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Minutes and report of a regular meeting of the Health Service Forum held in the Larkfield Centre on Tuesday 11th February 2003 at 7.30 p.m.
Contents
Meeting with Labour and Lib-Dem MSPs on 21st January
Public Meeting of the 25th February in Battlefield East Church
Welcome
Welcome from the chair, Margaret Hinds and introduction of guest speaker Calum Kerr Manager of Glasgow Branch of the Ambulance Service
Guest Speaker
Margaret Hinds asked Mr Kerr how the Ambulance Service is coping with the present pressures on them. Mr Kerr advised that Glasgow is the busiest and most productive of all the ambulance services in the U.K. In Scotland , priority based dispatch has been introduced. As at December 2002 all 999 calls are graded A,B or C. A is life threatening, B is serious and C non life threatening. This has been made possible by the introduction of new computer software. There are 6 rapid response single crewed vehicles in Glasgow each with a paramedic.
The Ambulance Services will require an increase in resources to cope with the GGNHS Board’s strategy for Acute Hospitals - either double crewed or rapid response paramedics. Deployment strategy of ambulances will have to change when there are only two A&E departments. Data in the command/control can predict where the next call will come from. Computor software will deploy the ambulances automatically. By the year 2005 it is planned to have a paramedic in every ambulance.
Questions were opened up to the floor.
Q. There are going to be 1954 beds at the Southern General Hospital requiring 6000 staff. Patients from the North side of the river will have to use the Clyde tunnel for access . How will the ambulance service deal with this volume of road traffic?
A. These issues will be factored into the computer software.
Q. Are you happy about having only 2 A&E sites?
A. Yes quite comfortable. The Royal now has a new A&E dept which is readily accessible.
Q. Patients from Castlemilk , will they be taken to the Royal Inf?
A. Patients are taken as an emergency to the nearest receiving A&E Unit. In this case Hairmyres.
Q. If the ambulance carries a patient with MRSA virus are there special cleaning precautions taken?
A. In the event of spillage of body fluids or if there is an open infected wound, the ambulance will be off the road for two hours while the vehicle is disinfected.
Q. What is the average response time for an ambulance?
A. 9.5 minutes
Q. Does the Ambulance service have joint control rooms with the other emergency services?
A. The ambulance service has 8 control rooms at present. By 2004 there will be 3 control rooms- Paisley to serve the West of Scotland, Edinburgh to serve the East and Inverness to serve the North..
Q. If you centralise Control rooms how do you identify the position of the emergency incident?
A. Each vehicle has an automatic location system. The position of the incident is shown on an ordinance survey map.
Q. What is the Ambulance services policy towards emergencies involving a child?
A. Children under 12 years of age would be taken to Yorkhill Hospital unless very ill when they would go to the nearest A&E to stabilise before transferring to Yorkhill.
Q. Service time is going to increase overall because of the reduction in the number of A&Es. How are you going to cope?
A. More ambulances and crews are going to be required. This has been raised with GGNHS Board.
Margaret Hinds thanked Mr Kerr for his talk and for answering questions so candidly.
Minutes
The minutes of the 14th January meeting having been circulated were approved after amendment of the word ‘new’ before beds in the phrase the use of inpatient beds should be considered.
Unfortunately there are no new beds on offer.
Meeting with Labour and Lib-Dem MSPs on 21st January
Ken Macintosh (chair) Janis Hughes, Mike Watson Gordon Jackson and Robert Brown attended. Ken Macintosh stated that he felt that the wrong decision had been taken on the Acute Hospital Strategy but that there was no hope of the decision being changed. He suggested that we should try and make what we can of this. His fellow MSPs agreed. The Committee members decided not to respond immediately. At the Forum Committee meeting it was resolved not to accept the status quo and to continue to press for an acute hospital with A&E facility at the QPR site to serve the south of Greater Glasgow.
Health Seminar
A Health Seminar was held in Rutherglen under the chairmanship of Janis Hughes and addressed by several speakers including Tom Divers and Dr Brian Cowan of the GGNHS Board. We were invited to send a representative but were unable to do so. We also had some reservations on the proposed meeting as the invitation did not include an agenda or name the speakers.
One of our Rutherglen members attended. Her impression was that it was really a platform for GGNHS Board. Speakers were Tom Divers, Chief Executive, Brian Cowan, Medical Director of the SGH Trust, Calum Kerr, Ambulance Service Tim Parks, Consultant Anaethetist, Graham Gillies, speaking on Day Surgery and Eric Gardiner on Orthopaedic Surgery
Treasurer's Report
The balance in the bank is £1560.59
Forum Website
The Health Forum web site has been redesigned by Aileen Fyfe’s son and the address circulated to members for comment. All agreed that it is very effective and easy to access.
Car Stickers
James Sandeman produced various options for wording to use on a car sticker to advertise the closure of the Victoria. Samples were taken by members.
Public Meeting of the 25th February in Battlefield East Church
Margaret Hinds will chair the meeting with speakers Dr Mathew Dunnigan, Eric Canning and Pat Lally answering questions on the Acute Strategy and our alternative solution. A4 Posters advertising the event were taken by members to distribute around their local areas. Libraries throughout the south of Greater Glasgow have been provided with leaflets advertising the event.
Our thanks to the members of the Forum who worked so hard in distributing the leaflets, the affiliated Community councils and most of all the Scout Group who worked with great enthusiasm.
Public Meeting Update
Update on the Battlefield public meeting of the 25th February. It was excellent! There was standing room only. Pat Lally answered on Transport, Dr. Mathew Dunnigan answered on bed shortages in Greater Glasgow on which he is a renowned expert. Eric Canning answered on the problems of the size of the SGH now 1954 beds This will make it the largest hospital in the UK. He also showed clearly how easily a 750 bed hospital can be built on the Queens Park Recreation site. In attendence were Mike Watson MSP, Bill Aitken MSP.
The audience were asked to endorse the vote of "NO CONFIDENCE" taken at the Forum's October Rally. The endorsement was overwhelming but to ensure that everyone was given full opportunity to express their view, a vote opposing the Vote of No confidence was taken. There was no one opposed to it.
Date of Next Meeting
Date of the next meeting is 11th March at 7.30 p.m. in the Larkfield Centre.