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Health Service Forum South East
Minutes of a regular meeting of the Health Service Forum S.E held in the Larkfield Centre on Tuesday
11 April 2006 at 7.30 p.m.
Contents
Review of NHS prescription charges
Board meeting of NHS Greater Glasgow Clyde
Welcome
Margaret Hinds welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Apologies
Elizabeth Bashir, Alastair Glen, Aileen Fyfe, Fiona Brodie, Eric Canning and Rhoda Ritchie
WARNING!
The consultation by North Lanarkshire Health Board on the closure of one of their three A&E departments is ongoing. It is most likely that the A&E at Monklands will be axed. This clearly places greater pressure on the two remaining A&Es one of which, Hairmyres. Without doubt a serious problem will be created for patients of SE Glasgow who already use Hairmyres as their nearest A&E.
When the Victoria A&E closes, patients will have two hospitals to choose from in the Greater Glasgow & Clyde Board area, the SGH and the Royal.
Tim Davison of the North Lanarkshire Board wants patients to stay in their own health board area. He also wants the Scottish Ambulance Service to take patients to the nearest hospital within their local health board area as opposed to the nearest hospital. If Mr Davison gets his way SE Glasgow patients will be excluded from North Lanarkshire hospitals.
We will write to the Ambulance Service for clarification of this matter. We have always understood that the ambulance service takes patients to the nearest hospital, where there is an available bed.
Transport Report
What has happened to the committee? Where has it gone? Does any one know?
We are very concerned that Prof McGregor has still not received a reply to his letter querying the lack of meetings of the transport committee which had not met since November 2005. Transport has always been of primary importance to patients, therefore to set up a committee to attempt to resolve this issue and let it disappear seems quite inexcusable. It was resolved to write about this matter to Sir John Arbuthnott , the chair of GG and Clyde Health Board.
Mount Florida station is important to all those who can commute to the Victoria by rail and will become even more important when the ACAD opens and has an annual expectation of 400,000 patient episodes. A big problem at the station is the difficult access for the elderly, disabled and mums with push-chairs. There is no sign of this matter being addressed.
Jonathan Best was absent from the Board meeting of the 18 April. He last attended a meeting in November 2005. Could this explain why nothing is happening with regard the Transport Committee?
Minutes
Minutes of 14 March 2006 were adopted as correct.
Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer’s Report; the current amount in the bank is £1659.40. We are pleased to report that East Renfrewshire Council has awarded the Forum £250 to meet our running costs.
Members of the Scottish Health Campaigns Network are meeting with Andy Kerr, the Health Minister, on the 3 May.
Correspondence;
Letter to Professor Murray re number of foreign applicants for GP training. Reply ‘of the 1700 applicants 380 number were selected for an interview. Of that total 143 are from the EEA and 237 overseas medical graduates.’
Letter to the Scottish Health Minister asking
a) how many trainee posts will be funded this year and in the following five years?
b) Is there a plan to increase the number of GPs in training?
c) Can a method be devised to ensure newly trained GPs continue to work in Scotland?
Reply from the Workforce Planning and Development Division of the Scottish Executive;
In August 2005 the National Workforce Planning Framework was published to introduce a new annual workforce planning cycle for NHS Scotland. The training posts for 2006/07 are being maintained at 280 –places. The requirement for 2007-08 is under consideration and will be published in a national workforce plan in December.
Newly qualified GPs in Scotland starting out in their first eligible post are each given a golden hello payment of £5000 provided they satisfy a time commitment of at least 50%. Part time appointments with less
than 50% commitment qualify for a payment of £3000. A supplementary golden hello payment of £5000 is paid to GPs taking up post in remote and rural practices. GPs taking up a substantive post in one of Scotland’s most deprived areas receive on average a supplementary £5000.
Sick Children’s Hospital
The public consultation on the siting of the Sick Children’s Hospital on the SGH campus is underway and comments on the document should be made by June.
Review of NHS prescription charges
Review of NHS prescription charges and exemption arrangements in Scotland; The Scottish Health Campaigns Network has written to the Scottish Executive on this topic which has been highlighted in the Herald as well. The Forum supports the Network especially the statement.” The term free prescriptions is frequently used. This is a misnomer since every service provided by the NHS is provided by taxation, either directly by Income tax or National Insurance, VAT or indirectly. The NHS was founded on the principle that treatment should be free at the point of need, irrespective of income. This has been eroded piecemeal by varying political factions.”
Board meeting of NHS Greater Glasgow Clyde
Report on the Board meeting of NHS Greater Glasgow Clyde held 18 April 2006.
Approval was given for the scheme of establishment of the CHP for Renfrewshire to be submitted to the Scottish Executive. This will not be fully integrated with Social Work Department.
Waiting Times; Mr Calderwood reported significant progress towards national targets. We noted however a 14% increase in inpatients and 6% increase in outpatients in the South for the month of March. This is at variance with the North. There are a significant number of patients who do not appear for operations. The Board is looking at ways of improving this situation including discussing with NHS24 to see if there is some way in which they can offer support.
Please make a note in your diary that Susan Watt of the Royal College of Nursing will speak to the Forum at our meeting on Tuesday the 9 May. At 7.30 p.m.