Agenda item

Mr Philip Lunts presented the final version of the joint winter plan for the partnership and advised that the majority of actions within the plan had been addressed.  He emphasised the criticality of the plan, additional staffing in key areas, management of the anticipated additional activity generated by the winter period, and the ability to have capacity and resource available within the community. 

Mr David Davidson sought assurance in regard to staff and capacity to address anticipated additional surge activity.  Mr Lunts assured the Integration Joint Board that plans were in place to address additional activity over the winter period as well as more creative options around alternatives to traditional staffing. 

Mr Davidson enquired if funding was available.  Mr Lunts advised that the majority of the proposals in the winter plan were funded.  Each action that was identified had been required to include a funding source. 

Mr Davidson enquired who would be undertaking the external review of Community Hospitals.  Dr Cliff Sharp advised that Mrs Anne Hendry has been asked to undertake an external review of community hospitals.  She had agreed to undertake the review over 10 days to analyse what they do, options for how they could be used taking into consideration the Prof John Bolton work, and how they could be shaped for the best outcomes for the Scottish Borders population.

Cllr Shona Haslam noted the slippage in commencing the external review of community hospitals and requested that the document be updated.

Cllr Helen Laing enquired if the 50% target rate for flu vaccination of staff should be higher.  Dr Cliff Sharp advised that the Public Health Department were well sighted on the issue and were working on the winter flu plan given the flu epidemic currently being experienced in Australia.  Publicity and open sessions had been organised for staff across the Scottish Borders to take up the flu vaccination, especially for those working with the most vulnerable in society, and whilst the target was set at 50% there was an expectation that it would be surpassed.

Mrs Karen Hamilton enquired about transport and discussions that were due to take place with the Red Cross during September.  Mr Lunts advised that discussions were on going with the Scottish Ambulance Service and the voluntary and third sector in regard to transport issues.

Mrs Jane Davidson commented that the joint winter plan was for health and partners to have in place.  It was an operational plan that had been tried and tested over the years and was reviewed and revised on a weekly basis, and was a mechanism well used by both the Health Board and the Local Authority.  She suggested that the Integration Joint Board should be assured that the plan was robust and would address the winter period.  She further commented that the impact of stranded patients would affect its operational value and therefore the suggestion of moving to a discharge to assess arrangement should strengthen the plan further.

The Chair commented that stranded patients had been at 30 plus for some time and he enquired how that would be mitigated considering the plan had been formulated on a smaller number of stranded patients.  Mr Lunts commented that stranded patients had been 9 higher each day since April 2017 compared to the previous year.  The plan had been developed on the basis of reducing the number of stranded patients or increasing the number of beds available to accommodate patients.

Further discussion highlighted: version control of the document, page numbers, paragraph numbers and updating the actions and addressing the outstanding matters; continual Borders wide programme of house insulation; integrated care fund utilisation for the transport hub project; and it was a live document to be constantly reviewed and updated.

The HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD noted the Joint Winter Plan 2017/18.