Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Genevieve Nwaogbe.

Apologies for lateness were received from Councillor Ben Coleman (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care).

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest or other significant interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter. The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as an accurate record and note any outstanding actions.

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2023 were agreed as an accurate record.

This report from the West London NHS Trust covers the following areas:

·      Actions from previous meetings, proposal discussed with Scrutiny Officer to close outstanding items and move some matters onto a workplan long-list to be included in future updates to the committee.

·      An update on enhanced engagement on Ealing mental health beds.

·      Joint work between Healthwatch in Hammersmith and Fulham and West London NHS Trust to capture Patient Experience in our inpatient mental health units – presentation by colleagues from Healthwatch (Carleen Duffy) and the Trust’s Acute Mental Health Service Line.

Dr Christopher Hilton (Chief Operating Officer – Local and Specialist Services at West London NHS Trust) discussed the actions from previous meetings and the proposal to close the outstanding items and move some matters to a work plan to be included in future updates to the Committee.

Action log – recruitment and retention

Jim Grealy (Co-optee) noted the recruitment successes in the report and asked what gaps remained. He also asked for staff turnover figures and what impact that had on team building and continuity of care. Dr Hilton said the Trust had its lowest vacancy rates for 12 months due to a focus on successful onboarding and several retention initiatives. He said he could share turnover figures outside the meeting.

ACTION: Dr Hilton

Lucia Boddington (Co-optee) asked how many vacant posts were left to fill. She also asked if the delays to mental health services meant that was a more challenging area to recruit to. Dr Hilton said their vacancy rate target was less than 14%. As of January, the vacancy rates across all disciplines was 18.2%. Mental health nursing was under particularly high pressure at 20% but there were initiatives targeted on that area.

Victoria Brignell (Co-optee) asked how accessible mental health services were for disabled people and if the trust had carried out a survey of its facilities. Dr Hilton said the Trust had worked to ensure there was some level of accessibility for all services. There was a programme on their work plan to map all premises and assess accessibility issues. In response to a question about the availability of personal assistants, Dr Hilton said he would provide a response outside of the meeting.

ACTION: Dr Hilton

Victoria Brignell noted H&F was very keen on co-production and asked if Disabled people were involved in the plans to improve accessibility across the Trust’s facilities. Dr Hilton said he was sure their estates team would be happy to work in collaboration with Disabled people. Victoria Brignell suggested involving Action on Disability.

ACTION: Dr Hilton

Keith Mallinson (Co-optee) had concerns about the wellbeing of the workforce and asked if the Trust recorded the reasons for leaving when staff left the organisation. He felt it would be useful data to inform recruitment and retention work. Dr Hilton said they did record reasons for leaving through leaver interviews. He offered to provide further information on this in a future report if the committee felt it would be useful. Members agreed it would.

ACTION: Dr Hilton

Action log – waiting list data

Merril Hammer (Hammersmith & Fulham Save Our NHS) noted with concern that the average time from referral to appointment was 68.59 days against a target of 28 days. She also felt the target of 28 days was too long, as a patient in need might wait a month before being seen even if the target was met. She asked if there was any monitoring about what happened to patients while waiting for care.

Dr Hilton said the stabilisation of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Committee is asked to consider items for inclusion in its work  programme.

The following items were suggested by members:

• Annual complaints and complements report
• Long Covid
• GP Services
• Palliative care

The Chair said a full list of items would be sorted into themes and circulated to members for comment after the meeting.

ACTION: David Abbott

To note the following dates of future meetings:

·       19 Jul 2023

·       15 Nov 2023

·       31 Jan 2024

·       27 Mar 2024

The Committee noted the dates of future meetings and the extraordinary meeting scheduled for 26 April 2023.

The Chair took a moment to thank Bathsheba Mall for her hard work and dedication supporting the committee since April 2016. She wished her well in her new role working on the Council’s cost of living crisis initiatives.