This Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting included a discussion of the NHS Quality Accounts from the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and the Whittington Health NHS Trust. The meeting was scheduled to take place at Islington Town Hall. Councillor Pippa Connor was scheduled to chair the meeting.

Here's a breakdown of the topics that were scheduled to be discussed:

Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust Quality Account 2024-25

The committee was scheduled to review the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust's (RFL) Quality Account for 2024-25¹. The report pack contains a draft of the Quality Account, which is themed Striving Together - Unified for Excellence . The Quality Account was scheduled to give an overview of the trust's achievements over the past year and its priorities for the future. According to the report pack, the document is divided into three parts:

• Achievements in quality: This section includes a statement from Peter Landstrom, Group chief executive Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, reflecting on the past year and the trust's milestones, including the merger with North Middlesex University Hospital (North Mid)². It also highlights the launch of the trust's five-year clinical strategy.
• Priorities for improvement and statements of assurance from the board: This section details the trust's quality priorities for 2025-26, aligning them with governing objectives. It also includes statements of assurance from the board regarding the quality of services provided.
• Overview of the quality of care in 2024-25: This part presents an overview of the quality of care offered by the trust, based on performance against selected indicators and national priorities.

The report pack states that the trust has identified a set of quality priorities for 2025–26 that align with its overarching strategies. These priorities are:

• Patient experience: This includes patient involvement, nutrition, communication about outpatient appointment rescheduling, compassion and kindness, and dignity and kindness for end-of-life care.
• Clinical effectiveness: This includes patients with additional support needs and learning disabilities, and research and development.
• Patient safety: This includes optimising the use of antimicrobials, managing patients with deteriorating conditions, and learning from safety incidents.

The report pack also includes statements of assurance from the board, covering aspects such as review of services, participation in clinical audits and national confidential enquiries, participation in clinical research, CQUIN payment framework, registration with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), information on the quality of data, and learning from deaths.

Whittington Health NHS Trust Quality Account 2024-25

The committee was also scheduled to discuss the draft Quality Account 2025-2026 from the Whittington Health NHS Trust.

The report pack states that the trust's quality priorities for 2024-2025 were:

• Ensuring patients are seen by the right person in the right place at the right time and deliver outstanding safe and compassionate care in partnership with patients.
• Access and attendance
• Reducing health inequalities in our local population
• Improving the Trust Environment to improve Patient Experience

The report pack states that the trust's draft quality priorities for 2025-2026 are:

• Ensuring patients receive safe and effective care that is delivered with kindness, compassion and in collaboration with patients and carers
• Improving the Trust Environment to enhance Patient Experience
• Reducing health inequalities in our local population by ensuring that when patients need to access our services, they have clear guidance, accessible routes and supported and listened to throughout
• We will continue to develop services to meet the needs of our population

The report pack lists goals for each of these priorities.