Trust Board papers November 2012 - Barking Havering and ...
Trust Board papers November 2012 - Barking Havering and ...
Trust Board papers November 2012 - Barking Havering and ...
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Question:<br />
Mr Skillman was pleased to read in the<br />
Telegraph that the Department of<br />
Health was looking to assist some<br />
financially challenged <strong>Trust</strong>s with their<br />
Private Finance Initiatives (PFI’s) <strong>and</strong><br />
wanted to know if anything had been<br />
agreed with BHRUT for this financial<br />
year, or would it be next year.<br />
Mr Skillman mentioned that when<br />
attending outpatients to see a<br />
Consultant, if a follow-up appointment<br />
was required, the patient had to go<br />
back to book this at the desk <strong>and</strong> was<br />
then informed that an appointment<br />
letter would be sent in the post. He<br />
questioned whether appointment cards<br />
could not be re-introduced, which<br />
would not only save posting costs, but<br />
would also be more efficient for the<br />
patient.<br />
Response/Action:<br />
Mr Wood confirmed that BHRUT was<br />
one of the <strong>Trust</strong>s involved <strong>and</strong> the<br />
Department of Health had used<br />
BHRUT’s practices with its PFI partners<br />
to share with other <strong>Trust</strong>s. Most of the<br />
Soft FM contracts were non negotiable,<br />
but some savings had been made on<br />
initiatives led by the <strong>Trust</strong>.<br />
The initial Bond for the PFI could not be<br />
renegotiated, but the <strong>Trust</strong> was working<br />
to achieve as many efficiencies as<br />
possible outside the terms of the<br />
contract.<br />
Mr Wood informed Mr Skillman that it<br />
was worth noting that the PFI had not<br />
just been signed by BHRUT, it had<br />
been agreed by the Strategic Health<br />
Authority, the Department of Health <strong>and</strong><br />
the Treasury.<br />
Mrs Hosein acknowledged that Mr<br />
Skillman was absolutely right <strong>and</strong> this<br />
was part of the outpatient improvement<br />
project that was currently being<br />
undertaken, but due to the <strong>Trust</strong>’s<br />
Patient Administration System (PAS)<br />
<strong>and</strong> how patients were booked, it was<br />
not possible to do this. The <strong>Trust</strong> was<br />
currently installing a new Savience<br />
system (kiosks) for patients to book<br />
themselves in for appointments. It was<br />
acknowledged that the <strong>Trust</strong> currently<br />
generated a lot of unnecessary letters<br />
<strong>and</strong> the new Savience system would<br />
improve this area in the future. Mrs<br />
Hosein asked the public to bear with the<br />
<strong>Trust</strong> in the meantime, as these<br />
improvements involved a great deal of<br />
process change, which would take time<br />
to implement.<br />
Mr Skillman noted that he was pleased<br />
to see in the Finance Report that there<br />
were now vacancy controls in place<br />
<strong>and</strong> recruitment/new posts could only<br />
be approved by the Chief Executive, or<br />
the Director of Transformation.<br />
<strong>Trust</strong> <strong>Board</strong> Meeting (Part I) 5 September <strong>2012</strong>