Trust Chair and Non-Executive Director Report - November 2024

Meeting: Public Meeting

Meeting Date: 6 November 2024

Report Title: Trust Chair and Non-Executive Report

Agenda Item: PUB24/11/1.5

Author: Mrunal Sisodia, Trust Chair

Lead Director: Mrunal Sisodia, Trust Chair

Purpose: Information noting

Link to CQC domain:

• Caring
• Well-led

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 September 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 September.

Introduction / Background:

Performance and Preparations for Winter

Performance remains a major focus and risk area for the Board. In the last two Board meetings we have reviewed our preparations for winter and will continue to do this over the coming months. The Board has been keen to understand and split out those parts of our performance that EEAST has ownership of, versus those areas that are jointly owned with our partners across the six integrated care systems that we serve. We are unequivocal that we must deliver on those parts of our plan that are within our control through our Operational Improvement Plan (OPIP) - maximising our patient facing staff hours, vehicle availability and management. At the same time, we are engaging with our partners to look at those parts that we deliver in conjunction with them such as job cycle times and the operation of unscheduled care hubs in conjunction with our partner ICBs. As the review of our IPR later in this agenda will show, our ambulance response times have been poor and it is vital that we understand the drivers for this that we are exclusively responsible for and those that we must engage with our partners on.

Continued build out of our data and analytical capability

Related to this, the Trust has been investing in our data and analytical capability. At the start of this calendar year, we procured additional resources to support this and the output from this team was instrumental in providing the insights that have formed the basis of our OPIP. Last month we approved further resources into this team to support further analysis to inform and drive the next stages of our performance improvement. The Board is holding a workshop in December to further develop our understanding and ambition for digital.

Culture and Freedom to Speak Up

Our new FTSU service has been live for three months now. A report from the Guardian’s Service is provided later in the agenda. October was freedom to speak up month and our guardians were out and about around the Trust to raise their profile and encourage staff to speak up. Whilst we have made great progress in this area, we must ensure that more staff are willing to speak up and feel confident to do so. Again, this remains an area of intense Board focus and we have scheduled dedicated Board time to explore the challenges we face with the National Guardian’s Office in December.

2025-30 Strategy

I and the whole Board have been delighted with the engagement with our staff and stakeholders to develop our new 2025-30 Strategy. This has been co-produced extensively and provides genuine insight into what our people and patients want from us as a service and how we should go about delivering it. Over 1000 people contributed to this exercise and it shows. The output is being considered and ratified later in this meeting. The Board must lead from the front and going forwards we will be changing some key things about our Board meetings to embed the new values and behaviours into our work.

Community Engagement Group

Connected to this, I am pleased to welcome members of the EEAST Community Engagement Group to this meeting. We have been working with the CEG to explore how we can make sure that the voice of our communities and public can be heard in the deliberations and decision making at the trust. Going forwards, I have invited members of the CEG to join us at Board meetings to provide an update from their quarterly meetings. They will also be joining the Quality Governance Committee moving forwards.

And Finally… I wanted to share some of the highlights from my activities since our last public Board. Three events stand out:

• I had the pleasure of spending a wonderful evening at the Stars of EEAST awards where we took a moment to celebrate the achievements of our staff and volunteers.
• I attended the opening of our new Ambulance Hub in Bury St Edmonds and saw the state-of-the-art facilities and met with staff and dignitaries. All of our staff and patients deserve similar facilities and I am painfully aware that many of our facilities fall woefully short.
• I attended a Marauding Terrorist Attack training exercise organised by the HART team and witnessed the learning that came from a simulated crisis as EEAST, police and fire teams worked together.

Lastly but by no means least, I am delighted that the Trust has earned recognition for the work we have done to become a more inclusive workplace and has achieved Level 2 as a Disability Confident Employer. Next target, Level 3.

Staff and Stakeholder Engagement

The NEDs and I undertook the following activities since the last Public Board meeting over and above our core Board, Committee and working group commitments: