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Health Service Forum South East
Minutes of a regular meeting of the Health Service Forum S.E held in the Larkfield Centre on Tuesday
8 November 2005 at 7.30 p.m.
Contents
Scottish Health Campaigns Network
Welcome
Welcome: Margaret Hinds welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced Jackie Burman, Health Development Officer of Citizens Advice Scotland.
Copies of ‘The Citizens Advice and Support Service for Users of the NHS’ document and CAB Service Briefing Paper No 7 were made available to all present.
The demise of the Health Councils has removed the services of an informed body to support patients and carers in making a complaint against the NHS. M/s Burman told the meeting that the Health Dept asked CAS to develop a framework. The two essential components of the service to be provided by CAS will be:
· Advice and support service to patients wishing to make a complaint or raise concerns about NHS services
· Information and advice to patients on a variety of issues that impact on their health and well-being in order to maintain or improve these.
CAS is still awaiting a decision by the Health Minister as to whether their proposed framework will be accepted. If accepted the NHS Health Boards will provide financial assistance to CAS for an initial period of three year. Some of this money will be used to employ a health expert in each CAS Area to help local bureaux to keep up to date with latest information.
85% of CAB workers are trained volunteers. The Bureaux are constantly looking for suitable volunteers. If their proposals are agreed with the Health Minister there will have to be a period of recruitment of paid personnel and training for volunteers. In their paper the CAS state that the service ‘must be readily accessible to the population served by the commissioning Health Board’. Whilst there are 77 CAB offices in Scotland – the largest independent advice service in the country- great care must be taken to recruit and train volunteers in advance of advertising this additional healthcare service to the public.
Please note that the 14 Health Councils ceased to exist in March 2005. Eight months later the Health Minister has not yet put in place a replacement organisation that will help the public pursue a complaint against the NHS. More information can be obtained on Citizens Advice Scotland web site www.cas.org.uk
Apologies
Apologies: Pat Lally, Rhoda Ritchie, Fiona Brodie, Elizabeth Bashir, Eric Canning
Minutes
Minutes of 11 October 2005 were adopted as correct.
Correspondence
Correspondence:
1) Letter to Robert Booth of City Council Land Services re proposed parking in and around the new and enlarged SGH.
2) Letter to Alex McIntyre at ACAD Project Offices re City Council suggestion that Prospecthill Road should be widened near the junction with Battlefield Road. If widening is required there would be reduction in the temporary parking to be provided on the gusset of the ACAD site. Alex McIntyre replied that the Health Board is not anticipating a significant reduction in parking space. He also reminded the Forum that ‘car parking proposals do not form part of the ACAD development’ also ‘the planning application has within its boundaries an agreed number of car parking spaces consistent with supporting the operation of the building’.
3)
Architecture & Design Scotland is the official body required to scrutinise the design of all new buildings in Scotland. Their comments on the design of the Victoria ACAD are available on our web site. The responsibility for instructing any changes to the proposed design rests with the planning department of Glasgow City Council.
4)
Information from Community Engagement Team re Hampden Conference on transport to be held on the 21 Nov. Four places have been booked for Forum members.
5)
Letter from Prof T.S.Murray of NHS Education Scotland accepting our invitation to speak at our March 2006 meeting on the subject of GP training.
Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer’s Report; The amount in the bank as at 11 Oct is £1665.78
Final Review of NHS24
The final review of NHS24 has been published and has been discussed by a group of Forum members.
A letter was sent to the Health Minister and health spokespersons for the other parties. We suggest that GEMS should be at the hub of the NHS24 service in Glasgow and that the development of a national IT system is essential for NHS24. We have the following comments;
NHS24 was launched in Aberdeen and rolled out very quickly before any problems had surfaced.
The service was widely advertised as being available to everyone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
When the GPs opted out of working after hours and at weekends it became the responsibility of NHS24 to deal with patients. Pressure built up on staff and at peak times there could be 7 hour delay in call back from a nurse advisor. There were insufficient nurses to handle the calls at peak times. As call centres the NHS24 centres are inefficient organisations.
Why was the director of NHS24 not called to task over the failure of the system?
No one questions for one moment the difficulty of diagnosis over the telephone other than to say ‘Is it possible?’
Scottish Health Campaigns Network
James Sandeman reported on the Scottish Health Campaigns Network meeting of the 21 Oct.
Individual reports of the various groups are to be seen on www.healthcampaigns.org.uk
The failure of Argyll & Clyde Health Board was partly due to challenging geography and inadequate resources. The Board is due to be dissolved in March 2006. The consultation period ended on the 4 November and a ministerial statement will be made later this year. The NHSGG say that whatever happens to Argyll & Clyde will not impact on services in Glasgow. Cross boundary flow is already extensive but changes affecting Royal Alexandra Infirmary, Paisley and Vale of Leven must surely have an impact on Glasgow Hospitals.
The Network welcomed the Kerr Report’s promotion of a devolved but integrated system for health but expressed disappointment that Kerr had omitted to address mental health issues, the cost and management implementations of the report and also says little about NHS24. There are fears that the Kerr Report may not be implemented following the same fate as two previous reports.
The BMA is concerned over the proposed use of private medicine by the NHS. In Scotland there is a very small private section. Andy Kerr is reported to be inundated with offers from entrepreneurs wanting to help.
Points of interest
The salary of Director of CHP was recently advertised at a figure of £95K (Pay award pending)
There is no mention of the new children’s hospital in the plans for SGH highlighted by the GGNHS winter edition of Health News although a ‘possible psychiatric village’ is marked on the plan.
Available free of charge is a DVD about the Victoria and Stobhill ACADs. It can be picked up at either hospital or requested by phoning 201 4857
GGNHS Board meeting
Notes from GGNHS Board meeting 15 Nov ‘05
Tom Divers spoke about the Argyll & Clyde Health Board consultation meetings. The most frequently asked question was ‘How has the deficit arisen?’ The Minister will decide about the new boundaries by early December. Senior posts will be filled in the new year with formal approval April 2006.
A paper was presented addressing primary care and unscheduled care out of hours services winter plan 2005-06. Agreement is sought with GEMS and Primary Care staff for arrangements over the holiday period. Some improvements had already been put into the system e.g. nurse led minor injury centres.
Weekly monitoring is now taking place to ensure that Boards deliver the Ministerial commitment by the end of December i.e. maximum 26 week wait.
The final business case for the ACADs will be presented in February 2006. The contractor will be on site June 2006.
In January 2006 public consultation will be undertaken by NHS Lanarkshire on the future of A&E facilities at all three of the Acute hospitals in the area. Option 1) keep all three A&Es 2) reduce to two A&E depts
3) reduce to one A&E. with minor injuries units at other two hospitals. This could affect residents in e.g. Newton Mearns and Busby.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING 13 December at 7.30 p.m.
