Minutes
of a regular meeting of the Health Service Forum on Tuesday Sept. 9th
2003 held in the Larkfield Centre at 7.30 p.m.
Contents
Consultation Document on NHSGG Draft
Spiritual Care Policy
Apologies were received from Pat Lally, Alastair Glen, Ena Montgomery, Caryl Ogilvie.
Minutes of June 10th having been distributed were approved.
The Chair welcomed everyone back and hoped they had enjoyed their summer holidays.
She updated the members on the work undertaken by the committee during the summer break.
We met with Mike Watson(Lab), Janice Hughes(Lab)and Robert Brown (Lib/Dem)jointly. Individual meetings were held with MSPs Tommy Sheridan (SSP), Nicola Sturgeon(SNP), Bill Aitken(Cons) and Patrick Harvie of the Green Party. The following points were raised with all parties: a) Our concern at GGNHS Board being successful in attracting only one bid for the £140 million contract to build the ACADs proposed to replace the Victoria Infirmary and Stobhill Hospital. b) The critical shortage of beds in Glasgow - this has also been highlighted by the Health Council. c) Our concern at the proliferation in administration on the GGNHS Board and also the Trust Boards. d) The amount of money spent on administration issues. e) We re-affirmed our opposition to stand-alone ACADs. All MSPs took on board our concerns.
We met with Sir John Arbuthnott, Chair of the GGNHS Board and Tom Divers, the Chief Executive. This was a very useful and amicable meeting. We raised with them our concern over the bed shortages in Glasgow, our continued opposition to the stand-alone ACADs, and the prospect of only one bid for the ACAD contract. Sir John expressed his concern about the transport situation and offered the Forum a place on the Board's Transport Committee. Professor McGregor agreed to represent the Forum with Dr Pat Lally as substitute. It was also agreed that we meet in three months time.
Margaret Hinds attended the June and September meetings of the South Monitoring Group. She expressed her concern that this group does not allow voting, and does not have a remit to discuss A&E provision. The Forum considers A&E of prime importance to patients as the proposed changes mean a reduction of A&Es from five to two across the city. A decision was made to make two places on the Monitoring Groups available to Community Councillors. The vote will take place on the 1st October. There will be no representation until the next meeting which will be in December. We understand that the remit of the group is to monitor any changes to hospital provision. What power the group will have if members disapprove of any changes remains to be seen.
Outline
Business Case (OBC)
The committee raised concerns with the MSPs on the inadequacy of the OBC
produced by the GGNHS Board. We had in depth discussions with Dr Dunnigan on
this as he has considerable experience of OBCs in England. The English OBC in
comparison was very professional with every ‘I’ dotted and ‘T’ crossed. In
discussion with the Board, their reasoning is that this is only an opening
business case.
Correspondence
out
To Sir John Arbuthnott reaffirming our concern on a stand alone ACAD
and the Acute Services Strategy for Greater Glasgow.
To Sir John in connection with membership of the Transport Group.
To Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm questioning the validity
of only one bidder for the ACADs contract.
To Chief Exec. Tom Divers questioning architectural design and suitability of the ACAD on the Queen's Park Recreation Ground.
From Sir John's secretary, confirming that a letter had been sent to Jonathan Best, Chief Exec. Yorkhill who is heading the Transport Group with ref. to Prof MacGregor's appointment.
From Scot. Exec. Health Dept. Directorate of Performance Management & Finance, Fiona March, on behalf of the Minister regarding the PPP contract for the ACADs in Glasgow. This branch has responsibility for PPP. She noted our concern on the value for money if there is only one bidder. GGNHS Board has undertaken to keep the Department informed of developments.
From Tom Divers stating that as Mr Calderwood was Programme Director of the ACAD project he had passed our letter to him.
From Robert Calderwood "We do not expect to complete our own in-house deliberations on these aspects until the end of September and at that stage these thoughts will form the final descriptions of the public sector model against which we will measure the suitability and sensitivity of our PFI/PPP consortia design and build proposals".
This letter was sent in response to the Forum sending a Building Magazine article on the problems of the PFI build of Cumberland Infirmary. We had stated that we would be interested to see "final description of the public sector model" which will measure the suitability and sensitivity of the PFI/PPP design. We also asked for any new health care premises in either the UK or beyond that would be comparable to the GGNHS Board’s PPP/PFI design.
From Robert Calderwood enclosing a copy of the Out Line Business Case. He advised that the area of the Victoria ACAD would be in the order of 21,000 square meters, with space for:-
Interventional unit with 8 theatres.
5 Endoscopy rooms.
20 bay Oncology treatment area
Day hospital with 30 places.
Minor injuries facilities for 18,000 attendances.
4 chair Dental suite.
30-station Renal Dialysis area.
Diagnostic Imaging including 1 MR scanner 2
scanners.
Outpatient and Therapies consultations and treatments for 215,000 patients.
Cardiac Rehabilitation suite.
The final specification will be made available for public access when complete.
He complemented the Forum on our "diligence" in pointing out the omission of the sprinkler system in the new (PFI) Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
A Petition to Parliament is being considered asking the Committee to take a view on the decision taken by GGNHS Board to accept the sole bid tendered to build the two ACADs in Glasgow.
After discussion it was unanimously agreed that the National Health Service is there to care for the sick. A quiet room should be provided by a hospital for the use of patients and relatives irrespective of their religious beliefs, to be used in times of need. An appropriate spiritual mentor could be present on request. The room should be free of all religious symbols which could offend any other user. This, it was agreed, would be the Forum's response.
If at the end of the consultation it is decided that it is
necessary for example to provide facilities for quote " Prayer, meditation
and quiet reflection. - Spiritual and religious ceremonies - Meetings and
pastoral counselling" that any costs arising from these facilities should
not be the responsibility of the NHS
but the religions involved, serviced and paid for by them or the Scottish
Executive.
East Renfrewshire Council has once more given the Forum a grant to assist in running expenses.
The Treasurer has written to express our thanks for their continuing financial support. A part payment has been made towards the outstanding loan incurred in the commissioning of the Forum's Transport survey which was made some time ago. The bank balance is currently £1,930. Some membership dues are still outstanding.
Nurses have now been recruited from the Philippines. This was accomplished by means of a video presentation. There are now 28 employed and 2 more to follow.
It is still difficult to comply with the EU directive on young doctors working hours in some areas.
Projected ACAD episodes at the Victoria have risen from 340,000 to 400,000.
From September 2004 the Royal Infirmary will charge for parking.
A letter in the Herald re- “Junior Doctors - shortfall in funding” was brought to the attention of the meeting. It was decided that the Secretary should write to the National GP Co-ordinator, Dr Colin Hunter, to express concern over the lack of funding for GP trainees and to seek an assurance that money will be found. There has been no reply as yet.
Late News
Douglas McGregor gave a verbal report of his first Transport
meeting. His written report will follow. He found it useful and wondered if we
should consider inviting the Board's Transport Officer to come to one of our
meetings. This will be discussed at our next meeting.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING - Tuesday 14th October at
7.30 p.m.
.
PS. Don’t forget to get your flu jab.
Website:
www.healthforumglasgow.org