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HEALTH SERVICE FORUM
Minutes and report of a regular meeting of the Health Service Forum held in the Larkfield Centre on Tuesday 14th January 2003 at 7.15 p.m.
Matters arising from correspondence
Chairman's report; January 21st Meeting of GGNHS Board
Calum Kerr: Talk on behalf of Scottish Ambulance Service
Welcome from the chair, Margaret Hinds and apologies from, Dr Alastair Glen , Margaret Mitchell, Mary Hamilton, Bill and Ena Montgomery.
The minutes of the 10th December meeting having been circulated were approved.
1.A letter was received from Gordon Jackson in connection with the W.H.Malcolm proposal to develop a waste recycling plant at Linthouse. The latest news is that the application for planning permission has been withdrawn at present.
2.On the 15th December a letter was received in reply to our October letter to Audit Scotland. We had asked Audit Scotland for a) the terms of reference of their appointment b) if we could meet with them to discuss the failures of the GGNHS Board. The reply was that the Auditor General appoints the auditors to each Health Board. Price Waterhouse Coopers have been appointed and will report on the governance of the Acute Services Review. The reports from the appointed auditors will be sent to the Auditor General who will decide whether or not to bring any matters to the attention of the Parliament. The external auditors were appointed before the 12th September statement made by Malcolm Chisholm in Parliament under the usual terms of reference.
If we believe that we have evidence which would be useful to the consideration of the quality of the processes undertaken by the Board, this information will be passed on to the appointed auditor who will carry out the work. It is our intention to raise various issues with Audit Scotland and this will be reported at the next meeting.
1.The Forum sent a letter of congratulations to Dorothy-Grace Elder for the part she has played in opposing the incinerator at Carntyne,
2.A letter was sent to Professor Arbuthnott, Chair of the GGNHS Board regarding their Transport Survey enclosing an evaluation of the Survey This was commissioned by the Forum from Allan Drewette and highlighted several flaws in the findings of the authors, Faber Maunsell.
Matters arising from correspondence
In order to put forward a well, argued case to Audit Scotland Dr Mathew Dunnigan has agreed to produce a paper on the current position of the bed provision in Glasgow. Pat Lally will provide the minutes of a meeting between representatives of Glasgow City Council and Chris Spry and Robert Calderwood. at which the availability of QPR site was discussed
It is essential that we continue a dialogue with the MSPs. Labour and Lib-Dem MSPs have arranged a meeting with the Forum Committee for the 21st January. We still await a suitable date from the opposition parties.
The balance in the bank is £1582.71
A letter of thanks was received from the Larkfield Centre for the donation of £30 towards the Children’s parties at Christmas.
The Trust Board Minutes of December stated that the total bed compliment at the S.G.H will be 1954 beds including 222 beds at Langlands Unit
Eric Canning reported that at a recent meeting of the Friends of the Victoria Dr Cowan , the Medical Director of the Board agreed with him that the siting of the ACAD on the QPR site is not good and that he will have to ask the Architects to have a look at this aspect.
A Car Sticker was proposed by a committee member and discussed. The idea is to distribute these to all members and Community Councils in order to publicise the hospital issue in the run up to the May election. Further work needs to be done on the wording and estimates obtained for printing.
Chairman's report; January 21st Meeting of GGNHS Board
- Agnes Samuel has been appointed to the Trust management team in South Glasgow. Professor Dickson and Dr Fiona Marshall retire from the Board at the end of February, having served 4 years.
- Chief Executive's Update. The Business case (ACADs) has gone to Edinburgh and will be considered at the end of this week. Mr Divers hopes to have a response in approx 10 days time. He is continuing to correspond with the Deputy Health Minister in relation to the Monitoring Group which has to be set up as a result of the debate in Parliament in relation to their remit and composition. There will be two groups, one in the North and one in the South, to look at continuity of Core services respectively. It is hoped that Chairs will be appointed shortly. He apologised for not having proposals available in relation to the Board's organised strategy for dealing with Waiting Times. Two members of staff had been absent. He hopes to be able to provide fuller information by next month's meeting.
- Waiting Times. Almost on target for December "but a lot of hard running to reach target figures for March 2003". Mr Hamilton, Convenor of the Health Council reminded members that at last month's meeting he highlighted the need for more details when presenting figures for Waiting Times. Patients are concerned about waiting times across the spectrum, not just those within the national priorities. What about patients without guarantee?
- Membership of the Health council. Their future is under review. New arrangements will be in place from April 2004.
Board Minutes
The Health Minister has asked for further information in connection with the public transport implications of these reconfigurations. Mr Divers advised that this work was underway. A seminar would be held with the Health Council to discuss the public transport in relation to the Acute Services Strategy
ACADs and the redevelopment of the Beatson would be procured by PPP.
As at November 2002; 853 patients were waiting over 9 months. it was anticipated that Trusts were on target to meet the March 2003 target.
IMPLEMENTING BEST PRACTICE IN CONSULTATION AND PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT; PROPOSED ACTION PLAN.
Establishment of a management committee for the public involvement network.
Establishment of a database of people, involvement activity and expertise to underpin the network.
Development of an over-arching NHS Greater Glasgow public involvement strategy.
DECISION That the proposed action plan on implementing best practice in consultation and public involvement be approved.
WAITING TIMES The South Trust has secured further elective capacity via an arrangement with BUPA to utilise available capacity in other locations. This is at an advanced stage and patients involved have agreed to travel.
WINTER PLAN 2002/03
Catriona Renfrew advised that many issues have arisen out of the review so far. It is paramount to look systematically at Trusts resources when reviewing emergency admissions. Alternative methods of care which might AVOID (our capitals) the use of inpatients beds should be considered. In parallel with this there has to be a change in the balance of the workforce to create a complementary balance of inpatient/outpatient capacity. To this end, work was ongoing to identify cases where an SHO could undertake to arrange an early outpatient appointment if a patient's GP felt this was an adequate alternative to admission. (Our comment; Does this mean that the patient must be in a critical state before being given an inpatient bed? We are well aware of the chronic bed shortages across Glasgow Patients who should be in hospital receiving care cannot have this care because there are no inpatient beds, hence the waiting lists!!)
End of Board Report
A public meeting has been organised for Tuesday 25th February in Battlefield East Church Hall Battlefield Road, Langside starting at 7.30 p.m. This is first of a series of meetings planned to take place between now and the Scottish Parliament election in May 2003.
Calum Kerr: Talk on behalf of Scottish Ambulance Service
The date of the next regular meeting is on Tuesday 11th February at 7.30 p.m. in the Larkfield Centre Inglefield Street. Our Guest Speaker will be Calum Kerr of the Scottish Ambulance Service.