th
Present:
Ann McCarthy
Terry Jones
Roy Ellwood
Anne Heckels
Diane Lever
Irene Davies
Andy Cowan
Mike Jones
In Attendance:
Sherry Samaan
Fleur Fernando
Elizabeth Learoyd
Chair
Wilnecote & Dosthill
Fulfen
SES/SP Lay Member
Peel Medical
Wilnecote & Dosthill
Director and Trustee of Headway UK Staffordshire
Crown Practice
Administrator, SES&SP CCG
Engagement and Partnership Manager, SES&SP CCG
Healthwatch Complaints Advocacy Service
1.
Apologies/Declarations of interest
AMc welcomed Andy Cowan to the meeting, AC is a resident of Lichfield and the Director Trustee of Headway UK Staffordshire.
Apologies: Tony Duff and Brian Leighfield
The Committee were asked to declare any conflicts of interest that may arise as a result of items on the agenda, none were declared.
The meeting was agreed as Quorate.
2.
Minutes of the Previous Meeting held on the 16 th July 2015
The minutes of the meeting held on 16 th July were approved as an accurate record of the meeting.
3.
Action Sheet
Action sheet updated as attached.
4.
Healthwatch Complaints Advocacy – Elizabeth Learoyd, Complaints Advocacy Manager
On the 1 st February, Healthwatch started delivering the NHS Complaints Advocacy Service in
Staffordshire, which is funded by Staffordshire County Council. The Complaints Advocacy Service is a statutory service, client led and completely independent.
The Advocacy team is made up of EL and two fulltime advocates. They are currently looking at recruiting part-time personnel. To date, they have supported 160 people across the county, 10% of those are from the CCG area. Healthwatch took 11,000 calls on the Freephone line last month.
Complaints are mainly around communication, staff attitude and delays for hospital
DL
ID
AC
MJ
AMc
TJ
RE
RC
SS
FF
EL
ACTION
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appointments. The service aim is to identify problems and bring a positive change.
The Complaints Advocacy team are looking to recruit more volunteer advocates. There would be the opportunity for volunteers to train to become a qualified independent advocate. Advocates may visit or attend a hospital appointment with client, as well as providing administration support. Volunteers are needed between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday, and hours would be very flexible. An advocate’s travel expenses are fully paid.
Healthwatch Complaints Advocacy are holding a public listening session on Wednesday 23 rd
September, in the Billbrown room, South Staffordshire Council Offices, Codsall, for people to share their concerns and experiences.
EL encouraged members to spread the word about the service. Anyone who is interested in volunteering can contact EL on the following email addresses: elizabeth.learoyd@ecstaffs.co.uk or advocacy@ecstaffs.co.uk.
It was noted that PALS is part of NHS England (1 st point of contact) and they are meant to resolve any issues within 24 hours. If any conflict is not resolved within the time frame, the way forward would be a formal complaint.
5.
Feedback from Patient Council meeting, PPGs and patient stories
RE updated as below:
• The CCG has made some changes at senior level. Accountable Officer Rita
Symons has been seconded to Staffordshire transformation project, ‘Together
We’re Better’ as Transformation Director. Andy Donald, Accountable Officer for
Stafford and Surrounds and Cannock Chase CCGs, has been seconded to the
CCG to take Rita’s place and is now the Accountable Officer for all three CCGs.
• Vicki Graham from the Urgent care team gave a presentation on the NHS111 service. It was agreed that, in general, service user feedback is more positive than when the service initially started.
• Mark Docherty, Director of Nursing Quality & Clinical Commissioning/West
Midland Ambulance Service (WMAS) gave a brief presentation on the WMAS service. It was noted that WMAS had been providing the NHS111 service for
Staffordshire, but from early September the service will be provided by
Staffordshire Doctors Urgent Care (SDUC). They are part of the Vocare group, trading as West Midlands Doctors Urgent Care.
To ensure that the CCG will continue to reduce health inequalities, an Equality
Delivery System 2 training session took place on 15 th September, in advance of a grading event next year. Some of the SES Patient District Group members attended the session and will be involved in future sessions.
• ‘Let’s Talk About Health’ Events: RE expressed his disappointment with the number of public attending the events. On a positive side, there were interesting discussions throughout the events and people had the chance to feedback online. Members who attended the events thought they were excellent and appreciated the opportunity to express their thoughts about the
NHS.
Irene Davies representing Wilnecote and Dosthill
The Practice Manager has left and a new Practice Manager has been appointed. This affected the administration of the last meeting. It is anticipated that the new Practice Manager will be joining future meetings. The next meeting will take place in November.
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Diane Lever representing Peel Medical Practice
The PPG has met once since the last South East Staffordshire District Patient Group. At the meeting, upon FF’s recommendation, the Kings Fund video was shared with the group. The video shows the changes to the NHS structure that took place in 2013. The video was well received, and they are thinking of sharing another video, which is about A&E services.
A member of Peel PPG who has been a carer for a considerable time, has produced a leaflet listing all the available services for carers in Staffordshire, to help raise awareness. This will be shared with the other carer members of the Peel PPG in the near future. FF commented that there is new Carers Hub service opening in Staffordshire and queried if the member is linked to it.
DL confirmed that she is.
The CCG has been developing a Patient Handbook in response to feedback from the two District
Patient Groups. The handbook should give more clarity on the purpose of the groups, how they integrate with the Patient Council and the role of members. The first draft was shared with DL for input and all of her comments have been incorporated into the final version of the handbook. FF thanked DL for her contribution and will bring a final draft of the booklet to the next meeting.
Mike Jones representing Crown Practice
The last PPG meeting was held on 15 th September. A discussion took place about the proposal to change the opening hours of the Minor Injuries Units (MIUs) in Lichfield and Tamworth and its impact on the local population. Members raised their concerns about the proposed changes. It was also felt that this is another hit to the Sir Robert Peel Community Hospital considering the current situation. AMc noted that there is a move towards intermediate care happening within the community.
Ann McCarthy Representing Aldergate Practice
No PPG meeting was held, next meeting will take place in a week’s time.
Patient Stories
FF shared a personal story of her uncle. Whilst he was trimming some of the trees in the back garden he accidently cut his hand with a chainsaw. He had a bandage on top, however the wound required cleaning and redressing. FF took him to the Tamworth MIU unit at around 10pm and he had an excellent service. Within 20 minutes his wound was cleaned and properly bandaged. He was advised to go to his practice nurse for re-bandaging throughout the week.
6.
Urgent Care Update
RE gave an update on the current situation and proposed plans.
RE explained that at the Patient Council meeting held in July members were informed that the
CCG is looking at the whole Urgent Care package, including Minor Injuries Units, and will be putting together some options over the next 12-18 months. They would like to have a representative patient reference group to help the CCG make decisions about the future of
Urgent Care and identify patient needs. Hence, it was suggested that the Patient Council meeting on 5 August becomes the first Urgent Care Reference Group meeting.
The meeting took place on 5 August and began by discussing the group’s perceptions of urgent care. It highlighted that some of the services providing urgent care are NHS 111, pharmacies, GP practices, mental health services and minor injuries units. Members were asked their thoughts on the definition of Urgent Care: “Urgent and emergency care services provide help, advice and treatment when you need to see a nurse or doctor quickly (urgently) for a minor illness or injury,
OR if you have a serious illness or injury (an emergency)”. It was felt that people’s ideas of
‘urgent’ and ‘emergency’ will be different depending on their interpretation.
RE shared the CCG financial challenges as below:
• The CCG had a £16 million overspend in 2014/15
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• The CCG has a financial recovery plan to eradicate the deficit and pay back the overspending by 2017/18
• £6.5 million of savings must be made in 2015/16
• Similar levels of savings are required in 2016/17 and 2017/18
• The CCG must ensure that every pound is spent efficiently and effectively.
RE pointed out that analysis has shown that during the overnight period (9pm-8am) on average only one patient is visiting the MIU services every two hours. During that time alternative services are available, including NHS111 and the GP out of hours service. RE stated that people have a set idea of where they will go for treatment, but they need to be educated and given the right information. He gave an example, if a patient with suspected fractured arm turned up at the
MIU and was asked to come back the following day for an x-ray, the CCG will be charged twice.
AH clarified that the out of hours GPs are based at Sir Robert Peel and Samuel Johnson Hospitals but the Minor Injuries Units are a totally different service, managed by Burton Hospital.
Members had an open discussion and explored all the available options within the CCG’s current financial position. It was noted that if a service is not cost effective, the money spent on this service could be better utilised elsewhere, so it benefitted more patients.
7.
Any other business
DL informed members that she was granted a two meeting slot with Christopher Pincher the
Tamworth MP this week.
DL is looking at having an update on Sir Robert Peel Hospital (SRP), including finding out the facts behind the withdrawal of GP admission rights for general care to SRP. She will also query why
Tamworth is being funded at a less advantageous rate than Lichfield and Burton.
Members clarified that hospital referrals are done through consultants, depending on the patient’s condition and that the Andrew ward at SRP has been closed for more than 2 years, as the service has been withdrawn by the provider.
Funding of GP practices is separate to funding for CCGs. DL explained that there is a 7 year plan that was introduced in 2014 over 7 years for variations in the funding allocated to individual patient that has been erased by a correction and according to the document by 2020-21 every patient will attain the same amount of funding. DL noted her intention to discuss the matter with Christopher Pincher and seek assurance.
DL updated the group that GP practices receive funding for essential services and enhanced services that they choose to offer. Each year some of the designated enhanced services become statutory. This year, it became a requirement to have an alcohol enhanced service and a patient participation group within each practice. The allocated money for those services has been subsided into the global sum.
FF mentioned that in 2014/15 the CCG started an Alcohol Brief Intervention program.
Participating practices were offered £500 for initial set up. They were required to attend a training event and implement the process in their practice. A payment of £1 per patient was offered (up to a maximum of the total number on their practice hypertensive lists) over an 18 month period. One of the tools used to ‘screen’ patients is a series of questions about drinking habits. Once completed it provide an overall score to assess the alcohol intake risk.
Engagement Events Feedback
FF updated, that on the back of the public Let’s Talk About Health events, she was asked by
Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Partnership Trust to deliver the Let’s Talk About Health presentation to the Community Nurses on 5th October. The aims were to increase the nurses’ understanding of the events and provide them with an opportunity to answer the consultation questions themselves.
A feedback report will be produced from all the Let’s Talk About Health events and the online
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survey, which will be shared with the group.
NHS Citizen will be having an assembly in November, where they will take five points to discuss with NHS England. Feedback from the Let’s Talk About Health events was incorporated into NHS
Citizen Gather, which will inform the five points that will be discussed at the assembly.
8.
Date and Time of Next Meeting
Thursday 19 th November 2015, 12.30pm-2.30pm in Boardroom 2, Merlin House, Tamworth.
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