PRESENT:     

Mike Reeve (MR) Chief Operating Officer

Julie Gray (JG) Head of Corporate Affairs/Company Secretary

John Tucker (JT) Elected Community Member Representative

Pam Bendle (PB) Elected Community Member Representative

Kelly Moore (KM) Elected Staff Member Representative                                   

Richard Watson (RW) Head of Workforce and Development

Courtney Peet (CP) Elected Community Member Representative

Aamer Sajjad (AS) Medical Director

Nicola Carroll (NC) Membership Board Secretary

Sam O’Brien (SOB) Community Member

Marie Fitzgerald (MF) Community Member

Annie Darby (AD) Service Development Manager

Lynsey Ford (LF) Legal Affairs Manager

Zaffer Iqbal (ZI) Clinical Director Psychological Services - agenda item 4

Claire Withers (CW) Freedom to Speak Up Guardian

Bradley King (BK) NAViGO Staff Member

Jennifer Clarke (JC) Community Member

George Baker (GB) Public Governor, RDaSH

Jackie Griffiths (JGr) Patient Experience Lead

Amy Quickfall (AQ) Engagement and Projects Manager

Kristina Fletcher (KF) Assistant Director of Community Health and Wellbeing Services

 


1. WELCOME AND APOLOGIES    

  • Apologies were received from Jane Lewington, Simon Beeton, Jo Keen, Kate Pawlowska, Amanda Simpson, Kristina Parker, Mark Peplow and Craig Champion    

            
2. QUORUM AND DECLARATION OF INTERESTS    

  • The Chair noted that as there was a minimum of one Executive Director, one officer of NAViGO and at least one Elected Staff Member Representative and one Elected Community Member Representative present the meeting was quorate.
  • The Chair invited members to declare any interests conflicting with agenda items to be discussed at the meeting.     

            
3. NOTES FROM THE MEETING OF 6th MAY 2021    

  • Approval of Notes – The notes of the May meeting were agreed as a true and accurate reflection.
  • NAViGO were placed 92nd in the Best Companies survey which is a fantastic achievement. Richard to feedback to the event the technical difficulties experienced. 
  • Involvement from a clinical member of staff is required for the Greening NAViGO project. Mike to identify potential staff members at next week’s management brief.

            
4. “IN THE SPOTLIGHT” EMDR and Suicidality Trial    

  • Zaffer attended for this agenda item and shared a presentation. 
  • There is a cohort of people who attend crisis regularly with high suicide intent and thoughts around suicide. They are supported by crisis and home treatment and within 4 days they are well and disengage. They don’t meet the criteria for a formal mental health diagnosis but will be seen a number of times in a 12-month period. 
  • EMDR and Suicidality trial is looking at a better way to help and treat this group. EMDR is low cost and rapid with around 8-16 sessions. It allows the individual to reprocess events and replace negative beliefs with positive ones to influence their behaviour if the same thing happened in the future. The pilot will randomise the therapy on 2:1 ratio. The individuals will be checked for eligibility and risk status. The trial will take around 18 months.     

            
5. MONTHLY COVID 19 UPDATE    

  • Decisions regarding uniforms and staff returning to offices will be made following the government’s announcement around the easing of restrictions on 21st June. 
  • The organisation currently has zero covid absence.    

            
6. MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS    

  • Paper provided showed 2 applications had been received.
  • Staff Members 494
  • Community Members 268
  • The applications were approved.

            
7. COMMUNITY AND STAFF REPRESENTATIVE UPDATE    

  • A carers and volunteer event is taking place at Your Place on 7th June.
  • Teams are taking part in the Great British clean up. 
  • Groups will return face to face from 8th June. 
  • A volunteer has been identified to run the book club and it will restart soon.  
  • Check in and chat will take place monthly as attendance has reduced due to restrictions easing.   
  • LGBT support group “Inclusion” launches 25th June for ages 16–25. 
  • Courtney has been working with Beyond charity and will be a panellist at an event to promote young mental health. NAViGO will be purchasing a ticket to allow streaming of the event. 
  • Pam’s application to be a judge at the National Service User awards has been successful. 
  • Concerns were raised that more volunteers were required at Safespace and questions asked as to why NAViGO volunteers and ex-service users are unable to volunteer. Nicola and Mike to arrange a meeting with the relevant people to discuss.


8. CARERS UPDATE    

  • Work is ongoing to promote assessments. Event taking place for carer’s week.     

 

9. COMMUNICATIONS, MARKETING AND ENGAGEMENT    

Communications and Marketing

  • Paper received for information. 

Engagement

  • Rainbow badge has been launched and is proving popular. 
  • Creative writing group is restarting shortly.
  • White goods scheme pilot will commence in July, Kick start opportunities will assist. Gardiner Hill Foundation has approved funding for PAT testing courses for the volunteers. 
  • Work is ongoing with the engagement plan for CMHT transformation.

            
10. POLICIES    

  • No policies were brought.    

            
11. QUARTERLY UPDATES    

11.1 Medical Staffing 

  • Members received paper 11.1 for information and received reassurance that NAViGO remain compliant in relation to Safe Working Hours, Appraisals and Revalidation. 

11.2 21/22 Membership Strategy

  • Paper application form has been refreshed and is now in use.  
  • The areas of interest have been amended on the community membership application form, and these have been aligned to the database. 
  • Membership benefits and the groups guide will be refreshed when covid restrictions ease.  
  • Application forms are available on wards and form part of the discharge pack.    

            
12. MEDICAL STAFFING RECRUITMENT PLAN    

  • Aamer share a presentation.  
  • Current challenges faced are mainly due to the expansion of services. 
  • Vacancies are advertised on NHS website and all avenues must be exhausted prior to international recruitment starting.
  • Applicants must be registered with the general medical council which requires written and verbal English language testing. 
  • NAViGO is one of ten NHS trusts approved to sponsor people from overseas as part of the International medical fellowship scheme. 
  • They are also developing middle grade doctors.
  • Non-medical prescribers are able to work under the supervision of doctors to prevent delays. These are being utilised by NAViGO. 
  • Specialist training posts are being applied for but funding is an issue at present. 
  • Ethical responsibility of recruiting doctors from overseas was questioned, it was confirmed that the doctors being sponsored already have clearance to come to the UK and would be leaving their country with or without NAViGO involvement. International recruitment has been on hold during covid. 
  • There are currently no vacancies due to agency locum doctors being used. These are costly and are able to leave at short notice which does not provide services with the stability required.    

            
13. FUTURE VENUE    

  • Annie advised that she had located a venue that could accommodate larger numbers at Bradley Football pitches. There is sufficient parking and the rates are reasonable. 
  • The member approved using this venue once meetings return face to face.
  • Mike to discuss future meetings being a hybrid model with the executive team and feedback. Annie and Amy to visit the venue to review available technology. It was agreed to provisionally book the new venue from July.    


14. BAME REPRESENTATION    

  • The paper provided detailed the proposal for 1 additional staff representative from the BAME network, they would assume an additional place on the CIC board. This would be in addition to the 4 usual staff representatives. 
  • It is proposed that an additional community member is elected in order to ensure the representatives are balanced.  This representative would be required to be a service user, carer of someone with an interest in mental health. It was suggested that if someone from the BAME community applied they would automatically take that position without the requirement of a vote.
  • The proposals would be subject to the articles being changed via a vote at the AGM. CIC board approved the proposals in principle subject to membership board approval.  
  • Members requested further clarification regarding the voting structure as they felt that excluding BAME representatives from the usual staff and community representative elections would create a divide. There were concerns that BAME members would be restricted to one place, and that non BAME staff would be unable to vote for BAME staff. 
  • Ordinarily staff and community representatives vote for the non- executive director, therefore it was questioned if it may be unfair for the BAME representative to automatically gain this place. 
  • The proposals were not approved, and further clarification was requested.    

            
15. ANY OTHER BUSINESS    

  • Members were asked to provide suggestions for seminars and speakers for this year’s AGM to the staff and community reps. 
  • Suggestion received to close down the marketplace when seminars are taking place due to the noise.  
  • Nicola to add to the July agenda.    

            
16. DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING    
Thursday 5th August 2021, 10am via zoom.
Papers for the meeting 
Papers can be obtained from Nicola Carroll.