Agenda and minutes

Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Head of Executive and Member Services or his representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 64.

There were no apologies for absence.

Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, any relevant disclosable pecuniary, personal or prejudicial interests in the items on this agenda.

·         Councillor Shahzad declared a personal interest in relation to item 5 with regards to his wife who was employed as a doctor in Northwick Park Hospital.

·         Councillor Sheth declared a personal interest in relation to item 5 stating that he was a Lead Governor/Vice Chair of the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.

To hear any deputations received from members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 67.

There were no deputations received.

To consider the minutes of the special meeting of the committee held on 21 November 2018.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the special meeting held on 21 November 2018 be approved as an accurate record.

To update members about the inspection report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) which was published this year and which examined services provided by the London North West Healthcare NHS Trust.

At the invitation of the Chair, Robert Throw (Investigation Manager, Care Quality Commission) introduced the report which provided the committee with a high level outline of the findings of the June 2018 Care Quality Commission inspection of the services provided by London North West Healthcare NHS Trust. The findings of the inspection, set out in full detail in the report, were based on a number of planned and unplanned visits with information gathered over a period of time, which assured the Committee of the representativeness of the reached conclusions. Mr Throw highlighted some of the key issues raised under each of the five categories (“domains”) against which the Trust had been inspected (safety of services, effectiveness of treatment, level of care, responsiveness to patient’s needs and leadership) and stated that despite some minor variations, the overall rating demonstrated that the Trust required improvement. He advised that a total of 39 “must dos” and 72 “should dos” were identified in the final report as well as 6 warning notices, with the Trust asked to develop and act upon an action plan in response to all these.

The Committee noted that this was the second CQC inspection of the Trust in the last 5 years which had awarded the same rating and while acknowledging some of the positive work of the Trust already underway, felt that further reassurance was needed on the adequacy and sustainability of measures in the long term. The Committee was critical of a number of areas including partnership working, staff retention and patient experience while also challenging the Trust on the internal scrutiny mechanisms in place prior to the June 2018 inspection.

The meeting was attended by Dame Jacqueline Docherty (Chief Executive, London North West Healthcare NHS Trust) who said that she and everyone in the leadership team had felt devastated about the report, and acknowledged that significant work was required to bring the Trust to the required high standard. However, she stated that some detail had been lost in the report and asked the Committee to interpret the CQC findings into the wider context of other Trusts across the country, with a number of other Trusts facing similar problems. Furthermore, she stated that the report provided only a snapshot of the overall work being carried by the Trust’s services and added that significant and measurable improvements had been made particularly in relation to its Accident and Emergency Department, ranking Northwick Park Hospital as eighth best for mortality rates in the country

As part of her presentation, Dame Jacqueline drew members’ attention to a number of immediate actions which had been put in place by the Trust following the CQC report published on 31 August 2018 and asked the Committee to recognize improvements made to date. Firstly, she stated that as part of the “must do” recommendations, an appropriate action plan and governance structure had been put in place, with improvement directors hired to drive progress forward and ensure implementation of the plan. Secondly, she added that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Head of Executive and Member Services or his representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 60.

None.