Chief Officer's Report
Argyll and Bute Council · 21 September 2022
Back to Argyll and Bute HSCP Integration Joint Board (IJB) — 21 September 2022 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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1 Integration Joint Board Agenda item: Date of Meeting: 21 September 2022 Title of Report: Chief Officer Report Presented by: Fiona Davies, Chief Officer The Integration Joint Board is asked to: Note the following report from the Chief Officer Introduction It was with sadness that we received the news of the death of her Majesty the Queen. The following statement was issued on behalf of IJB members and the HSCP by Sarah Compton-Bishop (IJB Chair), Councillor Amanda Hampsey (IJB Vice-Chair) and myself through our social media. "We would like to express our sadness on the announcement of the death of Her Majesty the Queen. "Her Majesty's life was one of dedicated public service and devotion to our nation and the Commonwealth. We were privileged to welcome Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh to Argyll and Bute to mark the official opening of Lorn and Islands Hospital in 1995. "We join together in mourning and extend our condolences and compassion to the Royal Family as the whole country comes to terms with this news and mourns her passing." This month within my report I have also included an update on the recent Cabinet Secretary visit to Bute where the Minister met with HSCP staff as well as residents and patients at some of our health and social care facilities on the island. I am very grateful that the Minister took up my invitation to visit Argyll and Bute. It was a really valuable day and he had an opportunity to meet some really amazing staff and members of the public and see for himself the innovative work carried out by the teams on the island both from the HSCP and our partners. I have also included in the report an update on the HSCP’s vaccination programme and I would encourage everyone to take up the opportunity to get vaccinated if they are invited to do so. This will help protect our local communities.
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2 It is also important that I highlight in my report some of the operational challenges that we are facing as an organisation and this month I have highlighted that we are currently managing directly a number of GP Practices and our Primary Care team is actively marketing these vacant GP contracts. In the meantime they have arranged locum GPs for the Practices concerned to ensure continuity of care for patients. In the last section of my report I have included some staffing updates and it’s a real pleasure to see colleagues who have worked for us for a number of years being successful in applying for more senior roles. This is a testament to the breadth of talent we have as an organisation and I wish them all well. HSCP Updates Helensburgh and Lomond Carers – We would like to congratulate Helensburgh and Lomond Carers who were recently awarded the Excellence for Carers Award by the Carers Trust. This award is well deserved and highlights the enormous amount of work that the organisation is doing for the local community. A motion has also been lodged in the Scottish Parliament to highlight their achievement and you can view it here. Ministerial visit to Bute - Humza Yousaf, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, visited Bute on Friday 19 August. This followed on from an invitation from the Chief Officer to the Cabinet Secretary earlier this year to visit Argyll and Bute. During his visit he met with the Chief Officer, health and social care staff both from the local hospital and the community, GPs and staff at Bute Medical Practice, residents and staff at Thomson Court Care Home and the Phoenix Centre as well as meeting with local home care providers and representatives from the Lade Centre (local health and wellbeing hub) and the resettlement team on the island. There is also a short video of the visit (available here) where you can view some of the highlights from the day. National Care Service - A response to the National Care Service consultation from the Integration Joint Board was submitted on the 2 September. A copy of the response is included in the papers for this month’s meeting. Glad to Care Awareness Week - This is a national campaign, which ran this year from 20-24 June, and is an opportunity to highlight, and show appreciation for, the work that care at home and care home staff do every day for the people who receive care. The HSCP promoted the Awareness Week through our social media pages and we would like to thank the many staff from the HSCP and our partners who volunteered to participate in the campaign by providing their own personal messages as to why they were ‘Glad to Care’. Service Updates Outpatient appointments - Throughout the coming weeks and months patients in Argyll and Bute who have been referred for outpatient treatment may be offered opportunities to be seen in other areas of NHS Highland and within NHS Greater
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3 Glasgow and Clyde. This is in line with national policy and will enable patients to be seen sooner, helping to bring waiting times down. HSCP Vaccination Programme - Vaccinations in Argyll and Bute began on Monday 5 September starting with Care Homes, housebound people and Health and Social Care staff. COVID-19 and flu vaccines are being delivered by dedicated HSCP vaccination teams, except on Coll, Colonsay, Jura, Tiree, Bute, & Islay. GPs practices are delivering in these locations. It is vital that you take up the offer of vaccination when invited - it protects you and those you support against serious COVID-19 infection. If you’re eligible for both the COVID-19 and flu vaccine this winter, they will be given at the same time where possible. Getting both together is safe and will deliver maximum protection over the winter months. Operational Challenges GP services Due to a number of GPs having resigned from their Practice, or intimated their intention to do so, the HSCP is currently managing a number of GP Practices across Argyll and Bute. These are Carradale, Kilcreggan and from 1 October it will also include Garelochhead. This is in addition to the three practices which comprise Kintyre Medical Group, which the HSCP has managed for some years. The contracts for the newly vacant Practices are being actively marketed through the British Medical Journal and we remain hopeful that replacement GP partners can be contracted in the near future. In the meantime the Primary Care team have arranged for locum GPs to cover the Practices concerned to ensure there is continuity of care for patients and the locums will work alongside the Practice staff until replacement GP partners are recruited. The 'marketplace' for locums is becoming increasingly challenging and this increases both clinical risk (i.e. around lack of cover) and financial risk (i.e. increasing cost of locum cover). We will continue to monitor this. Care at Home Services The HSCP is continuing to face significant recruitment and retention challenges in providing sustainable care at home services across Argyll and Bute (care at home is provided both in-house and by independently commissioned providers). We are working closely with our independent providers to help them sustain their services. Our care at home team also communicates directly with clients and their families if there are any changes made to the providers who are delivering care at home services. The HSCP has also developed a dedicated Facebook page which promotes vacancies across the care at home sector in Argyll and Bute both from providers
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4 and also in-house HSCP posts. Funding has also been sourced to recruit an HR resource to help with recruitment in this area and this post is currently out to advert. National Updates Winter vaccines programme begins Older people resident in care homes are among the first to receive COVID-19 and flu vaccines as the winter vaccine programme got underway from 5 September. More than two million people in Scotland will be offered vaccines over the next three months - helping protect the public and relieving pressure on the NHS. Invitations will have been sent to all over 65s by the end of the first week. Further information is available here. Facemasks no longer recommended in social care Social care staff and visitors are no longer being advised to wear facemasks at all times under new guidance published today (7 September). The recommendation has been lifted due to a sharp drop in coronavirus infections and a reduction in severity of illness, which has been driven by Scotland’s successful vaccination programme which has so far seen more than 12 million Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in Scotland. Further information is available here. Smoking banned near hospital buildings Patients and healthcare staff will no longer face second-hand smoke at hospital doors as a nationwide ban came into effect on Monday 5 September. The new legislation means anyone found lighting up within fifteen metres of a hospital building could face a fixed penalty notice of £50 or a fine of up to £1,000 if the case goes to court. This is the latest step in the Scottish Government’s plan to create a tobacco free Scotland by 2034 and supports the voluntary smoke-free hospital grounds policy introduced in 2015. The new law will apply to NHS hospital settings used for the treatment and care of patients and includes a ban on lighting up beneath overhanging structures. Further information is available here. Retiring NHS staff helped to return to workplace New national guidelines will make it easier for retiring NHS staff to return to support the NHS as it continues to recover from the pandemic. The arrangement for ‘Retire and Return’ streamlines the process to let experienced staff take up a part-time post while drawing their pension. It was developed in partnership with employers and trade unions following calls for a simpler process. Further information is available here.
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5 National Care Service Update The Scottish Government lodged a Bill in Parliament on 21 June 2022 in relation to their plans for a National Care Service (NCS) for Scotland and further details of this Bill are available on the Scottish Government website here. A further update on the NCS is included in the papers for this month’s meeting. Good News Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy (MSK) Services Due to increasing demand and the impact of COVID-19 the waiting lists for MSK Physiotherapy services are longer than we would like. As a result, we are going to offer everyone currently waiting for a physiotherapy appointment access to a new service called PHIO. PHIO is a chat-bot based triage and self-management tool which can be accessed via a smartphone, tablet or computer and will ensure we can support and monitor how patients are doing whilst they wait for an appointment. Whilst some people will still need an appointment, PHIO will help many of those waiting to self-manage and avoid a deterioration in their condition and will help some to get better without needing to see a physiotherapist at all. We are just finalising the details for the implementation of the service and are hopeful that it will go live by the end of September. Understanding Autism Course Congratulations to Katy Watson, Janice Beasley and Gordon Planck from the Phoenix Centre on Bute who have all successfully passed the Training Qualifications UK (TQUK) level 2 certificate in understanding autism. Katy is the Senior Support Worker and Janice and Gordon are Support Workers. The team work with adults with learning and physical disabilities in day support plus a younger group of adults with autism who require support for their autism in order to live a fully inclusive life. Our prime objective is to support individuals to move on to more or full independence in their lives, so this better understanding of the complexities of autism supports us to reach this outcome. Staffing Updates Podiatry Team Lead We would like to congratulate, Lynn Dalrymple from the Helensburgh team, who has taken up post as the Podiatry Team Lead/Professional Lead for the HSCP. Lynn will initially be starting in this role in a development capacity and colleagues from across the organisation are looking forward to working with her. Interim Area Management Changes
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6 Finola Owen, the Area Manager for Kintyre and Islay, has been successful in gaining the Interim Area Manager post for Cowal (for 6 months) to cover long-term absence, whilst Emma King-Venables, Physiotherapy Team Lead Mid Argyll, will step into the Kintyre and Islay post for six months. We wish both Finola and Emma congratulations and best wishes. Head of NHS Finance Morven Moir has been appointed to the role of Head of NHS Finance. Morven brings with her a wide range of skills and experience from her previous role as Finance Manager for the HSCP and we wish her well in her new role.