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MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF GOVERNORS HELD AT 1600 HOURS ON WEDNESDAY 28 JULY 2010 BOARD ROOM, AIREDALE GENERAL HOSPITAL, SKIPTON ROAD, STEETON, KEIGHLEY PRESENT: Mr Colin S Millar, Chairman (in the Chair) Mr Peter Allen, Public Governor, Skipton Dr Neil Boyle, Public Governor, South Craven Mrs Anne Medley, Public Governor, Keighley West Mr Adrian Mornin, Public Governor, Keighley Central Mr John Osborn, Public Governor, Rest of England Mrs Sheila Paget, Public Governor, Ilkley Mrs Barbara Pavilionis, Public Governor, Skipton Mr Alan Pick, Public Governor, South Craven Mrs Shirley Shields, Public Governor, Keighley West Mr Alan Sturgess, Public Governor, Settle and Mid-Craven Mrs Pat Thorpe, Public Governor, Bingley Rural Mr Ray Tremlett, Public Governor, Pendle East and Colne Mr John Wickham, Public Governor, West Craven Mrs Valerie Winterburn, Public Governor, Craven Ms Rachel Binks, Staff Governor, Nurses and Midwives Miss Leanne Clegg, Staff Governor, All Other Staff Mr David Petyt, Staff Governor, Registered Volunteers Mrs Karen Swann, Staff Governor, Nurses and Midwives Mrs Pam Essler, Stakeholder Governor, NHS Bradford and Airedale Professor Anne Forster, Stakeholder Governor, University of Leeds Cllr Robert Heseltine, Stakeholder Governor, North Yorkshire County Council Ms Anne Kerrigan, Stakeholder Governor, Pendle Borough Council Mrs Marcia Turner, Stakeholder Governor, Craven District Council IN ATTENDANCE: Mr David W Adam, Non Executive Director Mrs Marie Buchan, IT Project Manager Mr Jeff Colclough, Non Executive Director Mrs Jane Downes, Company Secretary Miss Bridget A Fletcher, Interim Chief Executive Mrs Sally Houghton, Non Executive Director Mrs Fiona Page, FT Membership Manager Ms Nichola Powell, Executive Assistant Mrs Sheenagh Powell, Director of Finance Mrs Ann Wagner, Director of Strategy and Business Development APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Mr Peter Beaumont, Wharfedale, Mr Terry Gudgeon, Lower Wharfe Valley, Mr Mohammed Nazam, Keighley Central, Mr Chris Nolan, West Craven, Mr John Roberts, Public Governor, Worth Valley, Mrs Pauline Sharp, Stakeholder Governor, Bradford Metropolitan District Council, Alan Sutton, Non Executive Director and Mr Alan Walshaw, Staff Governor, Allied Health Professionals and Scientists 1 ACTION 18/10 WELCOME The Chairman reflected on the meeting which was held on 23 June and advised that comments had been taken on board regarding the layout of the room hence the more formal layout for this meeting. He also reminded the Governors that the Council of Governor meetings were public meetings. He informed the meeting that Agenda item 13(iii) would be postponed due to the fact that Helen Barrow, the Complaints Manager, was currently off work. This would be placed on the Agenda in October. 19/10 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest. 20/10 MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 23 JUNE 2010 The minutes of meeting held on 23 June 2010 were approved as a correct record. 21/10 MATTERS ARISING NOT ON THE AGENDA There were no matters arising. 22/10 REPORT FROM THE INTERIM CHIEF EXECUTIVE Bridget Fletcher informed the meeting that her paper gave the Council of Governors a flavour of what the Trust had undertaken over the past few months and also informed them of national, local and Trust changes. She stated that large scale changes were due to take place in the NHS over the forthcoming months. i) National Developments As most people were now aware Andrew Lansley had been appointed Secretary of State for Health, although he had been undertaking this role in shadow form for a number of years. The Trust wanted to have close links MPs and had written to all the local MPs to invite them to visit the Trust over the next few months. The White Paper recently published set out the changes due to take place over the next few years. A number of consultation documents were due to be released shortly with 6 already being released. Due to the forecast increase in demand in healthcare the White Paper had set out the importance of consistency of care. Miss Fletcher concluded there would be huge financial pressures in the NHS with £15 - 20 billion having to be saved over the next 5 years. ii) Trust Developments The IBP (Integrated Business Plan), which was in place for the Trusts FT authorisation meant that the Trust was ‘Fit for Purpose’, however this would be reviewed over the forthcoming months to ensure that the Trust would continue to be Fit for Purpose when all the proposed changes take place. At this point the Chairman asked for any comments or questions relating to these items. 2 Adrian Mornin enquired what the new rules on reconfiguration were. Bridget Fletcher responded by stating that local GPs/Service Users will would be consulted when a reconfiguration takes place to ensure they understood and could contribute to the changes. Neil Boyle enquired whether the Governors would be involved in any of the consultation documents and what the timescale for responses were. Bridget Fletcher responded by saying that the paper had only been released the previous week and a response was due in October. Jane Downes informed the Governors that a briefing on the White Paper had been arranged early September. Valerie Winterburn asked what impact the savings would have on the Trust. Bridget Fletcher stated that in the current business plan there would be a 4% savings year on year for the next 5 years. iii) Operating Framework Bridget Fletcher explained how the Operating Framework worked and its purpose, and reported on the recent revision to the original Framework which meant there was less bureaucracy and targets. The national A&E 4 hour waiting time target had now been reduced to 95% but as a Trust Airedale were working very closely with clinicians to see how to take this forward for the benefit of the Trust and patients. The 18 week target, there to ensure that patients are seen and treated within 18 weeks from referral, had been modified. She said there was slight confusion nationally regarding this target at present but the Trust wanted to ensure that all patients received good treatment. The new tariff system introduced would be a much clearer process. Sheenagh Powell stated that the detail had not yet been released to date but currently the system was based on an average price countrywide, whereas in the future it would be based on best practice. More information would become available in January 2011. John Osborne enquired whether the 4% savings the Trust had to make included inflation. Bridget Fletcher said this was the case. iv) Transforming Community Services (TCS) Bridget Fletcher explained that the services provided under the banner of TCS were currently part of the PCT which dealt with services delivered outside the hospital. The forthcoming changes would mean that the provision of care would have to be separated from the commissioning of care. This would be something that would be embedded in the way in which the Trust would work in the future. Airedale was currently working very closely with its PCTs to support this process. For North Yorkshire & York the proposals would be issued at the end of July, and for Bradford & Airedale it was expected that the details would be known in September. Pam Essler enquired about East Lancashire plans. Bridget Fletcher stated that the current proposal was that East Lancashire would join Central Lancashire and form a ‘Community Foundation Trust’. Peter Allen asked what impact that would have on the Trust. Bridget Fletcher said that she was meeting with the East Lancashire GPs to discuss their proposal with them. She said that the Trust viewed this as an opportunity which would develop over time. Alan Sturgess commented that the proposed changes looked like there would be less bureaucracy if GPs became commissioners, however, there could be a risk that the GPs then became mini-PCTs. Pam Essler responded by stating that NHS Bradford & Airedale were developing the forthcoming changes positively. Bridget Fletcher also agreed that some of the layers of bureaucracy would be removed but the Trust was keen to work with all GPs. 3 Adrian Mornin stated that there could be a risk of the larger GPs having more power than the smaller ones. Bridget Fletcher agreed that this would have to be monitored but she stated that there would be a national commissioning board which would be set up to look at the commissioning. Pam Essler stated that the local GPs held Airedale in high regard. Ray Tremlett thought that the changes would lead to competition and also could also lead to “cherry picking”. Bridget Fletcher was aware that this could be one of the risks but Airedale was in a good position to deal with the more complex work. v) Catering Bridget Fletcher gave a brief update on the current position with regard to the catering service at the Trust. Following the initial patient survey in which the results had been disappointing, a further survey had recently taken place whereby 97% of the responses had classed the food as excellent/good. She concluded by stating that the Trust would continue to work closely with Sodexo to ensure the high standards were maintained. vi) Vascular Services Bridget Fletcher explained that vascular services dealt with problems of varicose veins through to the more serious cases of aortic aneurysms. A review of this service provision at Airedale and other neighbouring Trust by the Royal College of Surgeons had deemed that it was no longer advisable to provide this service independently and therefore, a network had been developed with Bradford and Calderdale and Huddersfield whereby an on-call rota was now in place. Ray Tremlett enquired whether patients would still be treated at Airedale. Bridget Fletcher informed the meeting that the surgeons would come to Airedale and treat patients locally, however, this would always be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, with the option to transfer patients to either Bradford or Calderdale and Huddersfield if appropriate.

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