 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Health Service Forum South East
Minutes of a regular meeting of the Health Service Forum S.E held in the Larkfield Centre on Tuesday
13 December at 7.30 p.m.
Contents
Welcome
Welcome: Margaret Hinds welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Apologies
Apologies: Fiona Brodie, Elizabeth Bashir, Eric Canning, Alastair Glen, Alva Caldwell, Alastair Mitchell, Aileen Fyfe, Irene Addie
Minutes
Minutes of 8 November 2005 were adopted as correct.
Correspondence
Correspondence: OUT
1) Reminder letter to Robert Booth of City Council Land Services re proposed parking in and around the new and enlarged SGH.
2) Letter to Robert Calderwood re outpatient facilities at the SGH
3) Letter to Parliamentary Health Committee re lack of jobs for graduate physiotherapists.
4) No reply to letter to Health Minister re NHS24
IN
1)
Reply from R. Calderwood to advise that there will be outpatient clinics at the SGH. All day surgery for the south will take place at the Victoria ACAD.
2) Report from Glasgow Urban Design Panel on the design of the Victoria ACAD. This group believe that the ACAD is ‘mainly emergency related’. The Forum cannot understand how they can have been given this impression! The conclusion to their report is ‘that there was insufficient information presented at this stage to make a valued comment and recommended that a second follow up presentation take place at a later date.’
3) E-mail from Jackie Burman of Citizens Advice Scotland to advise that they are still awaiting confirmation from the Scottish Executive that the CAS framework for dealing with NHS complaints is acceptable.
Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer’s Report; The amount in the bank as at 13 December is £1831.68
It was agreed to support the Larkfield Children’s Christmas party as in previous years.
Fare4All Conference
Fare4All Conference; Hampden, 21 Nov attended by Prof Douglas McGregor and Louise Laing
This day-long conference concentrated almost exclusively on the use of bus services. There was little or nothing on trains and absolutely nothing about cars. There was nothing on journeys requiring more than a single stage. Under the chairmanship of Paul Martin MSP, a panel of influential speakers answered questions from the floor. The panel consisted of Tavish Scott MSP Transport minister, Joan Aitken Traffic Commissioner (Scotland), Alastair Watson Chair of SPT, Gavin Booth of Bus Users UK, Anna Whitty of Ealing Community Transport, and Eric Stewart Director of First Bus. No doubt minutes will be circulated in due course.
South Monitoring Group
South Monitoring Group Meeting 2 December; It was announced that there will be 14 overnight stay beds at the Victoria ACAD to serve day surgery patients requiring further care following their operation. These beds will be deducted from the total number provided for rehabilitation patients. Both Margaret Hinds and James Sandeman feel that the Group has not yet become involved in monitoring.
Prof Douglas McGregor also stated, that as a member of the Transport Committee, he felt little had been achieved by the group.
Scottish Health Network
Scottish Health Network Meeting 10 December; The Chair, Robert Cumming, is perturbed about the possibility of out sourcing of laboratory services by the NHS. Local facilities provide immediate results and there is follow up by lab staff.
NHS24
NHS24; By the end of November 2005 it was planned that five satellite centres will be operational in five NHS Board Areas. – Ayrshire & Arran, Highland, Lanarkshire, Tayside and Dumfries and Galloway. These centres will increase capacity during the out-of hours periods. Calls will still be answered by one of the main NHS24 centres then during peak times some calls, where appropriate, will be transferred to satellite centres for a clinical assessment.
Complaints about the NHS
Complaints about the NHS; On the 8 Dec 2005 Andy Kerr stated "Scotland's NHS received 7,982 written complaints (excluding special boards) last financial year out of a total of roughly 40 million patient contacts- a reduction of 3.2% since year.
"Earlier this year we introduced a new patient-friendly complaints system that is faster and is monitored independently by the Scottish Health Council.
Our comment; the Scottish Health Council was set up by the Scottish Executive to ensure that the views of patients and the public are properly taken into account by Health Boards i.e. the Council will monitor how the complaints are dealt with by Health Boards, but it does not assist the public in the complaint process. The advisory capacity of the former Health Councils has not been replaced. Could this be a contributory factor to the downturn in complaints received by the Scottish NHS?
A&E at North Lanarkshire
A&E at North Lanarkshire; It has been publicised in the press that a NHS Public Consultation will begin in January ’06. The preferred option is retention of A&E at Hairmyres and Wishaw Hospitals but not at Monklands Hospital. A nurse led Minor Injury Unit will be provided at Monklands.
Report on the NHSGG Board
Report on the NHSGG Board meeting 20 December 2005; a) MSPs met with Tom Divers on the 12 Dec to discuss the paper on Bed Modelling. b) Commenting on the Financial Report Mr Griffin advised that he forecast that the Board would break even for the current year. c) Robert Calderwood spoke about waiting times. As at 9 Dec 2005, 88 inpatients and 746 outpatients have been waiting over 26 weeks. All have been contacted and offered appointments. d) Dr Ahmed informed the Board that the number of AIDS cases had risen for the 4th year running. As last year, heterosexuals have the highest number of cases of any group (contracted outwith the UK).
Our comment- A paper on NHSGG Governance Arrangements and the paper on Waiting Times were made available on the morning of the meeting. How can Board members take time to scrutinise and debate proposals at such short notice?
The Secretary has received written confirmation from Glasgow City Council that the ‘NHSGG has agreed to purchase a section of the QPR site in two equal instalments of approx £7million each. The first instalment has been paid and the NHSGG has been given permission to undertake exploratory test drilling. The second instalment will be paid immediately after the start of the next financial year in April 2006.’
It has been widely reported in the News that patients in England will be given a choice as to which hospital they can attend. Our choice for the patients in the S.E. of Glasgow would be a NEW VICTORIA INFIRMARY with all the excellence of the existing hospital and extended services of the proposed ACAD in a brand new building.
The traditional Christmas party was enjoyed by all, and we must thank Dorothy and Sandy Walls for their contribution to a most successful evening.
A peaceful and healthy new year to you all
DATE OF NEXT MEETING 10 January 2006 at 7.30 p.m.