Issue - meetings

The Committee received a presentation providing a high level update on the transaction of the Royal Oldham Hospital (ROH), as part of the Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust (PAHT), to the Northern Care Alliance (NCA) and the benefits and improvements this was bringing for the ROH site; the wider development of the ROH site; and the next steps and plans for services.  In introducing the item, the Chair congratulated David Jago on his recent appointment as Chief Officer for the Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust.

The development journey of the NCA, from the 2015 CQC assessment of Salford Royal Foundation Trust as ‘outstanding’ and the 2016 assessment of PAHT as ‘inadequate’ to the pending completion of the Transaction Programme to date, was considered.  The ROH, along with Fairfield General Hospital and Rochdale Infirmary, would move to the NCA, while the North Manchester General Hospital would move to the Manchester Hospitals Foundation Trust.  These moves would support the future clinical, financial and workforce sustainability of acute hospital services in the north east sector and across Greater Manchester more generally.  The improvement during the transaction journey had been dramatic, with the PAHT’s CQC assessment moving to an overall ‘good’ rating in three years.

The transaction to NCA would further unlock the potential for improvement, including the reconfiguration of services across sites and populations at pace; the optimising of investment in the workforce, estates and technology with the resultant rate of return; standardised operating models; and the enabling of economies of scale.  The NCA would increase the focus on localities, ensuring that local leaders, staff and services were better able to reflect their area’s distinct characteristics and that integrated care, tailored to the local environment, was provided.  The NCA recognised that it was a significant part of the fabric of local communities and that its long-term sustainability was closely linked to the wellbeing of those communities.

The ROH would not only be a local general hospital but would move towards becoming a high acuity specialist centre and a designated hub for complex surgery as envisaged by the 2015 Healthier Together decision.  While creating capacity for such work would require some less complex work to be undertaken at other NCA sites, the objective across the NCA was to have good quality, sustainable specialist and hospital services for the future that would be needed in order to continue to improve services for patients across Oldham; to create a system where patients consistently receive good quality and safe treatment under the right clinical team, in the most clinically appropriate setting, first time, every time, as part of an integrated care pathway; and to ensure that any significant service changes will be subject to commissioner-led public consultations, for which strong evidence of patient benefits and assurances around access will be critical.

Work was being undertaken with Oldham system leaders to develop plans for the future delivery health and care for the population of Oldham.  The impact of Covid-19 on the delivery of services was acknowledged and considered, and a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7