January 2012 - Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals

SWBTB (1/12) 286 (a)
A Project Board has been established and is chaired by Janine Brown (Project Director,
Sandwell PCT) who is the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for the project. A Project
Steering Group has also been set up and has clinical representatives from a range of
specialities and disciplines. This is chaired by Dr Deva Situnayake, one of our Deputy
Medical Directors.
The structured project methodology is set out in the Project Initiation Document (PID) with the
main objectives of the project being to maximise the potential for acute stroke and TIA care to
be delivered at optimal levels of quality and efficiency at SWBH. Through the project a
preferred option will be identified and this should:
Meet national, regional and local standards of care and deliver safe and effective
stroke and TIA care for the people of Sandwell and West Birmingham.
Improve the health outcomes of the stroke population in the short, medium and long
term.
Meet local commissioning intentions (including emerging CCGs) and meet the clinical
needs of patients and carers as well as being delivered in an integrated way with
relevant services in the acute sector and the community.
Deliver stroke and TIA services that sustain performance that exceed expected
thresholds in the national Vital Signs/Integrated Performance Measures and Cardiac
and Stroke Network measures derived from the national stroke strategy.
Deliver excellent levels of patient/carer satisfaction.
In line with national guidance the potential need for formal public consultation if the
reconfiguration resulted in the removal of a range of clinical services from one hospital, was
tested with the Joint Health Scrutiny Committee at an early stage who confirmed that formal
public consultation would be a likely requirement. On this basis and again in line with national
guidance the project requires external reviews including:
An assessment from the National Clinical Advisory Team (described in section 7
below) and
Office of Government Commerce Gateway Reviews.
5.1 Gateway Review
A series of Gateway reviews will be required at key points in the project. The Gateway
review process examines a project at key decision points in order to provide assurance that
the project can progress successfully to the next stage and is designed to provide
independent guidance to the Senior Responsible Officer of the project on how best to ensure
that the project is successful.
An initial Gateway Review of this project was undertaken 10 th -12 th January 2012 with the
purpose of assessing the project’s readiness to go to formal public consultation.
The outcome of this review was that the delivery confidence assessment status for the project
is:
• Amber i.e. Successful delivery appears feasible but issues require management
attention. The issues appear resolvable at this stage of the programme/project if
addressed promptly.
The Gateway Review Team commented that:
‘The team’s stakeholder engagement and management, including clinical involvement within
the Acute Trust, Local Authority HOSC relationship and a willingness from Primary Care to
participate fully in implementation, is also to be commended.’
The Gateway Review made the following 6 recommendations:
11