Agenda item

The Board had before it a report by Kenneth O’Brien (Service Manager, ACHSCP) and Kate Livock (Unscheduled Care Project Manager, NHS Grampian) which (1) provided a brief background as to the context and process of winter planning for period 2016-17; (2) set out the learning established from National, Grampian and Aberdeen City specific sessions relating to winter 2016-17; and (3) described how this learning would be incorporated into the winter/surge planning for the 2017-18 period.

The report recommended:-

That the Board –

(a)       Note the information contained in the report relating to learning from the 2016-17 winter period; and

(b)       Note the arrangements put in place to incorporate such learning as part of the 2017-18 winter planning process.

Kenneth O’Brien (Service Manager, ACHSCP) advised that the report provided a debriefing of the 2016-17 winter plan and outlined the process for ensuring that learning would be incorporated into winter/surge planning for 2017-18. Mr O’Brien explained that winter 2016-17 was relatively mild and there were fewer cases of infectious disease admissions and highlighted the increasing effectiveness of the health and social care system in comparison to previous years as a result of more joined up working and greater communication between partners. He noted that discharges from hospitals decreased by 30% over the Christmas and New Year period and there were subsequent capacity challenges from 4 January 2017 onwards.

Mr O’Brien advised that Aberdeen City was further impacted by the withdrawal of a Care at Home provider on 6 January 2017 which put additional strain on care at home supply and care management colleagues. In terms of next steps, he explained that the Partnership’s Senior Operational Management Team would review the Aberdeen City component of the plan prior to its incorporation into the comprehensive NHS Grampian winter/surge plan. Mr O’Brien provided further assurance to the Board that 2017-18 winter planning was not contingent on receiving additional funding from the Scottish Government.

Thereafter there were questions and comments on the rate of flu jab take up during 2016-17; planning for major incidents such as a pandemic flu outbreak; the Partnership’s plans for meeting social care demand during public holidays; and the impact on unpaid carers during these periods.

The Board resolved:-

(i)            to note the information contained in the report relating to learning from the 2016-17 winter period;

(ii)           to note the arrangements put in place to incorporate such learning as part of the 2017-18 winter planning process;

(iii)         to agree that the Grampian-wide Winter Plan be submitted to the 3 October meeting of the Clinical and Care Governance Committee in order to meet the submission deadline to the Scottish Government, and to further request that all IJB members be sent the committee papers for information;

(iv)         to request that information be sent to Cllr Donnelly on the level of flu jab take up during winter 2016-17; and

(v)           to request that information be sent to Dr Howard Gemmell on when NHS Grampian received funding from the Scottish Government to support winter planning for 2016-17.