Minutes of the VSS Health and Wellbeing Committee (HWC)  – Extended Session

Thursday 16^th June 2025

MS Teams

HWB Committee Members Present:

Sandra Horley (SH)                        VSS Board Member and Committee Chair

Catriona MacArthur (CMacA)         VSS Board Member

VSS Officers in Attendance

Tara Lewsley (TL)                            VSS Head of Learning and Growth

Rosalyn Jones (RJ)                         VSS Human Resources Manager

Maria McKeown (MMK)                  VSS Service Development and Reporting Manager

Diksha Balodia (DB)                        VSS Business Support Officer (Minutes)

A      Apologies

Nicola Nugent (NN)                         VSS Head of Health and Wellbeing

Karen Morgan (KM)                         VSS Health and Wellbeing Case Manager

Deirdre Scullion (DS)                      VSS Health and Wellbeing Case Manager

Carol Carmichael (CC)                   VSS Community Partnership Managers

B       Minutes of Previous Meetings

The minutes of the previous HWB Committee meeting held on 22^nd May 2025 were agreed, pending amendments following comments from members (actioned).

C       Action Points

Updates provided on the outstanding action points, noting all have been completed, in workplans or are on track for completion.

D Review of needs-based service delivery – Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Reports (Jan – Mar 2025)

CMacA sought clarification regarding items in the M&E reports:

1. Reasons for grouping “persistent pain” and “social isolation” under social support.

TL advised social support sits under the VSP programme, persistent pain and social isolation under the Individual Needs framework. MMK spoke to the section within report on INP Framework Support.

2. Reasons for unplanned completion of talking therapies: why did 42% of clients who completed talking therapies show no improvement (HIA) in 2024/25?

MMK spoke to slide 7 and advised that 42% of individuals who completed therapy in this year didn’t show any improvement which is in line with historical trends and considered understandable given the nature of the historical trauma for individuals seeking therapy under HIA. MMK spoke to slide 11 which analysed the individuals who showed no improvement, citing the following:

An analysis of the 42% percent of individuals who completed Talking Therapy with no improvement:

• 94% percent showed no reliable improvement

• 6% showed a reliable deterioration

Of the 94% with no reliable improvement

• 53% did have a more positive post score but not enough to substantiate a reliable improvement,

• 3% stayed the same 

• 44% had a negative score but not a reliable deterioration.

Of the 6% with reliable deterioration - 100% had an unplanned ending of which:

• 50% was due to loss of contact

• 50% for other reasons not specified.

TL advised that further analysis will be conducted in 2025/26 to review the data and seek reasons for non-improvement in Talking Therapies.

3. Impact of clients seeking and receiving social support from VSS and simultaneously from other services, is there a duplication of provision?

TL advised that whilst this is possible, it is unlikely. If victims and survivors are engaged in social support activities across multiple suppliers, this will be in line with their individual needs. The reason it is unlikely is that the sector we support exists to provide a trusted space for victims and survivors to receive and engage in support.

4. Client journey graphic in the MBMLW report was noted as being very helpful.

Noted.

E       Employee Wellbeing

RJ presented results from the VSS Staff Survey.

SH queried if this was the first Employee Wellbeing survey done at VSS. TL responded that VSS have typically conducted staff surveys every one to two years, but this is a revised format and will be a benchmark for future staff surveys, having been aligned to the CIPD pillars of employee engagement needs.

The survey results were discussed.

SH noted that communication figures were in line with expected trends seen across all organisations and queried the organisational learnings for VSS. CMacA further queried why only 55% employees had reported receiving constructive feedback when all employees undergo the appraisal process.

TL advised that the organisational culture had always been to have regular one-to-one meetings between staff and their managers and that 55% was below expectation.

SH queried if notes were maintained for all such meetings, to which TL advised the feedback process was centred around the needs of the individual and the team, therefore bespoke to each individual.

SH noted there may be a need for formalisation of the one-to-one review process to ensure fair and transparent performance management processes. TL advised that VSS had formal processes in place for performance improvement and management for employees who required additional support to improve performance.

SH suggested that a quarterly formalised employee feedback meeting could be embedded to ensure all employees were receiving constructive feedback periodically. TL advised that the new DP meeting format incorporates the opportunity to exchange information and knowledge at the DP level.

CMacA advised that the communication statistics reported in the survey may be a result of multiple underlying factors beyond organisational control, such as people not actively engaging with the available communications and platforms. SH noted that with the new communications manager in post this would hopefully improve over time.

CMacA commended the good results from the staff survey and appreciated the work done by the HR team to engage staff through discussion and feedback.

F        AOB

Date of next meeting

The next meeting is scheduled for 11 September 2025.