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Health Service Forum South East
Minutes of the AGM of the Health Service Forum S.E. held in the Larkfield Centre on Tuesday 11 January 2005 at 7.30 p.m.
Contents
Minutes of the regular meeting of the Health Service Forum held on the 13 April 2004 at 8.20 p.m.
Welcome
Margaret Hinds welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Apologies
Apologies were received from Bill and Ena Montgomery, Evelyn Hope.
Minutes
The Minutes of the AGM of the 8 April 2003 were read and adopted as correct.
Election of Office Bearers
Election of Officers: Margaret Hinds stood down as chair and Pat Lally called for nominations for chairperson. The sole nominee Margaret Hinds was duly elected. The remaining officers were re-elected to serve a further year.
These are: Vice Chairman Eric Canning, Secretary Louise Laing, Treasurer Aileen Fyfe. Pat Lally and Douglas McGregor are willing to continue as President and Vice President respectively. The post of Minute Secretary continues to be filled by Mary Hamilton and Fran MacLennan has kindly agreed to serve as Membership Secretary.
As in previous years other members of the Forum are willing to serve on committees as required.
The Treasurer distributed copies of the audited final accounts for the year 2003-04. The Income and Expenditure account showed a shortfall of £117.12. Pat Lally suggested that the ‘other operating income’ of £564.46 should be identified as payments made by Forum members towards the Christmas dinner of £540.40.
The balance in the bank at present is £1349.00. It was agreed that the outstanding loan of £500 should be repaid.
It was decided that the membership dues should remain at the same level. A renewal notice will be sent out with the minutes together with a covering letter.
The Report from the chair covered a very busy year. Many people have contributed their time and expertise to the work of the Forum and were thanked individually by the Chair. A hearty vote of thanks was proposed from the floor to Margaret Hinds for her perseverance, enthusiasm and hard work. We are indebted to her.
There was no other competent business and the AGM was closed.
Minutes of the regular meeting of the Health Service Forum held on the 13 April 2004 at 8.20 p.m.
The minutes of the meeting of the 9 March were approved and adopted as correct. There were no matters arising.
Correspondence
1. A reminder letter was sent to Calum Kerr of the Scottish Ambulance Service regarding the employment of a paramedic in every ambulance. The Herald featured an article on the 13 April 2004 on the Scottish Ambulance Service plans in response to the closure of community hospitals and the overhaul of GP services. It is expected that these two factors will leave the paramedics to mop up more patients outside office hours. Advance Care Teams will be trained to shuttle patients to hospital after the paramedic has stabilised them. This will allow the paramedics to stay in the community to deal with the next casualty.
2. A response was received to our letter sent to Tom Divers, Chief Executive GGNHS Board, regarding ‘Emergency admissions to hospitals in Glasgow’ and the dilemma of patients waiting on trolleys for a bed to become available. Mr Divers advised that trolley waits over 8 hours are monitored and reported. ‘The South Trust are aware of the increase in emergency admissions’ above the expected winter peak. Steps are being taken on a temporary basis to deal with this. ‘Further work is being undertaken by speciality groups to propose solutions for the medium term position.’
3. A response to the consultation paper on Developing Community Health Partnerships (CHPs) was prepared and forwarded to the Health Board by Fiona Brodie.
4. A reply was received from Sir John Arbuthnott to our concerns over the number of empty beds in Mearnskirk House. We had asked if this indicated the acceleration of the closure of Mearnskirk. Sir John replied that there is 89% occupancy of beds at Mearnskirk - no change over the last three years. ‘The public consultation document NHS Glasgow/Glasgow City Council Older People’s Strategic Framework included a commitment to review the “balance of care” i.e. the mix of home, nursing home, residential care and continuing care services in the city and this work will be the subject of further public consultation. This consultation will then inform the future planning on the range of care provision required across Greater Glasgow.’ The Forum has sent a copy of Sir John’s letter to Councillor Owen Taylor of East Renfrewshire Council and asked him to comment on the Council’s policy on care of the elderly.
5. A further letter was sent to Sir John asking for the Blue Book Data on occupancy figures for hospitals equivalent to Mearnskirk House.
6. Dr Matthew Dunnigan drew the Forum’s attention to the Dept of Health (England & Wales) document entitled Keeping the NHS Local which was issued in February 2003. It was decided to ask the Convenor of the Health Committee in the Scottish Parliament whether the committee was considering such a policy for Scotland.
7. Dr Brian Cowan wrote to us in response to our enquiry re children being taken to adult A&E units instead of being directed to the specialist Yorkhill Unit. We had written to him on this subject in January 2002 and were informed ‘over the next few years the A&E services at Yorkhill will develop further and there will be a gradual increase in the proportion of children attending A&E who are treated at Yorkhill.’ The response received on the 26 March 2004 states ‘At the moment the Royal Hospital for Sick Children is not in a position to take all children mostly due to space requirements. There is a plan to complete expansion work at Yorkhill and once this has been done self referrals will be directed there.’
8.
The Pan Scotland Group received a reply from the First Minister turning down the request for a meeting to discuss the various issues which groups have with Health Boards across Scotland
Other Business
A.O.C.B The April issue of the Greater Glasgow Health Council magazine, Health Matters, carried an advertisement for members of the Local Health Council as a representative of consumer’s views. An application pack can be obtained from Health Council Appointments, GGNHSB, Freepost (GW707) Glasgow G3 8BR, tel: 201 4435 Closing date 30th April 2004.
The magazine also features an article on Community Health Partnerships. ‘CHPs should work closer with your local authority and hospitals. They will aim to break down some of the barriers that exist between community health, social care and specialist health services. They will also help to make sure that community health services are linked to other local services like housing and education. CHPs will have a role in health promotion. In addition there will be a requirement on CHPs to have Public Partnership Forums that will encourage individuals and community groups to get involved in planning local health services.’
There was no other business and the meeting closed at 9.30 p.m.
Next Meeting
The date of the next meeting is Tuesday 11th May 2004 at 7.30 p.m.
PLEASE REMEMBER YOUR SUBSCRIPTION IS DUE NOW.
