North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust director tells of strike and RAAC impact
An NHS trust director has told of the impact of strike action, and moving staff into portable cabins and a hotel while RAAC is tackled in hospital accommodation blocks.
Neil Atkinson, managing director of the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, reported to a board meeting at the University Hospital of Hartlepool. He spoke shortly after it was revealed that the University Hospital of North Tees had reinforced autoclaved aeriated concrete (RAAC) in seven staff office and accommodation blocks, not in the main building.
He also spoke about the effects of industrial action, which was blamed for more patients waiting more than a year. And he referred to work on a community diagnostic centre in Stockton and a health and social care academy in Hartlepool.
Mr Atkinson said: “Industrial action has been very much a focus. We’ve just come out of three days of industrial action. Our key aim is to ensure patients are kept safe and we try to minimise the loss of activity where we can.
“I think a lot of staff groups are working very flexibly to be able to ensure that we keep everything ticking over. That said, I think it’s important to note that… some of the industrial action does impact on our planned activity.
“We are seeing an increase in the number of over-52-week waiters. That stands at about 107 patients waiting over 52 weeks. This has increased significantly since industrial action started in December.
“We’re still in a very good position as far as the region’s concerned, but with regards to the ambition of this trust, this is higher than what we would like. We’re working hard to reduce this position.”
Lindsey Wallace, care group director for collaborative care, praised efforts to maintain standards despite pressures, keeping the trust “above regional and national”. She said: “We’re continuing to see the impact of the industrial action on our waiting list.
“And yes, it is impacting on our 52-week waits. And despite that we are still managing to see a reduction within the overall wait, albeit it’s not where we would like to be.”
Mr Atkinson said finance was moving up the agenda: “We are about £1.9m behind our plan. That is largely down to the costs associated with some of the industrial action. That said, the trust remains absolutely committed to being able to deliver its break-even plan.
“And forecasts suggest it’s on plan to be able to deliver. We are dealing with lots of additional challenges and unexpected costs we were aware of at the time of planning.”
Asked about possible recompense for the cost of industrial action, Mr Atkinson said: “They do recognise it’s getting bigger and bigger. They want to try and recognise this. It hasn’t been formalised as yet.”
He added it was proposed to reduce a target “to a more reasonable level” recognising the impact of strike action, with money to be used to offset the costs. “Which in principle sounds great, but there is a lot of detail that needs to be worked through.”
Non-executive director Fay Scullion said: “We’re not solving the problem, we’re just going to be in this constant circular state. They just need to sort out the recompense for the medical staff.”
The meeting heard the trust was trying to understand the potential harm to patients “who are possibly rescheduled several times and what that really does to their condition”.
Mr Atkinson said: “I think it’s really important I mention to colleagues we do not have any RAAC at our site in the patient-facing areas. We do, however, have RAAC in our accommodation blocks at the North Tees site.
“We have seven accommodation blocks, two of which are residential and five are used for office accommodation. We’ve had a look at those particular blocks.
“There are four of the seven which require immediate attention. One block we have already addressed and that is already in place, which was an office block.
“The second one was another office worker block. We have decanted that particular building.” He said people were working from portable buildings are work was ongoing.
He added: “What we think is the right thing to do is we have moved the 10 residents that we’ve got in those two accommodation blocks. We are moving them into a hotel and we are then able to empty the top two floors and be able to do that work immediately.
“The other blocks we’ve got, we are told that they’re in a good position and they just require an annual review. But I think it’s important to note we are doing everything we possibly can with all of that.
“I think ultimately a structural engineer will tell us that we would need to replace the roofs in time. What we are doing at the moment is just addressing the immediate issues and ensuring that nobody is at any risk.
“We are waiting for some of the costs back to see what it would cost us to replace that. We’re also working very closely with a national team around all of that.”
Mr Atkinson said of a new hospital outline business case: “That’s continuing. We are progressing with that on a ready to bid basis.”
He said NHS England had advised that “capital monies will become available, however the way NHSE are going to approach it, they are indicating to us that specific pots of money will come out for things like elective recovery, inpatient wards, intensive care, emergency care and maternity. What we are trying to do is ensure our outline business case ensures that we are able to seize upon those opportunities when they come live.
“We were hoping to have it all complete by the turn of the calendar year. I think given the impact of industrial action and how important clinical engagement is, we’re really looking for the OBC to be completed probably around the end of February 2024.”
A new community diagnostic centre is being built in Stockton town centre. Mr Atkinson said: “The operating model for the community diagnostic centre has been agreed.
“The hope is to be able to get that up and running by summer 2024. And I think it’s important the board realise that is six months ahead of where we expected to be.”
A health and social care academy at the University Hospital of Hartlepool is also progressing with £1.2m funding. Mr Atkinson said: “The grant papers have all been signed now and we have that in place between the trust and Hartlepool Council.
“The academy is going to be situated at Hartlepool and at the moment we’re out to tender for a contractor to do that particular work. This is all about growing our own talent and ensuring we have a robust and sustainable workforce. We are also making a further bid to the Local Skills Improvement Fund to get some additional equipment.”