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Health Service Forum South East
Minutes of a regular meeting of the Health Service Forum SE held on 8 December 2009 in the Larkfield Centre
Contents
Welcome
Margaret Hinds, chair of the Health Forum, welcomed Gloria McLaughlin , Chief Executive Officer of Scottish Care at Home. This organisation was established in January 2006 as a national representative organisation for the independent Care at Home and Housing Support Sector when a few providers’ met to discuss the formation of one dedicated organisation to represent their interests. They now have 91 members mostly from the private sector and the non-profit making charitable organisations (referred to as the voluntary sector)
There is a growing need for increased care within people’s own homes. The independent sector accounts for approximately 30% of the overall Care at Home Services. Although this figure continues to increase year on year, the in-house provision of local authorities still dominates provision. Many independent providers are only offered ‘spot’ contracts and often for the more unsocial elements of a care service at unsustainable fixed low rates.
An increasing number of council areas have now compounded service delivery issues with the tendering of contracts. This has exposed existing services to competition with no regard to the quality of the current service provided or the wishes of service users. This commodity style approach to the purchasing of services has created anxiety and uncertainty for service users with significant management costs for councils and providers. SCAH has brought these concerns to the attention of the Scottish Government.
At present it costs on average £2000 per week to look after a patient in hospital: a great deal more than the cost of care at home. With the expected increase in the proportion of elderly over the next 25 years plans have to be made to either to increase the number of hospital beds, build more and more old people’s homes or increase the provision of care at home. At present the plans are to care for people in their own homes as long as possible. Once an older person goes into care he/she loses the ability to cope on their own. The buzz word is re-ablement of the elderly so that they can live more independently. To adequately provide this service more carers are required, better training, better supervision, more time allowed for each house visit.
Douglas McGregor commented that telemedicine is being expanded and most likely within 25 years the computer will be standard household item. This can be used as an additional tool for helping the elderly.
Margaret Hinds thanked Gloria for coming and for her clear, concise presentation. We were pleased to hear that her organisation is increasing in credibility and hopefully will influence the future care of the elderly. She accepted our invitation to come back to speak to us again some time next year.
Apologies
Apologies were received from Alasdair Glen, Dorothy Walls, David Smith, Irene Addie, Ruth Elworthy, Pat Lally.
Minutes
The minutes of the 10 November 2009 had been circulated to members and adoption was proposed by Dan MacPhail seconded by Janette Butler.
Correspondence
A letter was sent to Shona Robison, Minister for Public Health, following an article in the Herald claiming that the Scottish Government has no policy on Care for the Elderly. We pointed out that we knew of the Joint Improvement Team and the eight committees set up to investigate various aspects of care. We were therefore very disappointed that the Government spokesperson agreed that there is no strategy and no mention was made of the ongoing work being carried out by JIT. As yet there has been no reply.
Alastair Watson ,Chairman of Strathclyde Passenger Transport, has agreed to attend our February meeting.
Treasurer’s Report
Mary Hamilton reported that the balance in the bank at the 10 November was £2467.09.
Renal Dialysis
The renal dialysis unit on level 2 of the Victoria Ambulatory Care Hospital (ACH) opened on the 22 November 2009 and will be open 24 hours a day Monday to Sunday. For the first time patients from S.E Glasgow, Rutherglen and Cambuslang will be able to get this service locally. It has been reported to us that a patient attended the
As yet the Dialysis unit at Stobhill is not operational according to the Health Board web site. We understood that the opening of the two units was delayed because of a problem with the filters for the new equipment.
There was a hiccup with the handling of blood samples taken from dialysis patients. These were sent by nursing staff to the laboratory of the hospital that the patient had attended previously instead of sending the samples to the Victoria Infirmary laboratory for analysis. Twenty four hours later the samples were returned to the Victoria Inf still to be tested!
Signage at the Victoria ACH
The signage at the new Victoria ACH is still causing considerable frustration. It is not easy for a first time user to find the X-Ray dept unless you know to look for Imaging. Finding the entrance to the ACH from the underground Car Park requires perseverance as it is not obvious. Many elderly patients are complaining about the weight of the doors that they have to push or pull on their way to an appointment. Someone pointed out that it was difficult to find your way around the Victoria Inf. True, but surely the new building was a superb opportunity to make it easy for the public to use?
Enjoy a peaceful Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year
Next Meeting
Tuesday 12 January 2010 at 7.30 pm.
Speaker: David Robertson of The Scottish Ambulance Service