Agenda item

The Sub-Committee received a presentation from Adrian Dorney, Associate Director – Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust (“Associate Director”) and Lorraine Regan, Service Director – Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust (“Service Director”). An update was provided on how the Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust had continued to deal with COVID-19 related issues and demand post lockdown.

The Service Director highlighted the Trust’s appreciation for how hard their staff had worked over this difficult period, and the extent to which they had gone to ensure the continuation of services.

The focus over the previous couple of months had been on continuing to modify plans and look at how best to run services to make them resilient throughout the winter period. As mentioned at a previous meeting of the Health Scrutiny Sub-Committee, a ward at Green Parks House had been closed at the beginning of the pandemic. A decision had been taken for it remained closed, as it allowed the staff to be redeployed to other wards and removed the need for a heavy reliance on temporary staff. This also benefitted patients as there was better continuity and quality of care. To date, admission numbers had remained in line with the reduced capacity. In relation to digital capabilities, the Service Director noted that the Trust were seeing a broadly equal split between requests for virtual and face to face support.

It was noted that there were not currently any patients that had tested positive for COVID-19 on the Trust’s wards, and staff were adhering well to the PPE guidance and keeping themselves safe. Over the last six months it had become apparent how much the staff valued regular communications and positive feedback. It had been acknowledged that this had not always happened, and special efforts were being made to keep in contact with staff via online communication and drop in visits.

The Associate Director noted that after an initial peak in staff sickness at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there had been a downward trend across the whole Trust, and the Bromley Directorate sickness had remained under the Trust trend level. In the early stages of the pandemic, it was believed that lack of clarity about the nature of the virus may have contributed to staff anxiety levels, which had caused some increase in sickness absence. It was also considered that the fall in sickness rates following this may in part be attributed to staff commitment towards maintaining NHS services in the face of a national crisis.

The Oxleas Primary Care Plus service (PCP) was the community assessment team for referrals into secondary care services. In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, referral numbers had reduced significantly. This was believed to be due to a combination of both the initial lockdown and the general public anxiety regarding the potential risks of contact with services and / or people. However, since the public messaging from the Government had changed, encouraging people to return to accessing healthcare services, the referral rate had shown an upwards trend – recently hitting a 12-months high. Yet as services had not experienced high sickness absence, the Trust had been in a good position to respond to this demand.

The Oxleas Mental Health Liaison Team (MHLT) worked in the Accident and Emergency Department and wards at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH). This service had also seen a reduction in the number of referrals during the early stages of the pandemic, for the same reasons previously stated. However, the referral rate had since increased steadily back up to the expected levels. The Associate Director noted that the Trust had been able to maintain low admission rates of between 15% and 25% of those referred to mental health services through the MHLT. This was attributed to the input of the Oxleas Home Treatment Team and Community Mental Health Services, supporting people to access treatment and support in their own homes.

The Service Director highlighted that an area which had seen a rise in demand over the last few months was the Early Intervention in Psychosis Service, which was a concern as these people were very unwell. Further work would need to be undertaken to look at how many of these referrals were linked to the pandemic, but it was assumed that a proportion of this was due to their experiences during this period. Additional posts had recently been agreed to support this service. The Trust was also working hard to ensure a good uptake of the staff flu vaccinations. Around 25% of the directorate had been vaccinated – current trends showed that a significant proportion had been receiving it for the first time. All the available vaccinations had been used, and more were due to arrive. Last year, 60% of the workforce had been vaccinated, and this year they were aiming for an even higher figure.

The Chairman led Members in thanking Adrian Dorney and Lorraine Regan for their presentation to the Sub-Committee.