Minutes

EKPCC 19/20-10 - Welcome, introductions and apologies

10.1 - The chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies for absence were received as noted as above

EKPCC 19/20-11 - Minutes of the previous meeting

11.1 - The minutes of the last meeting were approved with a few amendments and agreed as an accurate record of the meeting.

EKPCC 19/20-12        Action Log and Matters Arising from the minutes

12.1 - Outstanding actions from the previous meeting

• EKPCC 19/20-2 Carers can raised their issues via Engaging Kent, Kamila Lobuzinska shared their leaflet with the group – completed
• EKPCC 19/20-2 East Kent carer and patient consultative committees agreed to the transition period of 6 months; the merge will be reviewed after 3 meetings (September 2020) – ongoing
• EKPCC 19/20-15 A discharge checklist for a client requested; My safety plan  will be shared with the minutes – ongoing

NP highlighted that My safety plan goes with the patient; ND added the plan is to roll it out across Acute and Older Adult services

• EKPCC 19/20-34 To invite Dr Afifa Qazi to this group’s meeting; dates for meetings in 2020 set up; dates will be shared with the Executive Team – ongoing
• EKPCC 19/20-5 East Kent Carer Council would like to know more about sale of the old St Martin’s Hospital; suggestion has been made to discuss it during the next meeting – on the agenda
• EKPCC 19/20-8 Members would like to know about the new Heather Ward; Julie Meadows to ask Mick Smart to attend the next meeting and provide the update – on the agenda

EKPCC 20/19-13 - Members reports  

13.1 - JR attended The 2020 Mental Health Network Annual Conference and Exhibition at the King’s Fund, London on Thursday 5 March 2020; his daughter spoke at the conference about her experience of autism diagnosis while being an inpatient in a mental health hospital; he asked what Kent is doing about people out of area, caring for people with autism in the community; these points are going to be addressed by GM

13.2 - EB highlighted that there appears to be no facility to communicate with Ash Eton, Folkestone in writing; staff don’t share that information easily; support for her husband wasn’t any good and all the correspondence with Ash Eton was done via PALS and Complaints team

• JM advised that EB can write to the manager, Dan Lee, Locality Manager, South Kent Coast Community Mental Health Services
• JM also added that most of Community Mental Health Teams have generic email addresses; there are also ‘Meet the manager’ opportunities; action JM to send the dates of ‘Meet the manager’ meetings to KL

13.3 - EB raised an issue about support for veterans; she asked if the Trust is doing something about it; Combat Stress: Mental health support for veterans have no funding, there is no specialist unit for veterans with mental health in the community

• NP mentioned veteran champions on their wards who support veterans; JM added that champions would link with agencies and Combat Stress have provided training to staff
• EB was referring to a more specialist training that Combat Stress provided to for veterans who are unwell; ND suggested this question be raised with VB

13.4 - HA raised an issue about accessibility of some of the Trust’s buildings; all buildings must comply with basics of Disability act 2010; the disabled bays at Eastern & Costal Area Offices are not big enough to get with wheelchair out, there should be more space to get from the car in the disabled bay; action ND to send this query to the Site Management; she was also disappointed with attitude of some staff, especially at Ash Eton, she felt that sometimes her physical needs were dismissed, while mental health and physical health relate to each other; it will be raised with VB

EKPCC 20/19-14     Executive Team Representative

14.1 - VB, Deputy Chief Executive, Director of Partnerships and Strategy gave an update on sale of St Martin’s old site, issues around accessibility, and veteran support

• St Martin’s west site; the Trust recently moved some facilities out of that building; the Trust had a programme of upgrading in-patients wards in the last five years; the site was sold to Homes England and it will be developed for housing; the revenue will be re-invested into the development of our estate e.g. Samphire Ward being developed to Heather Ward and The Cube a new medical education and training centre
• VB is happy to come back to the group and update people on investments from the sale of St Martins west site
• Accessibility; not all of our sites have a full disabled access; the Estate Strategy includes improving disabled access across the Trust
• HA mentioned her complaint about Ash Eton in Folkestone; they did not make a reasonable adjustment; VB didn’t know the details of the complaint and agreed that some places needs to be improved; he is happy to come back to this group with plans for the next year; action VB to feedback to the group about the accessibility in the Trust
• EB suggested working with people who are experiencing difficulties around accessibility; VB mentioned that the Trust held Patient Led assessment of the care environment (PLACE); this assessment reviews inpatient services with regard to cleanliness, food, privacy and dignity and the environment as well as considering how appropriate the service is for people with disabilities and with dementia; there is also the 15 steps challenge which comprises a team of three who visit wards to determine the first impressions of a ward from a service user/carer perspective
• Support to veterans; VB highlighted that there is a much stronger focus on developing veterans’ health services across Kent and Medway; the Trust is reviewing our network of champions, there are 15 veterans champions sitting in different teams; there are further investments across NHS to create teams to support veterans; VB is happy to come back to this group with an update
• EB shared her experience; she never had a conversation with staff about veteran champions, she feels there is a very little recognition of veterans; it would be very helpful to have a specialist working group; by the nature of service veterans are trained to not to talk; carers support should be also recognised; EB would like to work with the Trust to make it better
• VB would like to connect with EB to give her more personal update and to think how to utilise these groups more (patient and carer consultative committees; how to support people in different ways)
• JR asked about Female PICU (Psychiatric Intensive Care) provision; VB informed that the Trust don’t have the facility in Kent currently, these beds are provided out of area at the moment; there is a commitment to develop a Kent Medway facility; there are 6 people in female PICU currently, the Trust is reviewing individual needs
• JR asked why the revenue from the sale of St Martin’s west site wouldn’t be provided to build something new; VB emphasised that the Trust’s commitment is to address this and there are discussions with Commissioners currently

EKPCC 20/19-15     A discussion: Autism and Learning disabilities

15.1 - The group welcomed George Matuska, Learning Disability and Autism Lead who led the discussion

• GM is a learning disability nurse by trade; his passion is Autism; he worked at Health Education England looking at sustainable Learning Disability workforce; he met our CEO and discussed the Trust’s directions; he will be working in KMPT for two years with aims to support people living closer to home and to develop autism services
• NHS Long Term Plan has clear objectives about learning disabilities and autism which will be delivered by 2021
• Kent as a region have ideas of numbers and gaps, and people that we want to bring back
• GM mentioned a mandatory training on Learning disability and autism for health and care staff; there is an ambition to add it to Care Act 2021
• On his induction to the Trust he had training on autism including 3 tiers of training
• GM has worked with many national groups on competency based training; different organisations have trialled embedding these frameworks; he shared that information with the Board
• GM is a Clinical Advisor for the Health Education England and he put a national tender to implementing the autism framework which is now happening
• Locally we know where we currently are; he is writing a paper and wants to provide leadership within the trust to make a difference ; his ambition is to make the Trust the best service for people with autism
• JR mentioned that his daughter escaped the system to prove that she doesn’t need medication
• HA asked what staff bands will be eligible for the training; GM explained that it would depend on the role not necessarily banding; it would be single curriculum to a newly qualified people
• JR mentioned Matt Hancock’s plan; GM explained that nationally there were 101 beds for transforming care (people with autism or learning disability who were inappropriately placed) in 2015; now we have 75 beds, and the ambition is to reduce that number to 46 by 2023
• JR said his daughter was twice placed in Forensic and Specialist Services; what is Kent doing about people now?  GM mentioned Rachel Jones, Senior Responsible Officer for services for children and young people for Kent and Medway Sustainability and Transformation Partnership who attended a meeting with the Board and leads that work; as a region we are moving forward, people are discharged and not readmitted
• JR mentioned carers of a patient who was placed many miles away; GM is happy to introduced them to Rachel Jones; the Board want people to be as close to home to receive care and treatment and to develop services locally
• AC highlighted her daughter has a mental health and physical issue as well as autism; GM said what the Trust want is what is right for people; they want more people with autism supported in the community; NP took AC’s contact details to think how to support people with autism diagnosis under Acute services; VB was pleased that GM joined the meetings; the Executive Team is clear that autism should be high on the agenda; we need to give it more priority at the moment is the community provision and the Trust’s ambition is to close that gap
• ND asked if there will be some opportunities for people with lived experience to get involved; GM advised that once the Trust have more plans they will open up opportunities for people to get involved

EKPCC 19/20-16 - Heather Ward update

16.1 - An update on the new service was provided by Mick Smart, Matron In-patient and continuing care East Kent

• Heather Ward is an acute admission ward, it will be need led ward - they don’t look at age but people’s care needs; this is for people who needs its specialist environment
• 15 beds provided, it is a ‘U’ shaped establishment; each end of the corridor has 4 beds; there are individual rooms (two with en-suite, two baths) with hydrotherapy and music; each door is colour coded
• Patients and staff are accessing rooms using bands (different types of bands have different accessibility); these are programmable
• There is a specialist room for psychological intervention, ADL kitchen, therapy room, multi-purpose meeting room, a nice garden area, specialist room for medication, treatment room
• EB asked if colour blindness was considered; MS said that apart from colours there are different signs
• HA asked what would happening to hoists if there was an emergency power cut; MS advised the hoist could be used manually; the build complied with Health and Safety regulations

EKPCC 19/20-17 - Statutory reports

None

EKPCC 19/20-18 - AOB

None

EKPCC 19/20-19 - Date of the next meeting

Please note that face to face meeting will not be held until the current contact restrictions have been lifted.  For more information please contact kmpt.patient.experience@nhs.net