Minutes:
The Chairman noted that it was disappointing that The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (THH) had not provided the Board with a written report as had been requested. This had been compounded by the fact that neither Ms Sarah Tedford, nor her named substitute had attended the meeting. As such, the Board had been given no idea of any progress that had been made with regard to recovery plans.
However, it was noted that Mr Tahir Ahmed, THH’s Executive Director of Estates and Facilities, was in attendance and was asked to provide the Board with an update. Mr Ahmed confirmed that a written report would be provided in future.
THH had a new management team and plans were in place to address the issues of concern raised in the CQC report. The Trust’s improvement plan had been aligned with its strategic objectives and, over the next two years, THH would be looking to deliver the best services for local people, within budget. This work included the establishment of a ward accreditation programme.
The Board was advised that recruitment, retention and training continued to be a challenge for the Trust. In addition, THH faced issues in relation to financial pressures and was undertaking a review of internal governance. The Trust Board met on a monthly basis to monitor the delivery of its strategies.
It was noted that, with regard to the strategy for hospital redevelopment, NHS England (NHSE) had completed the OGC Gateway Review 0: strategic assessment. The resultant report had made nine recommendations which would need to be used to prepare the Strategic Outline Case (SOC) for the redevelopment – this would need to be a collaborative response. As Hillingdon Hospital was in dire need of investment, a funding request had been submitted to NHSE/NHS Improvement (NHSI) to develop a SOC. During this process, consideration would be given to all options as well as what this would mean for the NHS. The work would be led by the Clinical Services Strategy which was currently in development and which would dovetail with the Estates Strategy in the New Year.
It was noted that Ms Tedford had been asked for further information about the Working Group that had been established to look at the Trust’s recovery planning. However no information had yet been received. As such, the Board had no sense of where THH was on its journey. Mr Ahmed advised that the Trust was making progress but that, as the desired outcomes would not be achieved overnight, THH was looking for measured improvements.
All health partners had been working together to try to support the Trust and address the problems faced by Hillingdon Hospital. However, concern was expressed that Hillingdon Hospital had been letting residents down for a long time and that the programme for a new hospital might not be prioritised by NHSE, resulting in Hillingdon losing the opportunity for a new hospital. It was suggested that there needed to be a greater sense of urgency from THH and a proper timescale for action needed to be developed. The Board was advised that THH did not want to lose any traction and had been having regular meetings with its regulators. It was noted that THH had received £16.5m in funding to spend on its failing infrastructure and that conversations had been taking place which showed support from the centre for a new hospital in Hillingdon.
RESOLVED: That the verbal update be noted.