Meeting documents

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 26 January 2015.

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 26 January 2015 were agreed and signed by the Chairman.

To receive a presentation from Sir Andrew Morris OBE, Chairman of the Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, on the work of the Trust, particularly in relation to Wexham Park Hospital.

Sir Andrew Morris OBE, Chairman of the Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, attended for this item and provided a PowerPoint Presentation of the work of the Trust particularly in so far as it impacted on Wexham Park Hospital.

By way of introduction Sir Andrew Morris OBE explained that the Trust had taken over control of Wexham Park and Heatherwood Hospitals in October 2014 following a decision by Monitor to dissolve the governance arrangements on the grounds that the licence had been breached in terms of not delivering on money or meeting targets.

Taking over the hospitals, for which funding had been made available, was providing a unique opportunity to make a big difference and deliver better care services to residents in accordance with an agreed and shared set of values.

The presentation provided information on:

·         The seven members of the Executive Team who between them had 60 years’ experience of providing stable and successful board leadership to the Frimley Health Trust;

·         The Trust’s  priorities and "the need to make changes that enhance quality for our patients, consistently deliver performance targets, costs us less money and improve things for our staff";

·         The £100m improvements planned for Wexham Park Hospital over the next five years including  providing better car parking facilities, redeveloping the emergency services and providing modern facilities and a new transitional care unit for mothers and their babies:

·         The positive culture being developed with an emphasis on shared vision and values, clinicians leading services ,clear roles with targets and accountability, an engaged workforce and a performance management culture with a recognition of the need to develop employees;

·         The financial  challenge of bridging the deficit of £22m pa within three years by increasing efficiency by 4% and making synergy savings of £9.3m by for example reducing agency costs, reducing the length of stay and introducing smarter ways of working;

·         The external funding made available to improve Wexham Park plus support for transition costs acting as a catalyst for a sustainable future; and

·         The Clinical priorities in relation to -

Hyper – Acute: Stroke, Cardiology, Vascular and Renal

Acute – New emergency dept., frail elderly service, neurology, liver

Cancer – On site radiotherapy, haematology

Elective – New ophthalmology services, new maternity unit

Following the presentation a question and answer session ensured during which a number of issues were clarified by Sir Andrew Morris OBE as follows:

·         The points raised in the CQC report were being addressed through an action plan using the Frimley Park template which had proved successful. Success at Wexham Park Hospital would depend on securing commitment to the Trust’s values and if this was not forthcoming action would be taken;

·         The standards for ambulance handover times at A&E of between 31-60 minutes and the figures achieved in practice in December 2014/January 2015 and the reasons for the spike during January when an extra 500 patients  above the monthly average were admitted;

·         Whilst every effort is made to keep to appointments cancelations with short notice are sometimes unavoidable because  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

To consider the attached letter dated 14 January 2015 from the Local Government Association.

The Committee considered a letter dated 14 January 2015 from the Local Government Association which provided feedback from the peer challenge carried out by the Chiltern and South Bucks Councils Peer Team.

The Committee’s attention was particularly drawn to the issues identified by the peer team in page 11 of the letter relating to the role of Overview and Scrutiny.

During the discussion the Committee agreed that the issues would need to be addressed at a future meeting and the Chairman felt that this could best be achieved by inviting an external facilitator to attend a training session designed to identify solutions.

Presentation by Graeme Muir of Barnett Waddington the Pension Fund’s firm of Actuaries.

 Following the decision made at the meeting in October to add a review of the Pension Fund deficit to its work programme the Committee received a PowerPoint presentation by Graeme Muir of Barnett Waddington, the Pension Fund’s firm of Actuaries.

Mr Muir began his presentation by explaining the role and work carried out by actuaries and during his presentation the following issues were identified:

·         Purpose of Valuations  - triennial funding valuation to find out how much employers have to pay in future to have enough assets to pay benefits; and annual accounting valuations to enable comparisons to be made and identify how much would need to be borrowed to finance liabilities:

·         Steps taken to achieve the above and obtain total fund cashflows;

·         Choice  of Discount Rates to obtain either Funding Valuation or Accounting Valuation;

·         Funding Valuation methods – Gilt plus models or Economic model

·         Funding Strategy;

·         Funding Levels and Deficits since 2013; and

·         Factors that Influences fund deficits.

Mr Muir concluded his presentation by explaining that, although the plan was to reduce the actuarial deficit of £6m over the next 17 years, the deficit figure was a notional one  representing the shortfall in the event of the demands on the Fund being made at one time (which was extremely unlikely unless local government was closed down overnight) rather than over a period of time related to the life expectancy of fund members. Whilst the deficit of £6m.looked worrying,Mr Muir advised that there was no cause for alarm as there were several mechanisms in place (e.g.  the valuations) to ensure the situation was kept under review

A question and answer session ensured during which it was confirmed that making additional one-off contributions from revenue if circumstances permitted could be used to reduce the deficit as CDC had done.

The Chairman thanked Mr Muir for his attendance and detailed explanation of the Pension Fund Deficit.

To note the minutes of the meetings of the Crime Panel held on 21 November and 30 January 2015 (to follow if available)

The Committee noted the minutes if the meeting of the Crime Panel held on 21 November 2014.

To note the minutes of meetings held on 25 November and 11 December 2014 (previously circulated).

The Committee noted the minutes of the meetings held on 25 November and 11 December 2014.

The Committee received the work programme.

As this was the last meeting before the election the Chairman thanked members and officers for the support they had given to the Committee over the past 4 years.