Agenda item

Report of North West London Hospitals NHS Trust

The Sub-Committee received the Quality Account 2011-12 from the North West London Hospitals NHS Trust which outlined key priorities for quality improvement in the organisation.

The Director of Governance NWLHT introduced the report, advising that data was currently the subject of validation.  The report provided an update on the previous year’s priorities of 1, improving overall patient satisfaction, 2, reducing the number of falls amongst patients whilst they are in hospital and 3, increasing the number of patients discharged on a Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease following an admission with acute exacerbation of their COPD.  In terms of priority 1, the patient survey had not been received as yet but there had only been 5 breaches on mixed sex accommodation.  She reported that reducing the number of patient falls was a challenge for the Trust as the number was already below the national average but that the harm arising from such falls had reduced.  In terms of priority 3, she reported that the unvalidated results for February showed a figure of in the mid 80s.

The Director of Governance reported that the 2012/13 priorities took account of the feedback received and the following were being considered:

1.                  continued development and improvement of the patient journey and experience through accident and emergency (patient pathway);

2.                  further improve the quality of care for our vulnerable residents with dementia;

3.                  improve access to emergency theatres for all specialities.

She reported that there had been 7 unannounced inspections by the Care Quality Commission and the Trust had met their requirements.  The CQC had also identified areas where improvements could be made.

The Chief Executive of NWLHT advised that the document was not yet finalised and therefore any feedback or areas that Members wished to be included should be forwarded to the Trust.  The Director of Governance added that it was necessary to be mindful that the merger with Ealing Hospital Trust may take place during the year and that this may then lead to amendments to priorities.  It should also be noted that there were draft objectives for the new organisation.

Following the presentation, Members made comments and asked questions as follows:

·                    There had been a problem with providing responses to complaints within 25 working days as many complaints referred to a number of different departments/consultants and staff preparing the responses also had to deal with their normal workload.  It had been agreed that the backlog of complaints would be dealt with by bringing in an additional resource.  It was noted that patient expectations were being raised by setting a target of complaints being acknowledged within 3 days of receipt.  The Member also commented that complaints could be viewed as helpful.

·                    Referring to a Member’s comment that some targets appeared to be omitted from the patient experience indicators (page 38 on the agenda), the Director of Governance undertook to include some narrative.

·                    A Member expressed concern at the green indicators in relation to CQUINN performance (Patient experience questions).  The Director of Governance advised that it was not clear whether these were percentage figures and that she would look into this and advise the Member accordingly.

·                    A Member commented that page 40 indicated that the 62 day referral target should be green rather than red.

·                    In response to a Member’s concerns about instances of cross infection shown as red on page 36, the Chief Executive advised that there had been improvements across the NHS.  This meant that targets were low and therefore one instance of cross infection had a big impact.

·                    Referring to the finding of the CQC inspection in relation to the storage of medicines, Members were advised that Matrons were monitoring this to ensure that patients were not put at risk.

The Chair thanked the representatives of NWLHT for their attendance and responses.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.