Health  Service  Forum  South  East

Minutes of a regular meeting of the Health Service Forum SE held on 9 June 2009 in the Larkfield Centre

Contents

Welcome

Apologies

Correspondence

Into the Spotlight

South Monitoring Group

Letter from GG&C Health Board

Welcome

Pat Lally welcomed everyone to the meeting

Apologies

Apologies were received from Margaret Hinds, Douglas McGregor, Alastair Glen, Dorothy Walls, Eric Canning.

Alva Caldwell proposed the adoption of the minutes of the 10 March 2009 and this was seconded by Mary McClelland. There were no matters arising.

Correspondence

1.      David Robertson of the Scottish Ambulance Service could not attend this  meeting.  He has made no attempt to offer an alternative date.

2.      A letter was sent on the 4 May to Richard Copland, Director of IT at GG&C Health Board. We asked if

1. the software programme for the new computer system in the ACH will allow doctors to utilise data from a large number of patients with similar illnesses to provide them with guidance?
2. Will each patient have access to his/her own electronic records? This would be especially useful for those with chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart problems. These patients know a great deal about their disease. NO REPLY

3        On the 28 April 2009 we wrote to Nicola Sturgeon re Care in the Community following the Panorama programme. We expressed our concerns and suggested that there should be obligatory training of care workers and improved supervision of the work force.

4        8 May 2009 we wrote to Shona Robison, Minister for Public Health, re Care in the Community, making reference to the April 2008 Scottish Care at Home Survey and asking how the information gathered is being used to devise a better trained and supervised workforce.

5        We received a reply on behalf of the Scottish Government from Victoria Prest. And quote as follows;

‘Regarding the training given to care at home staff, all social service employers and workers are required to adhere to the Codes of Practice issued by the Scottish Social Services Council, the regulator of social service workers in Scotland.  The Code is clear on the need for employers to ensure staff have the necessary skills and knowledge to carry out their roles, and for staff to ensure they keep their knowledge and skills up to date.  Adherence to the Codes will be taken into account during inspection visits by the Care Commission and Social Work Inspection Agency.

Ministers have just announced that managers of care at home services will be required to register with the Scottish Social Services Council.  One of the conditions of registration is that the applicant has, or is in the process of achieving the qualifications relevant to the role they undertake.

The Scottish Government plan to initiate a series of workstreams that together will form a wide ranging review of the future care costs and delivery of long-term care services for older people.  The review will be taken forward jointly by the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and other partners.  An underlying principle of the review will be to promote and establish mechanisms to improve the provision of personalised and preventative services to enable people to remain at home - and independent - for longer. ’ 

Into the Spotlight

On the web we read a report from a Conference in Crieff in Dec’08 called ‘Into the Spotlight’. Housing, care and health services came together to discuss ways in which they can work together to enable people to remain living independently and with dignity in their own homes.

The final session discussed what specific, hard edged actions should be taken forward after the conference.  Panellists from housing, health and social care provided a very brief reaction to the proceedings of the day, with further contributions from the floor.

Panel:            Alan Baird, President, ADSW (Social Work)

Alan Ferguson, Director, CIH Scotland (Housing)

Gill McVicar, Chair, CHP Association (Community Care Partnership)

Mike Martin, Director, Joint Improvement Team (JIT)

Chair:                        Lesley Riddoch

Points made during the session included:

1        Frustration at the slow pace of change in developing care at home services and shifting the balance of care was evident amongst delegates.  There is a need to identify why good practice is not picked up and implemented across Scotland.

2        Good structures alone cannot achieve change, but bad structures get in the way.  Current accountability arrangements, where there are different accountabilities for health and social care, are an issue.  Perhaps too much emphasis currently on structures and not enough on management, particularly management of teams.

3        Information sharing at local level is a continuing issue and source of frustration locally, with some considering that there is a need for greater leadership nationally to resolve the difficulties.

4        Currently it is more comfortable to continue to deliver services in the same way.  There does not seem to be enough pressure for services to change, perhaps because decision makers are too distant from the experiences of service users.  At the moment the incentive structures do not reward people for making the changes needed or to provide services which people want. 

5        The professional associations, ADSW, CHP Association and CIH, have influence.  Working together on the care at home agenda, they could drive change.  The discussions from the conference will be reported to the Ministerial Strategy Group, and the 3 associations will collaborate in developing an action plan. The meeting decided that the Secretary should get in touch with the JIT group to find out what progress has been made in the last  five months.

On the 6 June the BBC featured an announcement of the establishment of a UK wide Brain Bank Network. This will co-ordinate the 12 major brain banks in the UK, from London to Edinburgh.

South Monitoring Group

The South Monitoring Group met on the 29 May 2009 possibly for the last time . The Cabinet Minister has not yet announced a decision on the group’s future.  There will be no run-down of the Victoria Infirmary and accident and emergency patients will be admitted as well as elective surgery patients who cannot have a day surgery operation.

Vascular services are being removed from the Royal Inf to the Western Inf to allow for expansion of the A&E at the Royal to accommodate patients who used to go to casualty at Stobhill.

Letter from GG&C Health Board

We received a letter from Jim Whyteside, Head of Public Affairs at the GG&C Health Board including the following information.

Assessment and rehabilitation beds (including stroke) in South Glasgow 

Continuing Care Beds in South Glasgow

Continuing care beds are for patients who require long term care and who will remain in hospital. National policy is to reduce the number these beds in favour of alternative and community based provision including initiatives to support older people in their own home as long as possible.

There are no meetings in July and August  and we wish you an enjoyable summer break and look forward to seeing you again in the Autumn. Keep well!

The date of our next meeting is Tuesday 8 September 2009 at 7.30 p.m.