Agenda item

The ICB and UHL submit a report, which advises the Commission on the findings of the CQC inspection of the Urgent and Emergency Care System.

The Chief Operating Officer for the NHS Integrated Care Board presented the report on the CQC Inspection of Urgent Care/Emergency Care and provided an overview of the report.

It was noted that the report was both a positive report and a challenging report and that the service had accepted what was in the report and understood where improvement were required, with an action plan in place to meet the required improvements.

It was noted that the 3 key areas of focus were the demand management, making sure that the right patient was in the right place at the right time. Followed by the flow from one service to another and finally, capacity. The report recognised that there was not enough domiciliary care capacity out in Social Care which this Commission had discussed many times. It was noted that these key focus areas were already being actioned to ensure the service were ready for the surge in winter.

The Chief Nurse at the UHL noted that the need to improve was recognised and that things were in place to make the necessary improvements. Medical in-reach was now in place in the Emergency Department allowing patients to get their treatments quicker, cardiology was being piloted at the LRI and reablement beds were to launch tomorrow to bridge the gap between health and social care. It was noted that the actions for the future focused around process, productivity and capacity. Making sure that there are enough beds across the system to provide care for patients that needed it.

In response to the questions and comments from the members of the Commission and the Youth Council representatives, it was noted that:

·         Although patients were being triaged by consultants whilst waiting, the ambulance waiting times were not acceptable and that the ambition was to bring the waiting time down and immediate actions have been taken following the findings in the CQC report.

·         Staffing rates in A&E were correct with additional post now being advertised

·         Consultants staffing had now been improved with a vacancy rate of 12%

·         Following the immense stress on staff over the pandemic, work was underway to understand how staff felt and what could be done to make improvements

·         It was noted that the pressures were on all emergency units nationally and that the service were improving on overall planning with colleagues to improve each step and make overall improvements to the service delivery.

The Deputy Chief Nursing Officer for the Integrated Care Board noted that a patient safety risk summit would be carried out which would bring together a whole host of senior leaders, including those in attendance today, but also those people who were right on the front line who know what it feels like to be working every day in difficult situations and to see what could be done to make any difference.

The Chair took the opportunity to thank the NHS Staff for the work they do under all the pressures.

AGREED:

That the Chief Operating Officer for the NHS Integrated Care Board be requested to provide future updates on this item in 6 months.