This meeting was scheduled to discuss the scrutiny of two NHS Trusts' quality accounts for 2023-24. These accounts provide information about the services the Trusts offer and how well they are delivering them. The scheduled discussion was to focus on the quality of services provided by the Barnet, Enfield & Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust and the Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust.

Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust

This part of the meeting was scheduled to discuss the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust's 2023-24 quality account. The Trust's quality account describes its four strategic aims, which are to provide high-quality care, ensure equity of outcome, create great places to work, and be an effective organization. The account details how the Trust has been working to achieve these aims. Examples of this work include the Community Mental Health Transformation Programme, which is revolutionising mental health care, and the ‘Brilliant Basics’ programme which seeks to deliver high-quality care.

The quality account also describes the systems the Trust has in place to ensure quality, like its clinical audit and assurance programme, and its approach to learning from deaths.

It also outlines the Trust's six quality priorities for 2023-24, which were:

1. Develop the role of Patient Safety Partners.
2. Develop a partnership patient safety strategy.
3. Ensure that there are processes in place to prevent discrimination.
4. Support people's physical healthcare and ensure that deteriorations in physical health are identified.
5. Strengthen feedback mechanisms at a Divisional level.
6. Ensure that involvement and engagement of those with lived experience is embedded at all levels.

The account describes what the Trust did in 2023-24 to make progress towards each of these priorities.

Finally, the report looks forward to the Trust's quality priorities for 2024-25. It identifies the need to implement Culture of Care standards to improve person-centred approaches to care, increase the community offer to prevent hospital admissions, provide culturally appropriate services, increase awareness of culturally appropriate support services, support staff from under-represented protected characteristics to progress, develop staff leadership to be compassionate, and ensure that Quality Improvement projects are co-produced.

Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust

This part of the meeting was scheduled to discuss the Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust's 2023-24 quality account, which describes the Trust's work as part of the North London Mental Health Partnership alongside Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust. The report provides details of services delivered by eight divisions across five boroughs: Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington.

The quality account goes on to describe two new facilities that have been built, Highgate East and 1 Lowther Road. Highgate East is a state-of-the-art 78-bed inpatient mental health facility offering ensuite bedrooms, access to outdoor spaces, quiet areas, a family visiting area, a gym and a café. Lowther Road is an integrated community mental health centre in Islington. Both were built as part of the St Pancras Transformation Programme. The report describes the background to the St Pancras Transformation Programme, which has involved the sale of the St Pancras Hospital site for redevelopment, with the proceeds being used to fund the new facilities.

The quality account then describes the work the Trust has been doing to transform community mental health care. Examples include the roll-out of DIALOG+, the recruitment of new staff, and the development of new services for people experiencing mild to moderate eating symptoms.

It then goes on to describe the Trust's Quality Improvement work, which is based around eight Brilliant Basics : safety, reducing restrictive practice, rights and capacity assessments, service user and carer involvement, physical health, person-centred care planning, safe and therapeutic environments, and the workplace. The report details how the Trust has worked to improve each of these areas.

Next, the report describes the Trust's clinical audit and effectiveness work, noting that the Trust participated in all eligible national clinical audits and national confidential enquiries in 2023-24. It also provides a summary of the local clinical audit programme.

The report goes on to describe the Trust's participation in research and development, and its involvement in accreditation schemes.

Next, the report provides a summary of the Trust's performance against the NHS performance framework. It notes that the Trust has seen notable enhancements in out-of-area placements and has consistently met the 95% target for accessing talking therapies within 18 weeks of referral. It also provides details about the average length of stay in acute wards, the percentage of dementia patients diagnosed within six weeks, and the percentage of patients followed up within 72 hours of discharge.

The report then describes the Trust's work on information governance. It details the number of information governance incidents reported and describes the role of the Caldicott Guardian.

Next, the report describes the Trust's work on improving patient experience. It provides details about the Trust's service user and carer engagement and experience work, and its response to the 2023 Mental Health Community Service User Survey. It also summarises the Trust's complaints and compliments data, its performance against the Friends and Family Test, and the steps it has taken to improve patient experience.

The report concludes with a description of the Trust's work on patient safety. It provides details about the Trust's incident reporting system, its transition to the new Patient Safety Incident Review Framework, and its work to reduce serious incidents. It also describes its work on learning from deaths, and its participation in World Patient Safety Day. The report concludes with a description of the Trust's work on infection control, and its response to the 2023 Annual Staff Survey.

The final section of the report describes the work the Trust has been doing on its workforce, including its commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, and its work on organisational development. The report also includes a number of statements from stakeholders, including Healthwatch and the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Scrutiny Committee, as well as a statement of the Directors’ responsibilities.