Sir Andrew Morris, Chief Executive of Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, has been invited to the Panel to provide an update on the hospital and any issues it may have faced over the last year.
Minutes:
The Panel welcomed Sir Andrew
Morris (Chief Executive of Frimley Health NHS Foundaton
Trust), who had been invited to attend the meeting to
provide an update on the developments across Frimley Park Hospital NHS
Foundation Trust. Members were informed that before
the merger, Wexham Park hospital had received an
‘inadequate’ rating from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), however, the
hospital had siginificantly improved and in the 2015
inspection, was considered as an overall ‘good’ hospital by the CQC, with their
urgent and emergency services and critical care service receiving ‘outstanding’
ratings. Heatherwood was also rated
as ‘good’, which meant that Frimley Heath received the best multisite rating in
England. It was explained that Wexham
Park’s siginificant improvements had been achieved by
setting five key objectives: get the culture right, improve governance, quality
and safety, raise and sustain performance, improve the infrastructure and
financial recovery. Sir Andrew Morris informed the Panel Members that while there
was still work to do on the first three objectives, their focus was on the
improvement of infrastructure and financial recovery.
Frimley Health’s quarterly
performance was shared with the Panel and it was noted
that the accident and emergency (A&E) department waiting target would be
met if 95% of patients did not have to wait longer than four hours to be seen.
91.6% of Frimley Park Hospital’s patients were seen by a medical professional
in under four hours, which resulted in the hospital
not meeting the target for the fourth quarter. Sir Andrew Morris also informed
Members that the number of patients visiting the A&E department had
increased by 10% and in a 24 hour period, around 330
patients visit the department, 80% of these patients visited between the hours
of 10am-10pm. In order to decrease the waiting time, it was heard that there
was an aim to increase GP cover but there were also issues around some patients
choosing not to phone ‘111’ or visit their GP before visiting A&E.
The Panel was informed of plans to build a new hospital on the Heatherwood site at a cost of £72million. The new hospital
would include 6 operating theatres, 48 beds, 16 day case beds, an outpatients facilitiy
and a diagnostic centre. It was noted that an
engagement exercise with local residents was due to start in April. It was thought that the introduction of this hospital would
enable the Trust to move some additional activity from Frimley, resulting in an
opportunity to further develop some of Frimley Park Hospital’s current
facilities and services. Key service improvements discussed included:
stroke services, acute renal service, vascular services, breast unit and kidney
cancer treatment.
Members
noted that Frimley Health had been approached to
become part of a wider initiative, working closely with the North East
Hampshire and Farnham Clinical Commissioning Group. Possible priorities for the
initiative included improving wellbeing, increasing prevention and early
detection and promoting greater self-care. Plans for opening Hubs in key local
towns had also been discussed, which would offer
support from GPs, social care and community nurses.
The Chairman thanked Sir Andrew Morris for attending the meeting and the Panel NOTED the update.