Quality Letter to CCGs - NHS Trafford

Our ref: HG/JS/TG/250512
28 th May 2012
To: GM CCG Chairs
GM Chief Operating Officers
Dear Colleagues
Re: Greater Manchester Early Warning System
X:\Hilary Garratt\Letters\Drafts\Letter re EWS Letter to CCGs.doc
3 rd Floor
St James’s House
Pendleton Way
Salford
M6 5FW
Tel: 0161 212 4821
Fax: 0161 212 4801
hgarratt@nhs.net
You may already know that we have started to develop an Early Warning System for Greater
Manchester, which regularly reviews existing information about quality of key providers (initially
acute trusts, but soon also mental health trusts, and possibly other providers).
The idea is for us as commissioners to be able to monitor the current quality performance of
providers by routinely collating available ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ intelligence from a wide range of
sources. The current set of indicators has been developed using the NHS Operating
Framework indicators for 2012/2013, local and regional priorities, data published by regulators
(e.g. CQC), and ‘soft’ data such as information from clinical audits, and serious incidents. The
system allows us to have an up-to-date overview of quality issues and concerns about
providers, and we intend to further develop and produce it as part of a future CSS offer.
I am pleased to attach the current version (May 2012) of the Early Warning System (EWS) for
your use. The front sheet provides an overview with red and amber ‘pins’ against areas where
there may be a potential concern. Subsequent pages present the detailed data.
In recent months we may have asked you to provide assurance on some potential concerns
raised through the EWS, e.g. poor performance on TARN, or issues raised in Dr Foster’s
Hospital Guide. As CCGs, you will want to be increasingly proactive in identifying and
responding to such issues directly. For this purpose, I would appreciate if you considered the
red and amber highlighted areas (and any others which may concern you) and assured yourself
of an adequate response or appropriate actions by your provider trust, as required.
To be able to provide assurance to the GM Cluster as well as the SHA (which monitors us on
many of these issues), I propose to send you this report monthly. I will require comments back
on any areas highlighted in red. For this month, please provide these comments by 8 th June
2012.
As this system is still under development, I would welcome any constructive comments on the
data, and the way it is presented, and used, and any ideas you may have for its development,
so it may become a helpful tool for you as commissioners.

Please submit your assurance statements as above to me directly, and any comments on the
EWS to Judith Strobl (Judith.strobl@manchester.nhs.uk).
.
Yours sincerely
Hilary Garratt
Director of Nursing, Quality & Performance
NHS Greater Manchester
cc NHS GM Executive Team
GM Quality Leads
X:\Hilary Garratt\Letters\Drafts\Letter re EWS Letter to CCGs.doc