Trust Chair and Non-Executive Director Report

Meeting: Public Meeting

Meeting Date: 8 May 2024

Report Title: Trust Chair and Non-Executive Director Report

Agenda Item: PUB24/05/1.5

Author: Mrunal Sisodia, Trust Chair

Lead Director: Mrunal Sisodia, Trust Chair

Purpose: Information noting

Link to Care Quality Commission (CQC) domain:

• Caring
• Responsive
• Effective

Link to Strategic Objective:

• Be an exceptional place to work, volunteer and learn
• Provide outstanding quality of care and performance
• Be excellent collaborators and innovators as system partners

Link to Strategic Risk:

• SR1a: If we do not ensure our people are safe and their wellbeing prioritised, there is a risk that we will be unable to attract, retain and keep all our people safe and well
• SR1b: If we do not ensure our leaders are developed and equipped, there is a risk that we will not be able to change our culture, and value, support, develop and grow our people
• SR2: If we do not deliver operational and clinical standards then there is a risk of poor patient outcomes and experience
• SR3: If we do not ensure we have the ability to plan, influence and deliver across our systems to secure change, we will not be able to meet the needs of our public and communities
• SR4: If we do not resolve long standing organisational inefficiencies, we will be unable to deliver an effective, sustainable, value for money service to our public
• SR5: If we do not clearly define our strategic plans, we will not have the agility to deliver the suite of improvements needed
• SR6: If we do not deliver sustainable regulatory compliance and develop positive relationships, we will have limited ability to deliver our strategy

Equality Impact Assessment: No negative impact identified

Recommendation: Report for noting.

Purpose: To update the Public and the Board on Chair and Non-Executive Director activity since the last Public Board meeting in February 2024.

Executive Summary

Report identifies:

• Key areas of Board focus since the last report
• Key areas of Board focus in the coming months
• Non-Executive Director additional activities providing wider assurance and Board visibility
• Key activities by the Chair since the last Board in February

Introduction/Background:

Delivery of our priorities

In October 2023, the Board set 3 + 1 priorities (culture change and staff wellbeing, reduction of C2 response times, better navigation of 999 calls and the support functions to enable these) for EEAST for the next two years. Much of our work as a Board has focused on overseeing the delivery of these priorities through the following areas:

1. Winter and Operational performance

Since September, the Board has had a standing agenda item on our preparations for Winter and monitoring our performance as the season progressed. It is fair to say that, whilst significantly improved from last year, our performance has been inconsistent. In part, this has been the result of very variable hospital handover delays – both the size and pattern of delays has been different from week-to-week, and this has made planning very difficult. However, this is only part of the puzzle and internal factors have become increasingly prominent. The Board has scrutinised the Executive to further develop our understanding of the complex relationships between factors such as staff hours, vehicle availability, management of calls and hospital delays. At this meeting, the Executive team will be reporting on an early review of Winter and the learnings that we can take forward into future years.

2. External engagement

Our cycle of external engagement has continued. The impact that EEAST has made can be reflected in two key areas. Firstly, hospitals are now very aware of the impact that ambulance handover delays have on response times. Secondly, there is growing ownership of the Unscheduled Care Hubs from the Integrated Care Boards that EEAST was instrumental in setting up. The challenge is now to grow the capacity and capability of the hubs. This will be a key focus for the coming year.

3. Business planning

The Board has spent a lot of time reviewing the business planning process for the coming year 2024-25. The delivery of the organisational priorities as set by the Board has formed the spine of our business planning focus and, at the last Private Board meeting, we had a deep dive to understand this process and how the various factors listed in item 1. above inter-relate and come together to drive performance. The key to success is joined up working across directorates to deliver shared priorities, and the Board will continue to seek further assurance as our understanding develops and translates into delivery. This analysis will form the basis of our plans for the coming year including our operational improvement plan (OPIP).

4. Programme and risk management

In March, the Board held one of our six monthly sessions to review the delivery of our existing strategies (clinical, people and sustainability). The delivery of these is key to securing long-term and sustainable improvements at EEAST. In addition, we held a workshop on risk management to review our strategic risks and gain assurance that the Board was focussing on the right things.

2030 Strategy

Whilst the delivery of our current priorities and strategies constitutes a significant proportion of the Board’s work, we are looking forward and have kicked off an exercise to evolve our current strategies to ensure that they meet the needs of the population of the East of England over a longer time period. Our 2030 strategy work has started with an analysis of these projected needs, and we will be working with our staff and external stakeholders to determine how we best organise across health and care systems and internally to best deliver these needs.

Board development

The Board itself is not exempted from the culture of continuous improvement, self-reflection and curiosity we are seeking to instil in the organisation. Following the conclusion of the Board development programme under the auspices of NHS Providers, we have started a new Board development programme. At our first session, the Board re-iterated its determination to make sure that we made the time to have the difficult, strategic discussions about our future and the how we meet the challenges of an increasingly complex, changeable and financially constrained health and care environment.

Internal engagement and activity

Activity:

• Rideout with PTS crew from Bedford
• Attended Right Care Right Person training
• Attended demo of new EEAST website
• Spent a day with the EEAST mental health team visiting different services and partners
• Joined the launch of the Welfare Wagons and Bedford EOC
• Regular meetings with Executive Directors, Deputy Directors and EDI leads

Link to goals: Well-led improvement

Board/Committee (in addition to regular Board and Committee meetings)

Activity:

• Regular meetings with NED colleagues

Link to goals: Well-Led improvement

External Governance and events

Activity:

• Regular monthly meetings with Peter Cutler, NHSE Improvement Director

• Norfolk and Waveney System Attended N&W ICB meeting

• Bedford Luton and Milton Keynes system Attended regular BLMK Leaders and chair’s meeting Attended BLMK strategy workshop Visited Luton Hospital to review Emergency Department, working between EEAST and the hospital

• Suffolk and North East Essex

• Herts and West Essex Site visit at Watford Hospital

• Mid and South Essex

• Cambridge and Peterborough Attended the three-day beyond difference diversity development sessions

• AACE Council and Chairs’ meetings

• Attended NHSE national ICB and Trust Chairs event

• Volunteer engagement

• Meetings with MPs

Activity by other NEDS

Activity:

George Lynn attended the following engagements:

• Meeting with Debs Crelly on wellbeing projects Attended C&P Chairs meeting - PTS discussion
• 1-2-1 meeting with Jo Cripps
• undertook EEAST/Mind - Mental Health Awareness Training
• attended Health, Safety & Wellbeing Group
• attended East Of England Regional Chairs discussion on 2024/25 budget
• supported Deputy Medical Director interview process
• attended BLMK ICB Audit & Risk group

Catherine Glickman attended the following engagements:

• Attended Compliance and Risk Committee meeting
• Visit to Stevenage Unscheduled Care Hub
• Calls with FTSU team members to update on team and work

Chris Brook had the following engagements:

• Board Development pre-meet and session
• Preparation session for new board agenda (Sustainability and Finance)
• 1-2-1 meeting with Dr Hein Scheffer to discuss various topics, eg. D&I
• General conversation on Sustainability future with Libby Holdcroft ahead of Committee meeting
• Visiting Welfare Wagons and Chelmsford EOC
• Suffolk Choral Evensong event for the Sherriff of Suffolk

Wendy Thomas had the following engagements:

• assessor for The NHSE Assistant Director development programme
• key-note speech at People Services away day
• Monthly 1-2-1 meetings with management team at MSE
• attended a PSIRF panel

Omid Shiraji had the following engagements:

• Meetings with Kate Vaughton to discuss the interim structure of the data and digital leadership team
• Meeting with Darren Gray to provide a steer on the data strategy and data capability for the Trust

Victoria Corbishley joined a crew from Bishops Stortford on a ride out

Key Issues/Risks

Continued impact on patients and staff of operational pressures.

Options

Options and mitigations to be explored via Committee escalations, Integrated Performance Report and Board Assurance Framework.