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Health Service Forum South East
Minutes of regular meeting of Health Service Forum S.E. held in the Larkfield Centre
on Tuesday 9 November 2004 at 7.30 p.m.
Scottish Parliament web report on the Health Committee meeting of the 26 October
Welcome
Welcome from the Chair.
Apologies
Apologies; Mary Hamilton, Dan MacPhail, Douglas Macgregor, Mary Markey
Minutes
Minutes of 10 October were adopted as correct.
Correspondence
IN a) from Councillor Jim McNally to advise that at present there are no applications for planning permission lodged with Glasgow City Council for alterations to the Southern General Hospital.
b) From Tommy Sheridan MSP with copy letter from Andy Kerr, the Health Minister, regarding the Business Case for the two ACADs. The Minister stated that the GGNHS “are presently reviewing the tender submission from the Canmore Consortium with a view to the appointment of a preferred bidder in December 2004.”
OUT a) to Ken Macintosh MSP asking for details of the new plans for the ACAD as illustrated at a public meeting of 7 October. No reply as at 23 Nov to our letter of the 12 October
b) to Ray Hepburn Head of A&E services Scottish Ambulance inviting him to speak to a Health Forum meeting.
c) to Robert Booth, Director of Land Services, re the Hampden traffic plan and the effect of the ACAD development at the Queens Park School and Recreation Ground.
d) to Jim Murphy MP regarding the statement in the EXTRA newspaper regarding beds at the ACAD. No reply as at 23 Nov to our letter of 29 October
According to a paper produced in January 2000 by the British Association for Emergency Medicine, clinical effectiveness committee, Minor Injuries Units differ widely in their facilities and staffing and thus in the range of emergency work that they can safely carry out. It is of paramount importance that the local population and health commissioners clearly understand the limitations of a given unit and use it appropriately.
It will be a very challenging task for the GGNHS to get this message across to the populations served by the Victoria and Stobhill ACADs.
On Saturday 13 November the Scottish Health Campaigns Network met in Perth. The Forum was represented by Margaret Hinds, James Sandeman and Louise Laing. There were representatives from Caithness, Fife, Stobhill, The NHS Consultants’ Association, Vale of Leven, Dunoon and Cowal, St John’s Livingston, a senior citizen’s group from Edinburgh as well as the MSPs Dr Jean Turner and Carolyn Leckie SSP. There was a discussion about putting up independent candidates for the General Election next year standing on Health issues. One group has identified a candidate and other groups are in discussion in their area.
Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer’s Report; It was agreed that the Forum would support the Children’s Christmas Party at the Larkfield Centre. The bank balance at the 9 Nov was £1241.34.
Scottish Parliament web report on the Health Committee meeting of the 26 October
The Health Committee requested various witnesses to attend this meeting to answer questions on Work Force Planning. The first panel comprised Tony Wildsmith, who is a Royal College of Anaesthetists council member; Dr Mairi Scott, who is the chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners Scotland; and Professor Graham Teasdale, who is the president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. The full report will be published on the web before Christmas. The following are brief extracts;
Q; Do we have a proper work force planning process in Scotland?
A; Professor Graham Teasdale ; In the past, such a process has been lacking. However, during the past two years there have been many developments and improvements and the foundations of planning for the future look much more secure.
The written submission by Dr Scott stated that a deficit of about 500 GPs is expected in eight years.
In response to a question from the Health Committee Dr Scott said that ‘The number of training opportunities is at present limited by funding constraints. If more GPs are to be trained, the Executive would have to fund additional training slots.’
The next panel of witnesses: Dr Bill O'Neill, who is the Scottish secretary of the British Medical Association; Professor Peter Rubin, who is the chair of the education committee of the General Medical Council; and David Currie, who is a consultant neurosurgeon with the NHS Consultants Association.
To quote David Currie ‘ it is thought that it stands to reason that people will get a better service if they go to a big centre, but we do not believe that to be the case.’
Our comment; It is true up to a point, but for a lot of the generalities in medicine, the patient is far better off having their service near home, and we should argue strongly for that.’
David Currie also said ‘We are talking about closing services to deal with a man-made anomaly. In what is meant to be a patient-centred service, we are turning round and looking in the opposite direction; we are basing absolutely everything not on the patient, but on the doctor's quality of life. I do not know what the solution is. I am batting the problem back to the politicians, because it is a political problem.’
The third panel of witnesses: Dr Holdsworth from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Scotland and Stephen Moore from the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists, both representing the Allied Health Professions Forum Scotland; and Marc Seale, the chief executive and registrar of the Health Professions Council.
Dr Holdsworth stated that ‘Very soon-in five to 10 years-we will have a problem with filling posts. We could expand considerably further and more laterally if the work force was greater.’
‘Modelling and projections for the future need to be done.’
To quote Stephen Moore ‘We need to do robust work on the needs of the different professions—how many people they need and what their roles should be—because many positive extended-scope roles are emerging that could have a real impact on the health service.
Dr Holdsworth: ‘The situation is that 12 applications are received for each place on university physiotherapy courses.’ ‘… such is the demand for physiotherapy courses that people often need higher qualifications for physiotherapy than for medicine.’
‘I know for a fact that two Scottish universities that do not currently provide physiotherapy education are desperate to run programmes.’
Stephen Moore: ‘One challenge that we face is that the Scottish Executive does not have a view about the make-up of or access to podiatry services. As a result, individual health authorities have to determine their service needs according to their funding resources, which is leading to disparities between services.’ In our view there seems a clear case for Joined-Up-Writing i.e. co-operation of all NHS staff, practitioners, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, podiatrists. All have an important role to play and should form a co-ordinated workforce.
You will be aware that the Executive is awaiting a report to be published next year on the future of the NHS in Scotland from the Advisory Group chaired by Professor David Kerr. This group is holding one of its public meetings on 1st December in the Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow from 7-9 p.m.
On 6th December in the McCance Lecture Theatre, University of Strathclyde from 7-9.15 there will be a discussion on the following topic: Scotland's Hospitals - "How Can We Provide the Best Treatment as Locally as Possible?" Dr. Matthew Dunnigan will speak and will be followed by a number of MSPs.
Entry is by ticket only. Let Louise Laing know if you wish to attend. Tel 632 0172
Date of our next meeting Tuesday December 14 at 7.30 p.m.
