The governance procedure was both at a Trust level to manage the programme’s team and beyond, working with strategic partners. There was also a procurement process for design consultants to assess their credibility and expertise.

16. The Chairman asked Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust about access to the hospital for those with a disability and reducing health inequalities for those with mental health problems or on low incomes. The Director of Partnerships and Engagement explained that reducing inequalities was core to the work. There was a whole systems approach to ensuring that everything done was supporting people who experienced inequalities, particularly in health. Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust would continue embed this throughout the work and there would be lessons learned from things that do not work well, such as with disabled parking, and engagement with different communities would be ensured.

Michaela Martin left 1.45pm

17. A Member asked whether the impact that the new hospital would have on local businesses had been considered. The Interim Programme Director confirmed it was being considered, both on the impact of moving the hospital from the existing location, and within the context of a new site and the impact it would have there and what would be needed to support local communities and businesses.

18. The Chairman asked how Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust was considering the strong relationship it had with the armed forces in relation to the new hospital programme. The Director for Partnerships and Engagement explained that Frimley Health had a good relationship with the armed forces. The Trust would continue to work actively with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the armed forces, as well as with others who shared the current site to review what the future opportunities were for sharing sites, resources, and capacity.

Actions:

1. The Director of Partnerships and Engagement to provide a copy of the consultation questions that were asked as part of their engagement consultation process noting that they were presumably previously circulated to the committee in December.

Recommendations:

1. To ensure that you continue to make your plans public and consider how you are going to continue to engage the community.
2. To ensure that you continue to refer to the consultation process which needs to be continuous throughout the development process.
3. To review what has been done and monitor how you will follow up afterwards.
4. To make sure that your services are maintained throughout the whole project.
5. To ensure that communication is out early and provides details concerning the choice of the site and of the issues that you foresee.
6. To ensure that there is effective Local Leadership and Programme Management as a key part of the Frimley Park Hospital Replacement Programme’s Governance system providing a strong focus on Local Needs and Requirements in addition to those resources focussed on the National Approach to Hospital 2.0
7. To continue with a greater development of public and staff consultation in future steps with particular attention to lower paid staff and low-income groups.
8. To provide information on the development of the transportation related solutions for car parking, car access, and public transport systems, and update the committee on how they will resolve any potential issues in these areas.