Agenda item

Considered – Presentation by Brian Cranna, Care Group Director, Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust and Elizabeth Moody, Director of Nursing and Governance and Deputy Chief Executive, TEWV on the follow up action resulting from the recent West Lane independent reports.

Elizabeth reiterated that the reports were undertaken independently in response to the three young women in the care of TEWV. She stated that:

·       We apologise unreservedly for the unacceptable failings in the care of the three

young women which the report clearly identifies.

·       We accept in full the recommendations made in the report – all the improvements required are being made where applicable to our services.

·       We have met with the families.

Elizabeth continued and confirmed that many changes were being made, including a new organisational and governance structure in place since April 2022. TEWV now falls into two new care groups allowing strengthened reporting directly to the Trust’s board. Two lived experience directors have been recruited into the leadership team and all changes have been made with the knowledge and oversight of the CQC and NHS England and are reviewed monthly at an external Quality Assurance Board, chaired by NHS England. TEWV’s journey to change reiterated their three main goals for the next five years:

1.     To co-create a great experience for our patients, carers and families

2.     To co-create a great experience for our colleagues

3.     To be a great partner.

Elizabeth continued to inform the Committee on the focus TEWV are taking in terms of patient safety including £5m investment to ensure safer wards, new safety summaries and safety plans, observation and engagement plans, daily safety huddles, a modernised incident reporting process and improving incident reporting and reviews from varying perspectives, e.g., patients, families and staff. Restrictive intervention has been significantly reduced and training improved with investment in both education and training.

Other key areas identified were:

·       Patient centred care – with focus on putting patients and carers at the centre of their own care and making sure we learn from their experiences

·       Autism informed care – with a trust-wide Autism Project providing training to staff across all specialties, including adult inpatient services

·       Evidence based practice in CAMHS - Over 2021/22 development in an evidence-based, person centred approach to care based on the iTHRIVE system framework, looking at every stage of a patient’s journey from referral   through to treatment and then discharge from care

·       A dedicated 24/7 CAMHS crisis teams across the Trust providing better links between children and adult services

·       Improvements to the complaints process with a more empathic approach to improve culture and ensure better outcomes for our patients, carers and their families.

Elizabeth concluded that while waiting lists remain an ongoing issue the availability of a 24/7 crisis team was now in place and would help manage any issues that arose.

There were no further questions from Members.

Resolved – The Chairman thanked Elizabeth and Brian for their presentation and for returning to the Committee with further detail on the reports so quickly. It was suggested that Brian return to the March meeting with more insight into mental health issues and then to future Committees in 2023 with regular updates.