Decision details

At their meeting in October 2015, the Committee receive a joint report from Barnet Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and NHS England which provided the Committee with an update on plans to improve utilisation of the Finchley Memorial Hospital site.  The committee have requested to receive another update at their May meeting. 

The Chairman invited the following to the table:

·       Dr. Debbie Frost - Chair, Barnet CCG

·       Kay Matthews - Chief Operating Officer, Barnet CCG

·       Alan Gavurin - FMH Programme Manager, Barnet CCG

Ms. Matthews introduced her report and noted that when Barnet CCG had last attended Committee, they had outlined their progress in relation to five key strategic pieces of work to make Finchley Memorial Hospital what it should be: a centre for excellence and a key strategic asset. 

Ms. Matthews provided an update on the key pieces of work, which included:

Adams Ward:

·       Adams Ward had opened on 4 December 2017 and the first five patients would be admitted in the first week rising to the full complement of seventeen patients within the first two weeks. The Committee noted that CLCH had assisted in opening Adams Ward by putting in staff and services. 

Breast Screening Unit:

·       Significant work has been undertaken in order to develop and open the new breast screening facility.  The CCG has been working with Community Health Partnerships (CHP) and the Royal Free Hospital (RFL) which runs the North London Breast Screening Service.  The main issues had been whether CHP would provide the capital costs and if NHS England would support this move. The CCG is optimistic about opening the facility but is still awaiting final confirmation by all parties before confirming that development of the new unit is  going ahead.  The CCG and RFL are aiming to open the new Breast Screening Unit in May 2018. 

·       During the discussion of the above, the Chairman asked if it would be helpful for the Committee to intervene or to invite CHP to a future meeting of the Committee.  Ms. Matthews advised that she would contact the Chairman if she considered that it would be useful. 

Develop and open the new CT scanner facility:

·       Agreements had been reached on the cost of transformation work for a new CT scanner as part of a UCLH research project and that the CCG was waiting on signatures to finalise arrangements.  The Committee was advised that the CCG is optimistic about this project and hopes the facility will be opened in May 2018 as planned. 

General Practice:

·       Since the Committee’s last meeting, the CCG’s new Director of Care Closer to Home is developing a strategy to attract a General Practice into FMH.  The Committee noted that the project was running according to the timeline set out in the report. 

Movement of the CCG headquarters from North London Business Park to FMH:

·       The CCG have been scoping the possibility of moving the CCG’s Headquarters to vacant office space on the 2^nd floor at Finchley Memorial Hospital and will report back on the progress of this piece of work when they next attend the Committee. 

Improving Utilisation:

·       Finchley Memorial Hospital has been identified by CHP to be the site of a pilot project to develop a new centre management service, which will combine new technology and building management systems to collect more accurate utilisation and usage information. 

·       A Member welcomed the update and inquired if there was a strategy for attracting a General Practice to the site.  Ms. Matthews advised that the CCG was at the early stages of a strategy.  Responding to a question, Ms. Matthews informed the Committee that the CCG would be looking to bring more services into the community and wrap them around the GP services. The Committee noted that a highly performing GP Practice would be needed.

·       Referring to an earlier part of the update, the Chairman noted that Adams Ward had been opened in time for winter pressures and asked if the Ward would now be kept open permanently. Ms. Matthews confirmed that it would. 

The Chairman commented that this latest update from the CCG had been a more positive one. 

A Member noted that the Government was announcing new targets for access to mental health services and questioned how challenging this would be for the CCG to meet.  Dr. Frost informed the Committee that the CCG would be asking Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust to make early interventions in Psychosis.  Ms. Matthews noted that the target focused around waiting time targets and that it would a hard, but good, target.   

RESOLVED that the Committee noted the report.