Patient & Community Reference Group Meeting 18 November 2015 10.12.30
In the Board Room, Phoenix Place, Basildon Present:
Alison Reeve Chair
Paula Saunders AD Involvement and Governance, BBCCG Tim Young SEMC representative
Lesley Mitchelmore Healthwatch / Arterial Locality Robert Hunt Business Manager, BBCCG Viv Clements Locality Manager Arterial David Thomson Locality Manager SEMC Charles Novis Arterial representative
Tim Hogan Brentwood PEG
Eric Watts Brentwood PEG
Bill Beeko Brentwood Lay Member Terri Sargent Basildon Council
Kathy Canham Communications, BBCCG In attendance:
Minutes: Pat Cook
1. Welcome & Apologies
Alison welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Apologies were received from: Elaine Hanlon, Marion Wilson, Bob Hackett, Malcom Bigg, Catherine Sackey, Lynne Powell, Dr Anil Chopra and Dr Femi Salako.
It was noted that Sharon Quinn of St Luke’s Hospice was unable to attend today’s meeting. This item will be deferred to a future meeting.
2.1 Minutes from the last meeting and action log
The group agreed the minutes of the previous meeting were an accurate record. Action Log:
Item 57: To be discussed later in this meeting
Item 59: The situation is improving and it was agreed a further update will be given at the January Meeting.
Item 60: Paula advised that DAWN is the INR service for advising Warfarin patients results of blood tests and dosing and is part of the wider phlebotomy service. Issues with the Phlebotomy service have been raised formally with BTUH at the Technical Support Group. BTUH are the contractual lead for Pathology First.
Paula also advised that discussions are taking place with NELFT regarding extending services at BCH and to establish a walk in clinic due to Harold Wood walk in clinic charging us £67 per blood test. It was noted that this charge has been challenged.
Item 61: It was agreed that this be deferred to March to allow a review of how the service is performing.
2.2 Declarations of interest None.
2.3 Matters arising not covered by the agenda
Terri advised that the Partnership Board has appointed a new Chair and will invite a patient representative to attend these meeting.
3.1 Fit for the Future & Development of the Engagement Strategy
Paula advised that the Group do not have a Communications and Engagement Strategy which sets out what we are and our role within the organisation. We should evaluate what the group is doing, how things have moved on and how we are looking to engage with the wider public and routes for consultations. It was noted that different services will impact on different people but we need to include a wider population in our consultations, not just those affected and patient groups. Charles advised that some PPGs have electronic contact details of people who are interested in health matters but not members of groups and suggested these contacts could be used to involve a wider population in various consultations.
Rob tabled a draft Mission Statement and advised that the Workshop being held on 7th December from 12-2pm in the Board Room at Phoenix Place, will focus on finalising this, and the advert to recruitment additional members to the group. This should ensure candidates are fully aware of their role and the aims of the PCRG. Note: Any group members who are able to attend the workshop on 7th December, please let Rob know.
It was noted that once the Mission Statement and Engagement Strategy are agreed, this may require the Terms of Reference for the Group to be amended. It was noted that the ToR were passed by the Board in September and there was a reluctance to have these changed again so soon, particularly as they are due for review in June 2016.
During discussion it was agreed that there is a need to get GPs and Practice Managers to understand the benefits of Patient Participation Groups. It was noted that a patient group is a requirement for practices under their contract but some practices are not as proactive as others. It was also noted that the locality managers are working with practices to try to establish more patient groups as had already happened with the four practices at the Dipple.
Alison advised the group that the minutes from these meetings are taken to the Board for their information, together with summary activity reports and patient voice reports. It was suggested that these minutes should also be taken to PPGs and PEGs.
It was disappointing to note that representatives from voluntary organisations rarely attended PCRG meetings. Lesley advised that she would give updates from Healthwatch at future meetings.
Alison informed the group that following Arterial locality elections, Drs Ahmad and Butler will no longer represent the locality at Board Meetings. The new representatives are Drs Arayomi and Dabas, who will be taking up their post on 1st December. It was noted that elections have been held in all localities since the CCG was established but the other three re-elected their existing representatives.
Specialist Fertility Update
Paula advised the group to the Specialist Fertility Consultation closed on 14th October. Most responses had been from people with a direct interest and specialist interest groups but there was some feedback from the wider population – more than from previous consultations. The specialist groups wished to retain the status quo.
A paper will be taken to the Board in January with a likely recommendation for this service to be withdrawn. Discussion took place around the fact that Mid-Essex CCG have suspended this service, pending review, but it was considered this could give false hope to those affected if there wasn’t reasonable prospect of restarting the service after review, this could especially affect those patients around 40 years of age. If the decision was to stop or limit the service the group supported the message to affected people to reflect the likely position in the future ie if there wasn’t reasonable prospect of restarting the service after 12 months or more then people should be told at the time of the decision even if this generated more negative publicity. It was noted that around 64 patients per year could be affected by this decision.
Feedback from October Patient Event
Viv tabled the evaluation of the event, and advised that the feedback from this event was not as good as last year. The start was delayed by 15 minutes whilst the team dealt with an attendee who had a number of issues. This left other participants in the unsatisfactory position of not knowing the reason for the late start.
It was also noted that some of the presentations were too long/busy and in future presenters will be fully briefed to ensure they make their presentations shorter and less detailed. The technical information can be included in the hand-outs for those who wish to see this.
The breakout sessions were around 7 day working for GPs and the Care Act. It was suggested that following specific matters which arose at these sessions, workshops could be set up to discuss these in more detail.
Paula introduced Kathy Canham, who has joined the CCG to work on Communications. Part of her role is to work on the website and to make this easier for members of the public to navigate and to allow them to access consultations and leave comments they may have on any issues. She will also be coordinating the CCG newsletters and working with the team on engagement and locality issues.
3.2 Selection of Vice Chair
Paula asked if any members would be willing to take the role of Vice Chair if Alison was unable to attend the meeting. It was suggested that this person could also chair some of the workshops. It was agreed that as there were some members not present, an email would be circulated to the group requesting anyone interested to nominate themselves or others. Bill expressed an interest but wanted to wait until after everyone had a chance to volunteer.
Action: Rob to email group requesting nominations for Vice Chair. 4 Standing Items
4.1 Locality PEG Feedback Brentwood
Tim advised that Brentwood Council are setting up a Cancer Survivors Group. Eric had met with Elaine from the Council and they are hoping to get representatives from MacMillan to attend these meetings, probably at Brentwood Community Hospital. There is already a successful group in Billericay.
The group were still concerned at the lack of progress on phlebotomy and the Connect service.
Arterial
at Home, a private care group who provide respite care.
They had received an update on the BB Healthcare Solutions service from Dr Ahmad. They were still looking for suitable premises in Billericay. There are discussions taking place around an out of hours hub in Brentwood.
Dr Ahmad had asked if patients wanted surgeries opened on Sundays as very few patients access this service.
Patients are very happy with the Basildon Hospital Pharmacy
Concern had been expressed regarding the location of the PET scanner at Southend Hospital. It was noted there had been no public consultation before this decision was made and Charles had been requested to write to NHS England on behalf of the Arterial PEG. It was also noted that there was no radiographer at Southend Hospital qualified to operate this scanner as it requires specialist training.
Partnership/BIC No update available SEMC
Tim advised that SEMC GPs were concerned about the referral management
scheme. Paula explained that the RMC has been in place before CCGs and this is to enable peer reviews to check the quality and appropriateness of referrals. Some practices carry this out within the practice and smaller practices with other practices. There is a very high variation in referrals between practices and in some cases, patients do not need a hospital referral but could be referred to another service and receive appropriate treatment sooner, without having to wait for a hospital
appointment. Paula confirmed that all suspected cancer referrals (two week waits) are not subject to peer reviews.
Paula advised that Basildon Hospital run an advice and guidance service for GPs but not all practices use this service.
The group were pleased that the Connect service seems to be improving. The group had expressed an interest in meeting with the new CCG Accountable
Officer, when he/she is appointed, to discuss the new development in Wickford. They are concerned that no additional GP provision is planned.
The group had noted that a local business is offering defibrillators The group had received an update on electronic prescribing 6 Any other business
Terri advised that Basildon Council will be going out to consultation on the Local Plan in January. There will be an 8 week consultation period and details will be on the Council’s website. The Council are concerned that infrastructure must be in place to support the new developments.
Eric advised that the NHS Mandate public consultation closes on Monday and urged members of the group to look at this and respond.
BB asked if Metformin is being withdrawn. Paula agreed to look into this.
Paula updated the group regarding the recruitment of the CCG Accountable Officer (AO). She advised that Carolyn Regan would be leaving the CCG on the 7th
Health Trust. Interviews for another interim AO will take place on Thursday and the interviews for the substantive post will take place on the 17th December. Members of the group will be asked if they wish to participate in the interviews.
(Post meeting note: the interview date has been changed as NHS England are unable to attend on this day. The new date is 21 January 2016)
Louis Kamfer has now joined the CCG as Chief Finance Officer.
Following elections, Arterial Locality now has two new representatives on the CCG Board: Dr Arayomi and Dr Dabas.
Alison advised she had attended a “Patient First” conference and there had been some interesting presentations.
Alison advised Public Health are introducing an “Antibiotic Guardian” campaign and a link to this will be circulated.
7.0 Key points to be fed back to PEGS
Positive feedback that the Connect service is improving
Contractual notice has been issued to BTUH regarding the phlebotomy service. Discussions are taking place with NELFT re setting up a walk-in phlebotomy service
at Brentwood Community Hospital
Workshop being held on 7th December to work on Mission Statement Paper being taken to January Board re outcome of Fertility Consultation Feedback from Patient Event has been given to William Guy and Dave Fazey An email will be circulated to group members requesting nominations for Vice Chair A summary of matters raised at this meeting will be emailed by the end of this week to
allow feedback to be given to PEGs. 8.0 Date of Next Meeting
The next meeting is on 20 January 2016, 10.00am – 12.30pm in the Board Room, Phoenix Place, Basildon.
