q CEO report September 2024

Chief Executive Officer’s Report

1.0 National and system update

Earlier this month, the independent investigation into the NHS in England by Lord Darzi was published. The report makes for sobering reading and its findings are reflective of the challenges we have been experiencing in Buckinghamshire and in our Trust and which we have been working hard with partners and within our organisation to We support the themes Lord Darzi has identified for the government’s forthcoming 10-year Plan, such as empowering colleagues and patients, delivering care closer to home, technology and productivity, and look forward to receiving further direction from the government in due course.
There has been a change to death certification effective 9 September 2024 in which all non-coronial deaths (those not requiring referral to the coroner) must be reviewed by a medical examiner before a death can be My thanks to our medical examiner and bereavement colleagues for their preparation in advance of this change.
At Month 5, our financial position is £1.3m worse than plan due to the impact of industrial action in June and July 2024. We have been notified that the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire & Berkshire West (BOB) Integrated Care Board, and the provider trusts within the BOB Integrated Care System, have been put into an Investigation & Intervention regime by NHS England as a result of the collective financial position at this point in the We welcome this review of our processes and plans and will continue to update the Board and the public in due course.
The Buckinghamshire Health & Adult Social Care Select Committee has elected a new Chair, Councillor Matthew Congratulations also to Professor Nick Broughton on his substantive appointment to the role of Chief Executive of the BOB Integrated Care Board.
We have received guidance from NHS England of priorities for Winter and the second half of the year, and will bring our plan for Winter to the Board next It will focus on three key themes: managing same day pressures through our enhanced emergency floor at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, reducing admission levels through increased and better coordinated admission avoidance services across acute and community, and improving flow through the system through more effective discharge planning and work with system partners.

2.0 Outstanding care

Key performance data are presented in the Integrated Performance Report with supporting narrative, which generally shows a stable performance, with some improvements in elements of planned care, emergency care and diagnostic waiting times. The improvement in productivity we achieved in 2023/24 has been sustained in the first quarter of this financial year, ensuring we continue to see patients quicker and provide a better experience through more efficient use of our resources.
This month is Organ Donation Week, an important annual reminder of the life-changing impact becoming an organ donor can have. I look forward to promoting the cause alongside Tom Roche, Non-Executive Director and Chair of Organ Donation Committee, at our Health on the High Street unit in Friar’s Square, Aylesbury.
In August we celebrated 80 years of the National Spinal Injuries Centre and the Paralympic Games with a 24-hour table tennis-a-thon and street party. My thanks to everyone who baked cakes and contributed to make the celebrations such a
The Care Quality Commission has published its 2023 inpatient survey results which surveyed patients who stayed in hospital during November 2023. Although there is always more to do to better the experience of patients using our services, I am pleased to report that our Trust was within the top eight trusts which had significantly improved their scores, an increase from 7.8 to 8.1. Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to this survey and share their experience. Colleagues are reviewing the results in full to look at where we need to focus efforts in the months ahead.
The Board will recall that following a Joint Targeted Area Inspection of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) services in Buckinghamshire in March 2022, the Trust prepared a Written Statement of Action in partnership with Council colleagues outlining how we would collectively improve the service. Appended to this report (Appendix 1) is a letter from the Department of Education confirming sufficient improvement has been seen in two of the three areas to cease formal monitoring. Work continues in Area 2 and the team will update further at the next meeting, including on the areas outlined in the letter.
This summer we officially opened our new Interventional Radiology Suite, which is one of only two radiology suites in the country to enable patients in our county to benefit from specialist procedures. Further details are available on our website here.
Regrettably, I also need to inform the Board that since my last report we have recorded two never events, both pertaining to errors in the site of intervention during a At the time of writing both are under investigation, and I will ask the Chief Nurse and Chief Medical Officer to update the Board more fully in the meeting.

3.0 Healthy communities

This year there is a new vaccination programme against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) for certain cohorts of the population, and we were pleased to be among the first in the country to offer this to pregnant women, along with flu and whopping cough
I was fortunate recently to spend time with our colleagues based in Amersham Hospital who support children and young people with a learning disability. As is often the case when I have the chance to spend time with my clinical colleagues, I was humbled to see firsthand the impact these teams have on some of the most vulnerable in our

4.0 Great place to work

Earlier this month the Executive team was fortunate to spend time with our counterparts at Berkshire Healthcare NHS Trust, discussing their experiences of establishing an improving culture throughout their organisation. It was an invaluable opportunity to understand in depth the methodologies and approaches they use to engage and empower colleagues at all levels in making positive changes to their experiences at work, and that of their patients. I would like to formally thank them for giving their time to us so generously and look forward to continuing to learn from and work with them.
We were delighted to welcome members of the public to our Annual General Meeting and Open Day earlier this month, and I would encourage the Board and readers to take a look at the videos on our website here. It was particularly great to see so many young people coming to take advantage of the careers talks and get inspiration from the tours of our services. Huge thanks to our Communications team for organising the day, and to all the colleagues and volunteers who made the day possible.
Congratulations to colleagues shortlisted for Nursing Times Workforce awards in the Practice Educator of the Year, Overseas Nurse of the Year categories and Preceptorship Programme of the Year.
Huge thanks to our Kalinga Filipino Network for organising another successful annual SportsFest this summer, and to our friends at RAF Halton for coming to support with expert It was a wonderful opportunity to bring colleagues together for some healthy competition between departments!
Thank you also to His Honour Judge Francis Sheridan for making the time to join us this month to share his fascinating experiences and inspiring reflections on leadership with c.100 of our leaders and managers across the organisation.

Appendices – please see full PDF document

Appendix 1 – Buckinghamshire Written Statement of Action Feedback Letter
Appendix 2 – CARE value awards
Appendix 3 – Executive Management Committee & Transformation Board