Public Board of Directors meeting summaries

Summary of the Board of Directors meeting in public, January 2025

This is a short summary of the Board of Directors meeting held in public on 14 January 2025.  Minutes of the meeting will be published on the Board Meetings page on the Trust website. 

Trust Chair, Selina Ullah, opened the first meeting of 2025 sharing how much she is looking forward to the year ahead.  Whilst acknowledging there will be challenges, particularly with restricted funding, Selina shared her optimism about potential opportunities and achievements for the Trust during the coming year.   

Selina welcomed new Non-Executive Director, Andrew Harkness, to his first meeting of the Board of Directors.  Andrew started in post this week and brings a wealth of experience in population health management and health inequalities. 

Staff story

This month’s meeting opened with a focus on our internationally qualified colleagues, working in the Hartington Unit in Chesterfield.  The Board welcomed Faisal, Ansha and Abirami who joined the Trust in 2024 from India and Pakistan. 

The team shared the collective experiences of seven international nurses who started working on the wards at the Hartington Unit last year, discussing learning and recommendations including the value of pastoral support and the suggestion to include a buddy system, together with the need to provide more information on local housing and cultural adaptations.   

Chair’s update

Selina shared details of her engagement activities from November – January, including several service visits to teams which provided detailed insight into Trust services.  She recognised colleagues were passionate about our services and working hard in face of various challenges to deliver high quality care. 

Selina had also visited the teams based at the Radbourne Unit as part of the Trust’s annual Christmas competition.  She reflected on the diversity of people supported by the unit and the positive feedback she received. 

Finally, Selina shared her thanks with governors who would shortly be ending their term of office and stepping down from the Council of Governors. 

Chief Executive’s report 

Mark also shared details of service visits and confirmed he would be meeting colleagues and patients at the new Bluebell Ward later this week. He thanked everyone who had supported the successful opening on the new Bluebell Ward for older adults on 7 January.  He confirmed that wider learning would be used to inform the subsequent moves of our acute inpatient services. 

Mark’s report provided a national update on the ongoing Change NHS engagement ahead of the new 10-year health plan this Spring.  He also shared details of a recent report from the Centre for Mental Health, focused on care beyond beds. 

An update from the East Midlands Alliance was shared with all partner providers.  Mark noted positive development in CAMHS services across the East Midlands supporting a greater number of children and young people in the community. 

Integrated performance report 

• In partnership with East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS), a new Derbyshire mental health response vehicle commenced in October and is dispatched to mental health-related incidents between 4pm and midnight, seven days a week. The initiative aims to provide support in the community, reducing the number of people attending A&E for mental health needs.  To date the results are promising: in 2023, 55% of the patients with a mental health need seen by EMAS were conveyed to hospital. In November 2024, following the launch of the mental health response vehicle, this figure had reduced to 12% and the latest data places this between 7-9%. 
   

• The Trust is providing levels of Talking Therapies support that is above locally commissioned activity.  We currently await the outcome of a recent ICB procurement process and will work with future providers to support ongoing service delivery.  The Board noted concerns about local people waiting to access the service, with current waiting lists already high.  The Trust is working hard to discuss management of the forthcoming transition for both patients and colleagues. 

• The number of inappropriate out of area placements remains an ongoing challenge and the Board acknowledged the impact of this on patients and families.  Teams are also proactively managing high lengths of stay, people who are clinically ready for discharge and opportunities wider than admission. The pilot of a new seven day a week community mental health service has also commenced.   

• The Trust’s financial position is on track to deliver the planned deficit.  Training and appraisals compliance has increased and the Trust is part of a national review of statutory and mandatory training.  From a quality perspective, seclusion rates are reducing in our inpatient services, leading to restrictive practice as required. 

• The CQC re-visited the Trust’s acute inpatient units in December.  Following this visit we received positive verbal feedback on the improvements put in place since their visit in spring 2024.  This reflects significant progress at both the Radbourne and Hartington Units, which we expect will be confirmed in a new report shortly.  The Board thanked colleagues involved in making these positive changes across our acute units.  Whilst there is still work to do to embed these changes and continue our improvements, this is really positive news and reflects the progress made by our teams. 

Board Committee assurance reports 

These were shared following recent meetings of the Mental Health Act Committee, People and Culture Committee, Finance and Performance Committee and the Quality and Safeguarding Committee. 

Wider reports were shared for information including the regular learning from deaths report and an update from the Trust’s guardian of safe working.   

The next meeting of the Board of Directors will take place in public on Tuesday 4 March from 9.30am.  Details will be available on the Board Meetings page on the Trust website ahead of the meeting.