APPROVED NHS GRAMPIAN Minute of the Grampian Area Partnership Forum (GAPF) held on Wednesday 16 May 2012 at 2.00pm in Seminar Room, Royal Aberdeen Childrens Hospital Board Meeting Present: 02 10 12 Open Session Richard Carey, Chief Executive (Chairperson) Item 11.2 Sharon Duncan, Employee Director Mike Adams, UCATT Jim Clark, GMB Bill Cowling, Project Manager Mental Health Frances Dunne, Service Manager, Aberdeen City CHP Ian Francis, CSP Alistair Grant, RCN Eileen Grant, GHP Alan Gray, Director of Finance Laura Gray, Director of Corporate Communications Jenny Greener, Non-Executive Director Alison Hardy, Clinical Nurse Manager Annie Ingram, Director of Workforce Liz Laing, BAOT (deputy for Sandra-Dee Masson) Steven Lindsay, Unite Martin McKay, UNISON Sandra-Dee Masson, BAOT Mike Ogg, General Manager Aberdeenshire CHP (deputy for Sandy Dustan) Stewart Rogerson, Head of Soft Facilities Management (deputy for Gary Mortimer) Anne Ross, Head of Performance & Quality Improvement Clare Ruxton, Deputy Director of Workforce Kirsten Sawers, RCM Vincent Shields, General Manager Acute Services Mike Scott, Chair of the Staff Governance Committee Elinor Smith, Director of Nursing Duncan Stephen, ACB Keith Thomson, Interim Health and Safety Lead Joan Anderson, Partnership Support Officer

In Attendance:

Gerry Lawrie, Workforce Development and Redesign Manager - for item 4a Ed Savill, Management Trainee - Item 5b Jane Lloyd, HR Team Leader - Item 5d Susan Coull, HR Manager – Item 6d Graeme Smith, Head of Modernisation and Kate Livock, Project Manger - for item 7b Lynda Sime, Health and Safety Auditor – Item 8a Graeme Smith, Head of Modernisation – Item 8b

Item Subject Action 1 Apologies Apologies were received from Sandy Dustan, General Manager, Aberdeenshire (Mike Ogg deputised), Deirdre McIntyre, SOCAP (No deputy), Gary Mortimer, General Manager Facilities and Estates (Stewart Rogerson deputised), Pauline Strachan, Chief Operating Officer (no deputy) 1 Item Subject Action 2 Minute of Last Meeting held on 19 April 2012

The minute of the last meeting held on 19 April 2012 was approved.

3 Matters Arising

None.

4 Learning and Development/Workforce Sub-Group Presentation

Gerry Lawrie and Sandra-Dee Masson presented the work of the Learning and Development/Workforce Sub-Group of the GAPF (presentation slides * attached). The challenges were much the same as the previous year. They asked for more people to join the group to boost membership and ensure meetings were not cancelled because they were inquorate, especially ALL managers but Staff Side as well.

The agenda was now themed under the Staff Governance Standards to ensure all the issues were covered.

KSF was beginning to be a concern. NHS Grampian had been a trailblazer for KSF but now there was no HEAT Target for KSF and staff and managers seemed to have slowed down. There was only 34% completion of Personal Development Plans (PDP) and development reviews. There was Staff Governance monitoring arrangements in place so GAPF were asked to reinforce to staff and managers the need to complete annual reviews and PDPs.

Anne Ross reported that KSF had been included in the performance reviews. LG It was agreed that there needed to be communication to the whole organisation to remind everyone of the importance of KSF.

The Workforce Action Plan was worked on over the last year.

Induction was looked at generally and there was a still lot of work to do on Induction.

Workforce 6 Steps – two workshops had been held with Staff Side colleagues.

5 Developing the Workforce and Empowering Staff

a. Workforce Planning/Safe Affordable Workforce

Gerry Lawrie reported that a letter had been received from the Scottish Government asking for monitoring of signed off reviews as of 30 June. It was not clear if this information would be requested for every quarter. If it was only once NHS Grampians figures may not be high as most staff were geared towards signing off in the last three months of the financial year. This would be communicated to the Scottish Government along with our figures.

The KSF system was to be replaced in 2014 and lot of staff have heard this 2 Item Subject Action and this may be one of the reasons for lack of use of the system but meetings may still be taking place between staff and their manager. It was important that all the information in KSF was not lost.

Learning and Development Managers had been meeting to discuss what could be done and there was a need for discussion on how to ensure a good appraisal system rather than being too reliant on a computer system.

Clare Ruxton presented a paper on Safe Affordable Workforce (SAW). The proposal was to continue Challenge Meetings in the same format for the rest of the year. Each area was to present a statement of what was originally stated, where they had got to and what was still to be done. The process had to be robust.

Gerry Lawrie explained that the report on Careers in Transition and Health CR Care Support Workers would look different in future and this new report would also go to the Staff Governance Committee. CR Vacancy Management information was useful and it was agreed that more trend information from previous years would be presented so that comparisons could be made.

Staff Side had a concern regarding posts which were being advertised at very l ow number of hours per week. There may be reasons for this but those posts coming to vacancy management of under 0.5 whole time equivalent (WTE) wo uld be checked. It was thought that those signing the forms in the Sectors sho uld know why the post had to be the number of hours stated.

b. Outstanding Service in Care Awards (OSCA)

Ed Savill attended the meeting to ask for approval of a proposal to offer awards to staff. There would be about 10 categories and many of them could be team awards. The awards would be given out at an awards ceremony. Everyone who was nominated would receive a letter from Richard Carey. SD/LG These awards would go some way to replacing the long service and retirement awards that could no longer be given to staff under the new rules for use of endowment funding.

The Forum agreed the proposal. Further information would come to GAPF. LG Communications would be circulated to staff explaining the situation regarding the long service and retirement awards.

c. Scottish Terms and Conditions Committee Update (STAC)

Sharon Duncan written to Willie Duffy who was the secretary to STAC for an SD update on a variety of issues being discussed by STAC. No response had been received to date.

SD/AI It was agreed to find out who from NHS Grampian was on these national 3 Item Subject Action groups eg STAC, Scottish Workforce and Governance Committee (SWAG) and Management Steering Group (MSG) and discuss whether these were the appropriate people to be members of the groups. As the meetings were mostly held in the central belt the use of video conferencing was to be requested and promoted.

d. NHS Grampian Guidance on Application of Agenda for Change Annex T

Jane Lloyd attended the meeting to present a proposal on Annex T.

Annex T provided for the movement from Band 5 to Band 6 for clinical professional roles in a specific circumstance: namely where the Board was unable to recruit a suitably experienced clinician to an established Band 6 vacancy. In that circumstance an initial appointment could be made at Band 5 with clear time-framed criteria to enable progression to the actual grade of the role at Band 6.

National Circulars HDL(2007)2 and CEL 01 (2010) address the clarity of this Annex to the Handbook to assist Boards in the correct application of this provision.

A Partnership working group, using these base circulars, had developed guidance for NHS Grampian on the application of Agenda for Change Annex T. The guidance had been agreed by the GAPF Terms and Conditions Sub- group and noted by both the AHP Leads and the AHP Professional Advisory Committee.

GAPF approved the proposal.

e. Paternity Leave Policy and Q&A Sheet for Approval

Sharon Duncan explained that this policy had been agreed by the Policies and Procedures Sub-Group and the question and answer sheet was to try and explain some of the complexities of the policy. The costs had not been worked out but it was thought that would be low cost and this could be monitored by payroll. It may be that over time the costs would rise as more staff begin to take up the shared leave.

The policy was approved.

Richard Carey thanked everyone for their input into the policy and question and answer sheet.

4 6 Improving Efficiency, Productivity and Sustainability

a. NHS Financial Report Update

Alan Gray explained that there was not a report for April because of the year end. There would be an April/May combined report ready mid-May.

The Budget Steering Group was to meet to finalise budgets for the current year.

b. Financial and General Reports from Sectors

All Sectors reported good support from Finance to understand cost pressures, vacancy control, workforce and challenges.

Acute – Vincent Shields reported work was ongoing with Finance to set budgets.

Aberdeenshire – Mike Ogg reported they had set a savings target and were ensuring all area managers had a workforce plan and were looking at local vacancy control and financial challenges.

Facilities – Stewart Rogerson reported they had a cost reduction matrix of £2m savings. Some proposals were high risk and discussion on these would take place with Partnership Reps before going further.

Mental Health and Learning Disabilities – Bill Cowling reported that they were looking at incremental drift issue. They had completed the nursing efficiency SAW. The service manager reduction and psychology action plan were almost complete.

Aberdeen City CHP – Frances Dunne reported that the Out of Hours Nursing redesign was ongoing and discussions with social work colleagues had begun.

There was discussion on rebalancing wte employed staff and nurse bank hours used. Incremental drift was being addressed and realigned in budgets first and then bank hours would be done second and hopefully both be finished by the beginning of July. More discussion was required on how to take this forward. This would form part of regular updates as part of the finance report.

There were staffing issues where bank staff were not able to cover and that would be looked at separately. It was important to look at what bank was being used for and what was actually needed.

Vincent Shields reported that work had been done in Acute with the nurse bank and this information would be shared.

5 c. Redeployment Reports

Clare Ruxton explained that the Redeployment Group met weekly. The number on the register continued to be low. The redeployment group were rarely being used to agree if a vacancy was an appropriate match and therefore a lot of work had been undertaken and an IT system had been created to compare those on the register with vacancies in an objective fashion. The system was almost ready to pilot and now that GAPF had been informed, the pilot would go ahead. It was noted that other Boards were keen to see how well the new system worked.

Sharon Duncan explained that it helped the matching panel when matching posts if eKSF was up to date.

Richard Carey felt that having very low numbers of staff on redeployment out of 11,500 WTE staff in NHS Grampian showed that the system had been well managed. d. Voluntary Severance Scheme (VS)

Susan Coull attended the meeting to update on the VS Scheme. The scheme was launched on 1 May with a closing date of 31 May. 99 expressions of interest had been received to date. Quotes would be sent out shortly. Application forms were sent to everyone who noted an interest and these were to be completed by 5pm on 1 July 2012. The application forms would then be reviewed by Managers, HR and Staff Side between 30 July and 26 August. It was acknowledged that this was the holiday period. The process would be done confidentially. The Executive Team would meet on 27 August to approve applications and notification would be given to staff on 7 September.

The question and answer sheet was being updated and would try to explain the process so as to manage expectations of staff. Staff who had previously applied would only be able to apply again if their circumstances had changed since the last application.

Previous schemes had been a financial success.

6 7 Improving the Public’s Health and Reducing Inequalities

a. Foresterhill Car Parking

* Stewart Rogerson presented updated information in relation to Car Parking at Foresterhill and related issues (presentation slides attached).

It was anticipated that the car park barriers would be put in place at Foresterhill the second week of July. Each barrier will have a member of staff at it. No-one would get onto the core site without a valid permit or reason. The member of staff at the barrier would direct patients to the correct area for where their appointment was. The exits would be automatically opening so that everyone could leave quickly with no hold ups. New barriers would be put in place at Foresterhill Health Centre and Blood Transfusion Service etc. If you do not have a pass for these car parks you do not get access.

The colour coding on the presentation slides showing the areas of car parking on the site were not in line with Way Finding colours, but just used to highlight that there different car parking spaces for different parts of the site.

Shuttle buses had been introduced. Feedback was welcomed on timetables, etc. The email address to use for any issues on shuttle buses or car parking was [email protected]. So far the shuttle buses were being used. The external ones more than internal meantime but this was thought to change once the permit system came into place. The drivers of the shuttle buses had been recruited on a temporary basis and this had made recruitment difficult. Feedback so far was that the drivers of the shuttle buses were extremely helpful to staff.

The bus port at the front door at ARI had been completed. New buses were coming into the bus port and more information on these would be advertised. Park and Ride times had been extended to try and cover staff on shifts.

Permit letters were being sent out during May in a staged process with all receiving notification by the end of May and all permits given out by end of June.

The appeals process would be by email to [email protected] or by letter to the general office, ARI between 6 June and 14 June.

It was hoped that the new permit system would pick up rogue parkers who use the car park as a park and ride to go shopping etc.

4075 applications for parking permits had been received and it was hoped to allocate about 3000 permits. The permits would be allocated on a 3-1 ratio with car parking spaces so receiving a permit would not guarantee a car parking space.

7 220 applications had been received for rapid access spaces and about 90% of applications would be successful. These spaces were for staff who required rapid access to and from their workplace in an emergency situation.

Staff who had a blue disability badge would be able to park in the disabled spaces on site. If anyone did not have a blue badge but had health problems which they needed help with car parking would have to contact the Facilities Directorate to make special arrangements. This would include staff requiring an adaptation to work. The internal shuttle buses would assist those with mobility problems to get about the site.

There would be some permits held back on the initial allocation so that anomalies to the application system could be looked into and appeals to be dealt with. This would be the time that applications from staff who were not able to submit full information on their particular shift systems to be looked at.

Thirty Five additional pool cars had been purchased, 31 x Fiesta 5 door cars and 4 x four wheel drives. Some pool cars would be allocated to particular departments and the rest would be bookable on a central system. Pool cars would have their own car park. Pool cars from sites outside Foresterhill would be able to park in the pool car car park if they had an appropriate permit which had to be applied for. There was no more funding currently available to purchase further pool cars.

Meetings had taken place with Aberdeen University Staff. They have their own parking and University staff will not have access to NHS Grampian parking. To get access to University parking staff would have to have the appropriate University permit.

A big public information campaign would be undertaken. Leaflets were being produced and there would be multiple areas of distribution.

A second Cycle to Work Scheme was being launched shortly and this would be followed by a Home Computer Salary Sacrifice Scheme before Christmas. Only one scheme could run at a time.

Richard Carey stated that he was very impressed with the work that had gone into this process and the willingness to take on comments from staff. There would be the inevitable teething problems when the permit system begins but it was important to keep going in the hope it would improve.

The whole system was being put in place to allow patients better access to services and also for staff based on need rather than rank or any other criteria. Stewart Rogerson and the whole team were thanked for the sterling job they had done on this. Stewart agreed to take this message back to his team and the other teams involved in the whole process including Communications and Finance.

8 8 Delivering Safe, Effective & Timely Care in the Right Place

a. Health and Safety in NHS Grampian and H&S Audit

Keith Thomson updated the Forum on Health and Safety. There were concerns about the uptake of health and safety training. These courses were advertised through Sectors and it was acknowledged that release of staff was a problem.

All deputy fire officers had now been appointed in Sectors. Les Walker had been appointed as Fire Safety Manager.

There were two members of staff working on the Fire Risk Assessments and these were progressing well. Training needs would be identified. Duty holders would be nominated in areas to take forward staff training.

A lot of training and change of behaviours around health and safety was necessary.

Keith was in his interim post until August. Annie Ingram explained that the Occupational Health and Safety Committee (OH&S) had discussed the future approach for Health and Safety. Health and Safety was everyone’s business and a pragmatic approach was needed with the involvement of managers and staff side. It was the right time to take stock. It should not be about making it legalistic, but about safe patient care. A way forward was being agreed and European Health and Safety Week would be supported.

Lynda Sime attended the meeting to update on the Health and Safety Audit. A generic audit for health and safety had been developed and was being piloted. The audit was based on NHS Grampian policies so covered all aspects of health and safety. Initially the audit would go to department managers eg ward and service managers to cover each individual area of NHS Grampian. Lynda then planned to meet face to face with each manager over the term of the strategy at about 20% each year to work up an action plan to cover any gaps identified by the audit.

Feedback from the pilots would assist to ensure the audit worked well. Discussions were ongoing with IT regarding reports from the audit and links with AT Learning and Datix. Volunteers to assist with the pilot were requested to come forward.

b. Report back from Away Day on Workforce 2020 Vision issues

Annie Ingram reported on the feedback on the 2020 vision discussion at the GAPF Away Day on 8 March.

Discussions had taken place with the Staff Governance Committee (SGC) regarding the 2020 Vision. The SGC was discussing reviewing the People Strategy and they were planning an event in September. As many people to be involved in this event as possible.

9 Mike Scott, Chair of the Staff Governance Committee, was very keen on this review and mentioned it at the Board meeting. It was good to have time to take forward and involve the partnership process, look at the SGC focus and keen to get wide involvement so that views were gathered from the entire organisation.

9 Any Other Competent Business

12 Hour Shifts

Sharon Duncan explained that Staff Side had been discussing 12 hour shifts and problems with breaks and would like to ask that the review that had been promised now take place. Annie Ingram explained she already had a meeting set up with Martin McKay and this could be extended to scope the review and AI/MMcK share this with the rest of GAPF at the next meeting.

Venues for Future Meetings

It had been proposed that GAPF meet outwith Aberdeen for some meetings and that the next meeting could be in Moray. It was agreed to organise this for a later meeting to give time to organise around this to make sure the meeting was meaningful for Moray.

10 Communication to Organisation from GAPF

KSF and the need to keep using the system LG Changes to the Long Service and Retirement Awards LG Car Parking and how the changes have been done in Partnership Workforce 2020 Vision and the Seminar in September Outstanding Service in Care Awards (OSCA)

11 Date and Time of Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on 2pm to 5pm Wednesday 13 June 2012 in the Conference Room, Summerfield House.

12 Presentation and Visit to Emergency Care Centre (ECC)

Kate Livock and John Kane organised a presentation about the ECC and a visit for GAPF members round the ECC building. Thirteen members of GAPF attended the visit.

Email: [email protected] Telephone: (01224) 556372

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