Agenda and supporting papers - Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust

Item 16
and involvement of clinicians, which had been patchy in the past.
• The Committee recognised the challenge of the whole health community and the
need to take cost out of the system and ensure that it is sustainable. However the
Chairman highlighted the importance of ensuring the Trust negotiates the best deal
possible.
• The CM highlighted the importance of retaining specialist services and ensuring
stability through maximum take during 2013/14. The Committee discussed the
involvement of the Specialised Commissioning Group which made up around 30%
of the contract value.
• There were some issues with the system that collected data on activity which
needed to be resolved.
• The Committee noted the contract deal for 2013/14. The Committee requested a
further update at the July Committee on the resolution of outstanding issues, and
process for planning for the 2014/15 contract.
• HW to meet with the CM to review the contract with the Commissioners and also
the Commercial Contract Manager to discuss how the Trust’s commercial contracts
could be strengthened.
CM
CM/HW
52/13 Reference Costs
The AsDoF outlined the requirement for the Trust to submit an annual return, and the
national process introduced which required Committee/Board approval before the return
could be submitted. It was expected that the submission will be ready for review by the
accountants and directorate teams in around 2 weeks, with the submission due on 16 th
July.
Due to data collection issues in some areas the Trust was currently reporting a low silver
standard on the MAQ scoring system. However it was expected that the implementation of
the Care Group structure would improve the engagement of clinicians. Also the
introduction of some new IT systems would increase the data available. The Trust’s index
was favourable against the national average.
The Committee discussed the disconnect between a favourable reference cost index and
the financial position and the potential reasons for this such as varying marginal rates,
direct access income and educational funding arrangements. It was agreed that further
work was required to understand this in more detail and the DoF would give thought to
types of assurance available such as internal/external audit and peer review.
The Committee agreed to receive the submission by email for virtual approval as it was
unlikely that it would be available for the June Committee meeting.
DoF
AsDoF
Closing Issues
53/13 Any other business
The DoPSS highlighted that, due to concerns regarding the speed of retrieval of ‘prior’
images, the PACS Board had made the decision to defer the go live date of the final phase
of the project by 3 months. There will now be a series of commercial discussions with the
suppliers regarding remediation. A further briefing would be brought back to the committee
as those discussions develop.
54/13 Communication
The Chairman listed items for inclusion in the Chair’s report for the Trust Board:
• Peninsula Pathology Partnership
• District Valuation
• Operational Performance – 18 week work due June FPIC/July Trust Board
• Finance – CIP performance, comfortable on delivery of £12m against target of
£24m, with a focus on recurrent savings.
• Cover for Junior Doctor gaps
• Contact update 213/14 – update to be brought back in July on progress against Q1
objectives
• Reference Costs – exercise to be undertaken to provide assurance
4