A&E performance and moving Peterborough’s Urgent Treatment Centre discussed at online health trust meeting

Trust chairman, Rob Hughes said at Tuesday’s (September 8) meeting: “This is the first Council of Governors meeting that we’ve held since July 28, and the first one held online for members of the public to view and join in.

“All Board Sub-Committees have now returned and have been able to provide scrutiny and assurance to the Board through Board Sub-Committee Assurance reports and these will also be provided to the Council of Governors

“The Non-Executive Directors are also still receiving additional assurance from virtual meetings with the CEO and myself every two weeks, plus daily Trust and National communication”.

Gareth Tipton, Non-Executive Director for the People and Performance Committee, reported: “Overall performance at A&E across the three hospital sites (Peterborough City Hospital, Addenbrookes and Hinchingbrooke) dropped in July to 93.1% of people being seen within four hours.

“At one extreme PCH delivered just 90.5 per cent, however that was mostly due to increased Covid-19 related issues.

“While at the other extreme, Hinchingbrooke saw an impressive 98.8 per cent delivery, but from far fewer patients.

“The figures for August 2020 are at least 5 per cent up on July across the board, reflecting the drop in coronavirus cases being seen.

“Currently at PCH we have 808 patients, only four of whom are Covid-19 patients. However, we are ready and expecting peaks to come through as we enter phase two and phase three of the coronavirus crisis.

“In July, we had 1,127 patients waiting for more than 52 weeks for their treatment of which 39 per cent were in Ophthalmology.

“Endoscopy capacity remains a specific concern with the ongoing capacity and demand gap to be around 50 per cent.

“There has been strong public engagement of the Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) move to PCH scheduled for December.

“The public consultation process was started by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CPCCG) on August 5, and is due to be completed by 30 September.

“Initial responses show mixed levels of approval and disagreement to the proposed move; but as has been explained moving these services will allow for a single front door to all the urgent and emergency care services at PCH.

“Patients will be able to travel to one location for all urgent and emergency health needs and will no longer have to work out which service is the most appropriate as trained healthcare professionals will ensure they get the right care.”

Ray Harding, Non-Executive Director for the Finance Committee, said: “The financial performance at the end of April 2020 showed an underlying deficit of £7.9m which is within our ‘break-even’ figure and in line with the expected year-end deficit of around £20m.

“We’ve approved a number of key capital expenditure programmes including £1.4m for improved IT infrastructure, £222,000 for a replacement Linac (used to generate X-rays and high energy electrons for medicinal purposes in radiation therapy), and £184,000 to improve the CCTV and security at PCH.

“The water system at Hinchingbrooke – which was contaminated with Legionella – will also require additional and ongoing costs as the newly changed filters are continuously monitored.”

Sarah Dunnett, Non-Executive Director for the Quality Assurance Committee, said: “The Volunteers Annual Report 2019/20 highlights the tremendous contribution our volunteers make.

“The team of 560 volunteers provided 51,582 hours of work, with real examples of innovative ways in which they work including partnerships with local charities such as Switch Now and the Young Volunteers Programme.”

Caroline Walker, CEO reported on the finds of the Charitable Funds Committee, and said: “Income from donations to the Trust in Q1 were up £134,319 on the same period last year.

“However, expenditure from funds was considerably slower since the coronavirus pandemic had begun because of cancelled training events and overall staff capacity.

“The trust had benefited from the Captain (now Sir) Tom Moore fundraising from which we have so far received £77,500.

“Staff and patients were asked about how the money ought to be spent, and a surprisingly large number of ideas were forthcoming.

“What was interesting was that the vast majority of these were for small-cost items such as flower gardens, memorial drenches and play equipment for children.

“We’ll be looking into all of the suggestions put forward, and will be applying to receive more from the Captain Moore Fund soon.”

Chairman, Rob Hughes announced that the NWAFT Annual Meeting is due to take place on October 6, 2020, from 6.30pm and will be available to view online by members of the public.

Details will be posted on the NWAFT website: www.nwangliaft.nhs.uk