Agenda item - Chairs Communications

29.1    The Chair gave the following communication:

            “I would like to welcome everyone to the HOSC meeting.

            There are a number of members of the public here, which is good to see. Clearly there are issues on today’s agenda which people feel passionate about. Please do note that you are here as observers, not as participants in the meeting. The council has a number of ways for people to ask questions or present petitions to committee meetings – and we have members of the public here today with a deputation. However, we cannot have the meeting disrupted by people shouting out from the public gallery, and I’m sure everyone here today will respect this.

            Today we will be looking at the Sussex-wide review of stroke services, where it is proposed that services for the Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals Trust (BSUH) ‘footprint’ should be single-sited at the Royal Sussex County Hospital. We will also be looking at the recent CQC inspection report of South East Coast Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb); and at the latest developments in Sussex Patient Transport Services.

            In terms of today’s agenda, I’d like you to note that there is an addendum to the papers. This contains draft minutes for both the 20 July HOSC meeting and the special meeting on 05 October. It also contains the revised text of a deputation to HOSC on Sustainability & Transformation Plans.

            In addition, I’m like to change the order of items a little and take Item 34 (PTS) before Item 33 (SECAmb). This is at the request of the SECAmb Acting Chief Executive, Geraint Davies, who is on his way from another meeting in Surrey.

            Before we start the meeting, I’d also like to mention two other things. Firstly, you may have seen media coverage of the publication of the Sussex Partnership Trust (SPFT) Thematic Homicide Review. The review makes worrying reading and we plan to explore its implications with SPFT at the next meeting between their executive leadership team and Sussex HOSC Chairs. This issue may also be considered by the HOSC later in the year.

            Secondly, you also may have seen that BSUH, our hospital trust, has been placed in Financial Special Measures by NHS Improvement – the trust was already in Special Measures for quality. We’re in the process of setting up the joint HOSC working group to look at quality improvement plans, and we’ll seek to include these financial issues in the scope of this work.”