Coronavirus (COVID-19) PPE Strategy and Governance Board minutes: 28 April 2022

Attendees and apologies

Scottish Government

• Alan Morrison (Chair) (AM)
• Alison Bell (AB)
• Moira Parker (MP)
• Chris Bierley (CB)
• Elaine Allan (EA)
• Angus Graham (AG)
• Julie O’Donnell (JO)
• Emma Nycz (EN)
• Graeme Cook (GC)
• Ruth Paterson (RP)
• Elaine Ross (ER)
• Stuart Strachan (SS)
• Gavin McLellan (GM)

NHS NSS National Procurement

• Gordon Beattie (GB)
• Paul Hornby (PH)

Scotland Excel

• Julie Welsh (JW)

Scottish Enterprise

• Andy McLaughlin (AMc)

ECOG representative

• Dr Anna Lamont (AL)

Apologies

• Colin Urqhuart (CU)

Items and actions

Introductions to the meeting

Alan Morrison welcomed members to the meeting. 

Minutes from 31 March 2022 and actions outstanding

All actions from the meeting on 31 March 2022 were completed. Minutes of this meeting were approved by the Board.

PPE workstream update 

Paper 1 – workstream closedown reports

Alison Bell provided a brief outline of the workstream close down reports contained within paper 1, and requested that the Board accept the recommendation that all PPE Futures Programme workstreams should close, with remaining activities moving into business as usual (BAU) or forming part of the new Future Pandemic PPE Implementation Project.

Alison Bell also informed the Board that the Expert Clinical Oversight Group (ECOG), had been stood down. Anna Lamont commented that ECOG had been invaluable as a resource, and could reform in the future to deal with specific issues if required.

Gordon Beattie thanked Alison and the PPE Unit (PPEU), and welcomed the close down reports. The Board agreed to the recommendations within the paper.

Proposed future governance of implementation project

Paper 2 – proposed Future Governance of Pandemic PPE Implementation Project

 Alison Bell provided an overview of paper 2 and outlined the three points that required the approval of the Board:

• approval for the creation of an Implementation Project Board, chaired by Alan Morrison and with senior membership from SG Procurement and NHS National Procurement, to oversee the work of the Future Pandemic PPE implementation Project
• the creation of a Stakeholders Reference Group to inform the project work.
• that the existing connections to other groups such as the Primary and Social Care PPE steering groups should be maintained, with nominated contacts from each relevant group invited to join the Stakeholder Reference Group.

Alison Bell took questions from the Board and noted that it was envisaged that the project would engage with participant organisations from a very early point in the implementation process. The Board approved the proposed future governance arrangements outlined in paper 2.

Future PPE supply implementation project;

•  paper 3 – Project Brief
•  paper 4 – Project Overview
•  paper 5 – Risk Register
•  paper 6 – Benefits Realisation
•  paper 7 – Scoping Paper
•  paper 8 – Stakeholder Engagement Strategy
•  paper 9 – Guidance – Scope of Work Paper

Emma Nycz gave a brief overview of the foundational papers for the Pandemic PPE Implementation Project and noted that while there was a lot of documentation to present for the Board’s approval, it contained all the fundamentals of the how the project would operate going forwards, including a timeline, objectives, deliverables, risks, benefits and a detailed scope of work.

The group discussed the need to maintain connections with four nations work.

The Board approved the proposed work set out within the foundational papers.

AOB

Alison Bell updated the Board on upcoming changes in PPEU staffing. The Board thanked colleagues moving to new areas for all their hard work and wished them well in their new roles.

Alan Morrison concluded the meeting by announcing that the PPE Strategy and Governance Board had completed its work and was now stood down. He warmly thanked all members for their hard work since late spring 2020 to overcome the challenges that the system had faced, and build an improved future system.