This meeting of the Joint Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee (Frimley Park Hospital) was scheduled to receive an update on the programme to build a new Frimley Park Hospital and to discuss how the committee will work with Healthwatch Surrey.

Frimley Park New Hospital Programme

The Committee was scheduled to receive a report on the progress being made on the programme to build a new Frimley Park Hospital. The report, which was provided to attendees in the Public reports pack, included a presentation on the background to the programme, and the process for choosing a site for the new hospital. It stated that the existing hospital building is made from reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) and that:

The Trust was constantly monitoring and proactively undertaking safety works... The Trust had the deadline of 2030, as set by the Department for Health and Social Care to stop using the affected parts of the current hospital site.

The report pack also included discussion of how the committee will involve local people in the process.

Patient and public involvement: Co-design plan

The committee was scheduled to consider how it would work with Healthwatch Surrey to design the process for involving the public in the new Frimley Park Hospital programme. Healthwatch Surrey is an independent organisation set up under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to collect the views of the public about health and social care in Surrey. This part of the meeting was accompanied by a report entitled Patient and public involvement: Co-design plan for the new Frimley Park Hospital programme which included details of the groups to be consulted. It stated that:

Key groups: The following groups have been identified as those that are most likely to face barriers to engaging with the new hospital programme using traditional methods. • Those who speak English as a second language • People who face language or literacy barriers • Those with learning disabilities • Those with additional communication requirements • Unpaid carers • Seldom heard communities • Parents and carers with young children • Young people • Those in deprived areas facing significant health inequalities The report proposes that an independent facilitator will be appointed to speak to those groups, and report back to the committee.