Agenda item

Resolved: the committee noted the report

Ben Travis (Chief Executive, LGT) introduced the report. The following key points were noted:

5.1       The Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust (LGT) received a rating of “requires improvement” in its latest CQC inspection. The CQC noted that the Trust had made a number of improvements since its last inspection and highlighted a number of key areas for action, including workforce and medicine management.

5.2       The Trust has published a road map, which includes plans to improve the workforce culture. It wants to become an attractive place to work and reduce staff vacancies and increase staff retention. It has been running career clinics for staff and providing flexible working, and the voluntary turnover rate has been coming down. The Trust’s road map aspires for the whole Trust to achieve a rating of “good” by 2020.

5.3       The committee had a number of queries in relation to workforce. The committee asked about the staffing levels for clinical and non-clinical staff, in particular nursing, medical and surgical staff; whether the threat of Brexit has had an impact; and whether any staff were leaving service because of pension overfunding.

5.4       The Trust has seen a consistent pattern of net joiners in nursing. It has carried out career clinics to improve retention and successfully recruited from overseas, including the Philippines and India. It was noted that the retention rate of overseas staff is much better than the standard retention rate.

5.5       The Trust struggles with recruitment and retention of middle-grade doctors. It has been engaging with its medical workforce to better understand what keeps them in a role and how the Trust can provide support.

5.6       The Trust has not seen a significant decline in its EU workforce. It has written to every EU member of staff to reassure them and offered to pay the registration fee for the Government’s EU settlement scheme. 8% of the Trust’s workforce is from the EU.

5.7       Pensions overfunding is an ongoing issue which the Government is currently consulting on. Some senior medical colleagues of a higher grade with many years of service feel like they no longer have the incentive to work additional shifts as it will sometimes cost them money and some staff are looking to reduce their hours.

5.8       The committee expressed concern about the Trust’s “safe” and “effective” ratings and noted that the Trust has been struggling with medicine management for some time.

5.9       The main area of action within the “safe” rating is medicine management in surgical areas. Medicine management is an area the Trust has struggled to improve. It involves activities such as checking fridge temperatures and making sure that medicine cabinets are locked. The Trust is working with staff to ensure that everyone understands the importance of consistency with basic checks like this.

5.10    The main area of concern relating to the “effective” rating is an increase in readmission rates for surgical patients.

5.11    The committee expressed concern about the Trust’s ratings for “medical care (inc older people)” and “End of Life care”. The committee noted that there had been some criticism of older people’s experience in hospital.

5.12    The committee noted that the Trust had not been dealing with complaints on time. The Trust has carried out workshops on the complaints process and spoken to complainants about their experiences. The Trust is aiming to deal with people’s concerns more proactively, before they become a formal complaint.

Resolved: the committee noted the report