We publish a number of detailed and informative reports, operational plans and strategies, many of them on a regular basis.
You can view them here.
Reports
Our Annual Report details key achievements over a specified financial year.
2021/22 Annual Report
You can now view our latest annual report, which details our performance over the financial year 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022.
This report was a shortened report in line with Government guidance in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (DCHS) recognises that every concern or complaint is an opportunity to learn and make improvements.
We understand that handling concerns and complaints effectively matters for people who use our services and they deserve an explanation when things go wrong. We understand people want to know that a meaningful change has been made to prevent something similar happening to anyone else.
We always aim to address concerns and resolve problems quickly and effectively to ensure the satisfaction of all involved. We seek to apologise for any substandard or inadequate care that has been provided and therefore we follow the principles of the duty of candour to complaints.
DCHS and Trade Union regulations
We support and value the work of our trade union and professional organisation representatives, promoting a climate of active co-operation between representatives, leadership teams and staff at all levels to achieve real service improvement, best patient care and our desire to be an employer of choice.
The Covid-19 pandemic necessitated significant changes to partnership working processes both collectively where substantive changes to working practices were rapidly implemented and due to the pausing of the volume of formal individual casework. DCHS and accredited reps worked together in the spirit of the national Staff Partnership Forum guidance and local agreements to progress wide-ranging casework and staff concerns outside of formal process wherever possible, recognising that lack of resolution can result in additional uncertainty and anxiety.
As an organisation we recognise that outstanding practice requires an engaged and valued workforce, and we continue to seek to enhance and maintain these excellent employee relations through early involvement, engagement and intelligence sharing with our trade union partners. This has been particularly true with our Covid-19 pandemic response work.
Facility Time Publication Requirements
We publish details of facilities time carried out by our trade union representatives in line with the Trade Union Regulations 2017 (Facility Time Publication Requirements). This covers duties carried out for trade unions or as union learning representatives in relation to our trust and staff.
In recognition of the additional workloads that have been placed upon our reps this year resulting from the pandemic, including massively increased clinical and frontline responsibilities and changes in ways of working and the redeployment of key team members, the detailed data collation has been amended to enable a fair reflection of the time and commitments they have made but without the arduous need to compile detailed annual figures.
2021/2022
| Number of employees who were relevant union officials during the relevant period | Full-time equivalent employee number | Percentage of time union officials spent on facility time | Number of employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1-50% | 9 | ||
| 51-99% | 3 | ||
| 100% | 0 |
Percentage of pay bill spent on facility time
2021/2022
For the previous reporting period (April 2019-March 2020) prior to the Covid 19 Pandemic the Total Hours Spent on Facility Time (Duties and Activities) by the 14 reps active within DCHS was 3,733 hours
Although detailed data has not been collated for 2021/22 evidence would suggest that this figure would be significantly reduced. Evidence to support this includes:
- Reduction in number of active reps (12).
- Impact of the pandemic has led to massively increased workloads for all reps relating to their substantive frontline roles – reducing the amount of time they have been able to commit to TU duties & activities.
- The national SPF guidance which recommended curtailing and streamlining of employee processes and decision making.
- 9 of the accredited reps have frontline clinical or support roles as their primary substantive employment
- Members of the Staff Partnership team have during the pandemic been redeployed to roles both within the pharmacy team for significant periods of time and taken on additional roles away from the TU function – including admin support at vaccination centres, PPE and pharmacy deliveries.
Paid trade union activities
2021/2022
In the year (2019/20) prior to the pandemic this figure was 4.66% - largely comprised of TU Conference attendance and TU regional activities. Using all the evidence above and additional factors such as the wholesale cancellation of conferences, reduction in TU branch regional and national activities, curtailment of Union learn activities and evidence from comparable organisations, this figure for 2020/21 is potentially reduced to 1-2%.
CQUIN stands for Commissioning for Quality and Innovation. CQUINs are quality-related goals which are agreed with our commissioners each year. The goals are linked to a proportion of our income which we receive on achievement of the targets, and the targets support ongoing innovation and improvement in care across our clinical services.
The following workforce equality reports and supporting information can be found on our workforce equality reports can all be found on our Equality and Diversity page.
Strategies
The DCHS Clinical Strategy refreshes the DCHS Integrated Business Plan (IBP) which underpinned the organisations journey to becoming an established Foundation Trust.
2019-2020
Plans
Our 2022-2023 operational plan provides an overview of our vision and priorities for the remainder of the financial year. It provides an overview of our key areas of work and has been developed in response to National NHS Planning Guidance, national drivers for change, JUCD priorities, recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, and our future strategic intentions for our upcoming review of our Organisational Strategy.
It acknowledges we are operating in a challenging and uncertain environment and that there has been limited opportunity for staff to fully recover from the early impact of the pandemic and staff absence rates remain high due to Covid. Our ability to address the waiting list backlogs which arose in services stood down, or reduced, early in the pandemic has been impacted by social distancing and the need for enhanced infection, prevention, and control measures. In addition, the NHS must return to a more balanced financial position at a time when we are seeing a cost increase in essential items including energy, medical supplies, and fuel. For these reasons, we will take a flexible approach to planning this year maximising opportunities for patient needs to be met and staff wellbeing to be prioritised whilst seeking opportunities to transform and improve the way we deliver care.
2022-2023
DCHS Operational Plan - full document
DCHS Operational Plan - plan on a page
2021-2022
DCHS Operational Plan - full document
DCHS Operational Plan - plan on a page
Integrated Community Services - plan on a page
Planned Care & Specialist Services - plan on a page
Health, Wellbeing and Inclusion - plan on a page
People Services - plan on a page
Our operational recovery plan for 2020/21 provides an overview of our planning aims and actions for the remainder of 2020/21 and is aligned to the planning and ambitions of our Joined Up Care Derbyshire (JUCD) partners.
We are committed to ensuring that we work together to improve population health outcomes for the people and communities we serve, as we work to deliver our collective vision to enable people to have the best start in life, to stay well, age well and die well. At the forefront of our system plan are five strategic priorities: place based care, prevention and self-management, population outcomes, system efficiency and system management.
Click here to access the full plan.
Click here to download the summary ‘plan on a page’.
Covid-19 Service Delivery Plan: click here to download a copy of the plan.
During the period of the emergency response, our overall objective is to preserve life, maintain safe services and safeguard patients and staff.
The aim of this document is to provide operational guidance to staff in relation to managing clinical caseloads during the COVID-19 pandemic period, whilst maintaining patient safety.
The objectives are:
- To ensure that the Trust has a local service delivery response based on clinical prioritisation that is in keeping with the latest guidance from NHSE/I (Appendix 1)
- To ensure that as part of the wider health and social care system, the Trust is able to support the reduction in required admission to acute services and is able to expedite discharge from acute services to maintain capacity for those most seriously affected by COVID-19
- To ensure all non-urgent referrals received from primary care are managed by operational services, so that prioritisation of the referral can take place once the COVID-19 emergency response is over.
The principles followed in decision making are:
- On-going case load review to ensure proactive discharge of patients
- Promotion and focus on self-care/self-management
- Engaging families and carers in undertaking appropriate interventions
- Maximising the use of non-face to face consultations using available technology and
- Undertaking home visits and clinic attendance only when ABSOULTLEY clinically necessary.
To be noted, where services both clinical and non-clinical are not prioritised, staff from these areas will be redeployed into areas of need.
Find out how we are looking at all areas of our activity to make us a more sustainable organisation. Our Green Plan replaces the Sustainable Development Management Plan.
Other documents
DCHS was formally authorised as a Foundation Trust by Monitor on 1 November 2014. The key authorisation documentation is:
Authorisation Letter – letter of authorisation from Monitor.
The Constitution – the Constitution is the document that sets out the purpose and the powers of the NHS Foundation Trust and its governance arrangements.
The Trust must remain compliant with the Constitution otherwise there is a risk that it could be in breach of legislation and the conditions as set out in Monitor’s NHS Provider Licence.
NHS Provider Licence – the Provider Licence sets out the conditions issued by Monitor for the Trust to operate as an NHS Foundation Trust from 1 November 2014. The Trust must comply with these conditions.
CQC register Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust to carry out the following legally regulated activities.
Modern slavery statement
This statement is made in accordance with Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act (2015). It sets out the steps that DCHS has taken and will continue to take to ensure that modern slavery or human trafficking is not taking place within this organisation or those with whom DCHS are affiliated.
Modern slavery is defined as the recruitment, movement, harbouring or receiving of children, women or men through the use of force, coercion, abuse of vulnerability, deception or other means for the purpose of exploitation. It encompasses slavery, servitude, human trafficking, forced labour, sexual exploitation and forced criminality and is a crime under the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
DCHS has zero tolerance to any form of abuse and thus modern slavery is incorporated within both children and adults safeguarding work streams.
DCHS is committed to acting ethically, with integrity, requiring transparency in all our business dealings and putting effective systems and controls in place to safeguard against any form of modern slavery across the NHS and associated sectors.
Through implementation of robust recruitment policies and procedures we ensure that comprehensive checks are in place to negate the likelihood of an individual being employed by the organisation who has been trafficked or who is the victim of modern slavery.
DCHS is responsible for providing a range of health services for people living in Derby and Derbyshire. The care we provide is monitored by the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) through regular compliance visits and processes to ensure that we are compliant with the Modern Slavery Act (2015).
Modern Slavery Guidance
This guidance is a resource providing clear and up to date information on the key facts, and to help public sector workers who may not routinely come across modern slavery recognise the signs and respond so that more victims get help and perpetrators are brought to justice.