Health
Service Forum South
East
Minutes of a regular meeting of the Health Service
Forum S.E. held in the Larkfield Centre on Tuesday 9th January 2007
at 7.30pm
Margaret Hinds
welcomed and wished everyone a Happy New Year.
Apologies received
from: Louise Laing, Aileen Fyfe, Alva Caldwell, Dorothy Walls,
Dan Macphail and
Irene Addie
Minutes of 12th
December meeting were approved.
Letter from Robert
Calderwood re soft services at the new Southern General: an in-house team will
be able to bid. His statement that
cleaning standards had been maintained led to a discussion of cleanliness,
including a reported claim in a recent broadcast by Lesley Ashe that one
patient in ten (in England) contracts MRSA, yet it is virtually unknown in
Holland.
Margaret reported
a balance of £2365
Douglas McGregor
spoke to a paper he had prepared on Electronic Medical Records. The NHS has a troubled record on IT: pilot
schemes take a long time to produce results, which are by then out of date,
leading to frustration among clinicians.
GPASS (General Practice Administration System
for Scotland) is free to GPs and used by 85% of GP Practices. Medical records are the property of the
relevant Health Board, and as the technology is now well over ten years old
there are moves to replace the system.
Proposals for a Central Repository have merit but raise serious
concerns:
a) Data might be accessible not only
to GPs, Consultants and Hospitals treating the patient, but to non-medical
bodies such as Police, Benefits Agency, Education (even schools might have
access to the records of parents).
The dangers of information getting into the wrong hands are obvious.
b) An “opt out” system could allow
patients to deny access on grounds of confidentiality.
c) An “opt in” system might satisfy
the Data Protection Act, e.g. by confining access to “medical only” unless the
patient specifically widens it, but either system could potentially dilute
overall effectiveness.
d) Any change will involve a massive
re-listing/computer entry of data.
e) A Deloitte report recommends the
adoption of a commercial alternative to GPASS, but overlooks one small snag -
there doesn’t seem to be one.
It was agreed that
the Forum would raise questions with the Minister:
i) Will information be made available outwith the medical profession?
ii) If so, to whom?
iii) Further specific questions -
Alistair Glen agreed to prepare a list.
2
The closure
(albeit temporary) today was noted with alarm.
Despite the defence by the Board, the incident serves as a warning that
capacity in Lanarkshire is under pressure, which can only be increased by the
impending downgrading of Monklands. As the Victoria was also closed due to the
“flu”at one point, the impending closures of A&Es in Glasgow and
Lanarkshire clearly spells disaster. Hairmyres cannot cope with the patients
from Monklands and the Victoria and the Royal cannot cope with the closure of Stobhill.
We have the Health Board’s own latest figures showing clearly that the Victoria
A&E is the busiest hospital in Glasgow and the second busiest in Scotland.
How can they possibly justify closures?
The latest news on Bird Flu having reached this country is disquieting.
Mr. Calderwood at the last meeting of the South monitoring group said they
could cope with this emergency, as we have just seen the recent ordinary “flu”
left them struggling and hospitals closed we are not convinced by his assertions.
NHSGGC’s bed model
has still never materialized. We must be getting close to the Guinness Book of
Records in the wait for an answer to a simple question; it places the validity
of long-term planning in question. We
have been told that although the ACAD may have more than the 12 overnight beds
announced. This would be at the expense of more ex-Mansionhouse beds - already
reduced from 60 to 48. So don’t get
sick, and whatever you do don’t get old.
The pros and cons
were again aired: whatever the merits of such hire purchase schemes, the
difficulty in finding full financial comparisons between them and traditional
public sector purchase leaves major disquiet.
We have to continue to raise common-sense questions, however naïve
they may be labelled.
NEXT MEETING: Tuesday
13th February 2007
