Review of HCS Clinical Governance arrangements (FOI)

Request

The recently published comprehensive Review of Health and Community Services (HCS) Clinical Governance Arrangements within Secondary Care by Professor Hugo Mascie Taylor has been funded with taxpayer money and upon being fully accepted by Health Minister it is expected to drive the turnaround of the Health Service including a further initial spending of £20M committed by Deputy Wilson. In her formal response to the report the Minister committed to open and transparent conduct concerning the improvement process resulting from the report.

While Professor Mascie Taylor described the evidence behind the report as 'anecdotal' he provided some valuable though limited insights to the methodology behind the 61 specific recommendations which will all be acted upon according to the Minister and will drive spending decisions behind £20M of additional budget.

'The methodology used was a simple one. Professor Mascie Taylor undertook 77 semi structured non-attributable interviews, using open and closed questions, with 53 people (Appendix 3 lists 30 director/manager/head/manager role individuals interviewed together with 22 consultants). Appendix 2 further elaborates on the methodology: 'This will be a triangulation of the following, 1. Document Review 2. Interviews 3. Survey... Information gained from any review of patient notes used to support the review will be anonymised... Any amendments to the Terms of Reference will need to be agreed between the lead reviewer and the Director General for HCS.'

A

Please provide the questionnaires (the open and closed questions) used for the 77 semi structured interviews.

B

Please provide the names (or the titles/ specialities) of the 22 medical consultants interviewed (the names of the managers/heads and directors can be identified from their functions listed in Appendix 3). Did any of the 22 interviewed consultants serve(d) as managers or directors for HCS in addition to their clinical responsibilities? How were the consultants selected?

C

Who of the 53 interviewed people were interviewed more than once (77 interviews vs 53 people) and why was it needed?

D

Please provide the questionnaire used for the Survey mentioned in Appendix 2. How many people and of what roles were surveyed for the Report? Please provide the summary of findings of this publicly funded survey.

E

How many patient notes were reviewed, who was performing patient notes review? Were the patients asked to consent to the review of their notes for the purpose of the Clinical Governance Review?

F

Were there any amendments to the Terms of Reference agreed between the lead reviewer and the Director General for HCS? If so please explain.

G

Has Professor Mascie Taylor ever performed any other service(s) for the GoJ/HCS either before or after the review? If so what were the activities and payments made to the Professor other than for the above mentioned Review?

Response

A

Health and Community Services (HCS) does not hold the information requested. Therefore, Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

B

The Care Group or business area of each consultant interviewed is listed below. Disclosure of consultant speciality would breach the confidence of those that contributed to the review. Article 26 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied. 

Consultant (Surgical)

Consultant (Medical)

Consultant (Medical)

Consultant (Medical)

Consultant (Surgical)

Consultant (Surgical)

Consultant (Surgical)

Consultant (Surgical)

Consultant (Medical)

Consultant (Surgical)

Consultant (Medical)

Consultant (Medical)

Consultant (Surgical)

Consultant (Surgical)

Consultant (Surgical)

Consultant (Women and Children’s Services)

Consultant (Surgical)

Consultant (Medical)

Consultant (Surgical)

Consultant (Medical)

Consultant (Office of the Medical Director)

Consultant (Our Hospital)

Four of the Consultants who were interviewed are the Clinical Leads in their respective Care Groups.

HCS does not hold information on the selection process employed. Therefore, Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

C

HCS does not hold this information. Therefore, Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

D

No survey was carried out.

E

No patient notes were reviewed.

F

No amendments were made.

G

Professor Hugo Mascie-Taylor was introduced to HCS as Technical Assessor for the Group Medical Director interview process in February 2021. Professor Hugo Mascie-Taylor was commissioned to provide support and mentorship to the Group Medical Director following their appointment at the request of the Government of Jersey’s Chief Executive Officer at the time (February 2021).

In his capacity as Technical Assessor and mentor for the Group Medical Director, payments made to Professor Hugo Mascie-Taylor for the period March 2021 to July 2022 totalled £16,500.00 in respect of 66 chargeable hours.

Articles applied

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a)     it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b)     it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.

Article 26 - Information supplied in confidence

Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it was obtained by the scheduled public authority from another person (including another public authority); and

(b) the disclosure of the information to the public by the scheduled public authority holding it would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by that or any other person.