Agenda item

NHS Sheffield CCG: Improvement Plan

Report of Nicki Doherty, Director of Delivery Care Outside of Hospital.

Minutes:

6.1

The Committee received a report from Nicki Doherty, Director of Delivery, Care Out of Hospital, NHS Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) which set out the improvement plan which had been agreed by NHS Sheffield CCG’s Governing Body and was now being implemented.

 

 

6.2

Also present for this item were Lucy Ettridge (CCG Deputy Director of Communications), Dr. Marion Sloan (CCG Governing Body Member) and Mike Potts (Independent Improvement Director).

 

 

6.3

Nicki Doherty outlined the reasons for the improvement plan which had been commissioned by NHS England as part of their role as an independent regulator.  She stated that the CCG had recognised a great number of strengths but had also identified areas for improvement.  She added that staff had continued to work well and the CCG was classed as a “good” organisation, which reflected the hard work of the staff.  Feedback from staff had been taken into account when developing the improvement plan and it had found that generally they enjoyed working for the CCG but there were a number of areas where things could be done better and these were being addressed.  Key areas were identified to be strengthened and developed and assessment of the impact and success of the plan will be monitored through regular staff and stakeholder surveys.

 

 

6.4

Members made various comments and asked a number of questions, to which  responses were provided as follows:-

 

 

 

·                     In response to a question around ensuring that the rationale of CCG decision making is clear, the CCG stated that their aim was to be open and transparent. They recognise that there was a need to be clearer about strategy – what they plan to achieve and how they plan to do it – and then all decisions should clearly link back to CCG strategies. The CCG was also looking to work more proactively with the Scrutiny Committee.

 

 

 

·                     As part of the improvement plan, the CCG has revisited its Whistleblowing Policy, and has tried to provide staff with a wider range of opportunities and support to identify where things aren’t right, including ‘Freedom to Speak Up Guardians and Executive Director Surgeries, where staff are able to drop in and see any Director to discuss any thoughts, feedback and ask questions.  The improvement plan also recognises the need to continuously update policies, and to strengthen HR to ensure that policies are followed.

 

 

 

·                     The CCG has 330 members of staff, made up of communications teams, contracting staff, finance officers, nursing staff, all with a different role to play. There are different tiers of staffing from junior clerical staff up to executive directors. The improvement plan recognises that the CCG needs to be more proactive with its internal communications, and consider that a different approach may be required for its front line staff, e.g. Continuing Health Care teams, or commissioning staff.  The CCG also needs to ensure that its membership, GP practices across the city, are influencing direction and needs to engage better with them.

 

 

 

·                     In response to a question about issues related to Joint Commissioning, the CCG stated that it has worked with partners to develop the improvement plan, and changes to the Executive Team will help to alleviate some of the frustrations that the Local Authority has been experiencing. There has been lots of work on shared principles, and the results from recent CQC and OfSTED inspections have heavily influenced joint commissioning priorities.

 

 

 

·                     In response to a question about how the CCG will continuously improve and learn from experience, the CCG confirmed that they will be asking whether existing strategies are fit for purpose, and continuous improvement will be a factor in robust business planning and programme management. The CCG recognises that there was a need to better demonstrate where improvements have been made through the commissioning cycle. They also recognise the need to make sure strategies are targeting resource where it is needed and draw on public health data to do this.

 

 

 

·                     An Improvement Plan Steering Group was established, chaired by a Governing Body Lay Member and made up with staff forum representatives a Governing Body GP, the Independent Development Director and the Executive Director who was co-ordinating the improvement plan, all of whom brought a great deal of experience to the Group.

 

 

 

·                     The CCG recognised that engagement with clinicians had been a barrier to progress in the past, however they are optimistic about the future with the development of Primary Care Networks (PCN). Each PCN will have a Clinical Director which will enable far more clinical input from the networks, a bigger clinician voice from primary care.  The improvement plan recognises the importance of ensuring that the CCG is clinically led, and should reinforce that clinicians are in the driving seat, with staff supporting them. Stronger clinical leadership and PCNs will put GPs in a better position to strengthen and develop collective skills in Primary Care, and target resources where they are needed.

 

 

 

·                     Differential investment could be given and more could be put into areas where greater support was required to achieve the same outcomes in other areas or populations.

 

 

 

·                     The Accountable Officer being appointed for both Barnsley and Sheffield areas was not causing any problems.  It is working very well.  Sheffield CCG knows what it is doing, feedback from staff has been very positive.  It was not unusual to have one Accountable Officer being appointed to more than one area.  The Officer was working three days in Sheffield and two days in Barnsley and the arrangements for this were working very well.

 

 

 

·                     The experiences in Barnsley would not necessarily influence the decisions in Sheffield.  The improvement plan was about getting things right for Sheffield.  The key was about how everyone involved works together.

 

 

6.5

RESOLVED: That the Committee:-

 

 

 

(a)       thanks Nicki Doherty, Lucy Ettridge, Dr. Marion Sloan and Mike Potts for their contribution to the meeting;

 

 

 

(b)       notes the contents of the report and the responses to the questions;

 

 

 

(c)        feels assured that the vision, values and objectives of the improvement plan are the right ones, and that the focus on ‘place’ is the right approach; and

 

 

 

(d)       will liaise with the CCG as to the most appropriate time for the Committee to consider  further feedback on the implementation of the improvement plan.

 

Supporting documents: