HSE People and Culture Committee meeting minutes 2 September 2022

Committee Members Present

Dr Yvonne Traynor (Chairperson), Mr Aogan Ó Fearghail, Mr Brendan Whelan, Ms Michelle O’Sullivan, Ms Bernie O’Reilly, Dr Sarah McLoughlin, Ms Deirdre Cullivan.

HSE Executive Attendance

Mr Dean Sullivan (Chief Strategy Officer), Ms Anne Marie Hoey (ND Human Resources);), Ms Emma Finn (Head of Internal Communications), Ms Niamh Drew (Deputy Corporate Secretary); Ms Patricia Perry (Secretariat).

Joined the meeting

Ms Deirdre Madden (Item 4), Ms Theresa Heller (AND HR)(Item 4), Ms Phillipa Withero (HR)(Item 4), Ms Eithne Fox AND HR; Mr John Delamere, AND National Employee Relations (Item 4) Ms Yvonne Goff, (Item 5), Ms Catriona Heslin (AND) (Item 5)

The Committee held a private session where the Chair provided a brief summary on the agenda, the relevant papers and approach to conducting the meeting.

The Chair welcomed all and commenced the meeting.

The minutes of the People and Culture Committee meeting of 10th June 2022 were approved.

No declarations of interest were declared.

The Chair introduced Michelle O’Sullivan as the new Board Member and member of the People & Culture Committee and noted that Ms O’Sullivan and National Director HR are schedule to meet next week.

The Head of Internal Communications informed the Committee of the HSE’s success in winning two PRII Awards, one entitled Excellence in Public Relations in the category of Best Internal Communications, entitled Senior leaders communications with frontline staff during COVID-19 and a cyber attack and the second award went to the HSE Press and Media team who won an award for Best Inhouse PR team of year. The Chair and the Committee congratulated the Head of Internal Communications and Team on these two prestigious awards.

The Head of Internal Communications provided an update to the Committee in relation to Performance Achievement and advised that there has been a lot of work between Internal Communications and HR in supporting with the content development of the HSE website for line managers and staff, and communications with HSE staff on the importance of Performance Achievement. A discussion took place in relation to the challenges in its implementation and engagement piece with staff, and the Committee were advised of a PA Steering Group set up. AND HR advised Committee that HR are out meeting various parts of the system to meet, and improve the communication around PA and listen to the challenges of staff and looking at different ways to support staff through PA.

The Head of IC advised of recent communications, one of which was the recent communication issued to staff encouraging signup to the Reachout Network to celebrate Pride month. There have also been ongoing communications to staff to highlight the importance of training, especially concerning Cyber Security Training and Dignity at Work, both mandatory for HSE staff and available on HSeLanD.

She advised the Committee of a number of visits which were co-ordinated with local communications teams, where the CEO visited the services to meet staff and engagement sessions were held with the media and local TDs and Councillors in Galway & Mayo and Limerick & Clare. She outlined the planned final visits of the CEO to Kilkenny & Waterford which will also include political engagement.

She advised the Committee of the ongoing work in relation to video content development and event management support for the upcoming Excellence Awards which are to be held in September 2022.

She outlined the plan for the staff flu vaccine campaign, where Internal Communications plan on a large campaign this year, which will feature on the front cover of the next edition of Health Matters. She advised the Committee that a communication had issued to HSE staff on 1st September in relation to the COVID-19 second booster vaccine for healthcare workers.

The Committee held a discussion in relation to the challenges that Winter will bring, and the Head of IC advised the Committee that both National and Local Communications meet weekly and discuss issues, and that they are working together with HSE colleagues in Operations to plan ahead for the Winter Plan.

The Committee were then updated in relation to key strategic projects planned to year end.

An outline was given in relation to the Regional Health Authorities (RHA’s) and the involvement of the HSE Communications team with the wider RHA planning and design process.

An update was given in relation to the staff website accessibility audit, where the current rate is 78%, which is positive but there is a focus to improve on this rating going forward. The Committee were advised of a number of staff email communications enhancements that have been undertaken, the HSE Staff newsletter being issued twice a week, the plan in late October early November to move the email database to an adobe database, which will prove to be good building blocks for communications in relation to RHAs, and will provide improved analytics. A discussion took place in relation to challenges, particularly post cyber, and the Head of IA updated Committee in relation to these.

The ND HR gave the Committee a high-level update on a number of topics in her presentation of the HR BiMonthly Report.

The ND HR briefed the Committee in relation to the Special Pandemic Recognition Award. An agreement has been reached between HSE and staff panel group of unions regarding the operation of an appeals process in respect of those staff who contend that they have an entitlement to the payment but who have not been approved for same. The panel will begin its work in September. The HSE, working with the DoH, have recently issued a tender for a company to support the payment of the Covid Pandemic Payment to non HSE employees and work will commence upon appointment. Further clarification was sought by the Committee on this matter. In response to a question regarding S39s, NDHR advised that S39s were included in the Ministers announcement regarding the pandemic payment.

The ND HR updated the Committee on the Public Service Agreement. She advised that the sectoral bargaining process has concluded in respect of clerical admin, management, support, maintenance and certain paramedical grades such as Ambulance, Radiography and medical scientists. New pay scales have issued and revised rates are applicable from 1 February 2022. The sectoral bargaining process relating to Medical/Dental, Nurses and Health and Social Care Professionals represented by Forsa remain outstanding and are a continued focus of engagement. General Pay talks were paused on 17th June, but resumed on 29th August 2022, and ballot results are scheduled for 7th October 2022.

The ND HR provided an update in relation to the reversal of Haddington Road Agreement (HRA) hours for relevant grades, to pre July 2013 levels which took place on 1st July 2022. The reversal has necessitated in a significant revision of rosters. Close observation of the impact of the change in respect of service delivery, cost etc. in the coming weeks and months will need to be maintained. She advised that it is likely that initial detailed feedback on the impact of the reversal will become apparent in September, and will be fed into the Estimates Process.

The Committee received an update on the local actions in relation to Staff Survey 2021, with the establishment of working groups to review the staff survey results and the Work Rehabilitation in the HSE e-learning programme for line managers to support employees returning to work after illness or injury is now live on HSeLanD, which consists of two modules.

An update was given in relation to the National Healthcare Communication Programme, which is designed to support healthcare staff to learn, develop and maintain their communication skills with patients, their families and with colleagues. The Committee were also advised that the applications for the Health Service Leadership Academy Programmes are now closed for the three Health Service Leadership Academy progammes.

The ND HR updated the Committee in relation to the valuable resource of HSeLanD, with 40 new programmes that have been launched during the period May-July 2022. Three programmes have been given mandatory status, which include Communicating Effectively through Open Disclosure; Cyber Security Awareness and Dignity at Work.

The ND HR updated the Committee in relation to Workforce Planning. The Health Sector Workforce employment levels at the end of July 2022, showed that there were 135,294 WTE (equating to 155,595 personnel) directly employed in the provision of Health & Social Care Services by the HSE. Q1 Turnover Rates were broadly the same in 2019, 2020 and 2021 (1.4%), however there has been an increase in Q1 & Q2 2022 in the % turnover rate (and the number of leavers). This is a potential risk to 2022 Resourcing Strategy & NSP as Covid restrictions ease and there is greater opportunity for travel, and the ND HR informed the Committee that HR are continuing to keep a close eye on this.

The ND HR advised that the implementation of the Review of the National Investigations Unit (NIU) continues. an updated was provided in relation to the review of the Dignity at Work Policy. The Support Contact Person and the Nominated Person specialist virtual classroom training programmes were launched to support the new Dignity at Work policy, together with a mandatory Dignity at Work programme on HSeLanD. The Leadership, Learning and Talent Management (LLTM) department are conducting a Staff Empathy Survey in partnership with DCU.

In relation to the revised Consultant Contract of employment, it was advised that discussions had re-started in June 2022 and are proceeding in a constructive manner. Further dates in September have been agreed and will be scheduled over 2 days per week.

In relation to the Digital Transformation HR Shared Services, ND HR advised the Committee that there has been positive progress made in National Payroll Administration (NPA) to develop a ‘Forms Portal’ which will allow digitising and automating of approximately 90% of the processing tasks.

The ND HR concluded her presentation with an update in relation to the NiSRP, the multi-year national transformation programme, which integrates and modernises SAP staff records and Payroll systems and processes across the HSE. She advised that it is now set for a go live date of March 2023 in HSE South, which will then be followed by implementations in two SSWHG Section 38 hospital sites and the HSE North East and HSE West.

The Chair welcomed Mr John Delamare AND National Employee Relations to the meeting to present to the Committee an update in relation to NCHDs, and discussions taken place regarding working hours, payroll, and patient safety.

Professor Deirdre Madden informed the Committee with regard to the publication of the Medical Council’s Annual Workforce Intelligence report which warns about risks to patient safety due to workforce issues and provided a summary of the key risks identified as part of the research projects. The AND National Employee Relations advised the that the IMO had notified the HSE and Department of Health (DoH)of the outcome of a ballot for the taking of industrial action, which indicated a 97% vote in favour of such action. The issues giving rise to this relate to working hours, rostering, payroll matters and issues relating to retention and training amongst others. No action has been decided on. The HSE and DoH are currently engaged in a series of meetings with the IMO in respect of all of the issues raised in the IMO correspondence.

Committee members noted that it was positive that HSE and DoH are in talks with the IMO and that there are some legal requirements, others are issues of patient safety, and also relate to the culture of and value for NCHDs. The Chair outlined the Committee’s support, and noted that the Minister is supportive of the talks with DoH, HSE and the IMO. The Chair thanked AND for the update and requested that a further update to brought to the October meeting of the Committee.

The Chair asked the Committee if they had any questions in relation to the ND HR update of the Bi Monthly report, and a discussion took place. It was asked that new KPIs be added to the Dashboard next year, including mandatory training, and any other additions to be communication to ND HR and she will discuss with her team.

Topic – Delivery of Change

Managing the culture changes and the HR role changes for staff within RHA’s.

The Committee welcomed an update from the CSO, ND and the AND of Change and Innovation in relation to the planning, design and implementation of Regional Heath Areas (RHAs).

The ND of Change and Innovation advised the Committee that the HSE in collaboration with DoH, is taking forward an ambitious programme of work to progress RHA implementation in line with Government policy and agree national timeframes. RHA Programme Governance has been established including an RHA Implementation Team. This forum comprises senior representatives from the DoH and the HSE who are responsible for monitoring progress, providing direction and input to support RHA implementation. The RHA Implementation Team provides updates to the Sláintecare Programme Board (jointly chaired by DoH Secretary General and HSE CEO) and the HSE Board. Key inputs are also received from the RHA Advisory Group.

Phase one of RHA implementation is focused on the high-level design - the service delivery model for the Health and Social Care System and the organisational arrangements needed to deliver integrated models of care. There are 6 RHA workstreams established which focus on:

• Corporate and Clinical Governance
• Finance inclusive of Population Based Resource Allocation
• People and Development
• Digital & Capital Infrastructure
• Change, Communications and Culture
• Programme Co-ordination

Work is also underway on a draft RHA Implementation Plan the detail of which will be informed by the outputs from each of the workstreams and the ongoing engagement events.

A discussion took place in relation to the engagement with stakeholders including patient organisations. The CSO noted that a comprehensive stakeholder engagement and communication plan is being finalised.

The Chair thanked the CSO and his team on update and requested that a short update be supplied to the Committee at its next meeting on how the people workstreams are progressing and communication plan for staff and public on how the implementation of change will be progressed. CSO agreed to arrange.

CRR 16 Labour Market Supply which was circulated to the Committee prior to the meeting, was not discussed.

No matters arose and no further issues were discussed.

The meeting concluded at 12.25pm, and Private Discussion took place.