Bethnal Green Health Centre PPG minutes

30-5-2013

In attendance:

Stephanie Clark(chair)

Melanie Strickland

Carol Lindsay-Smith

Monwara Begum (BGHC practice)

Maureen Morris (BGHC practice)

Areef Rahman (Strouts Place Medical Centre)

Firoza Ahmed (Strouts Place Medical Centre)

Speaker: Dianne Barham, interim CEO, Healthwatch Tower Hamlets

Healthwatch Tower Hamlets speaker

Dianne Barhamoutlined the role of the local healthwatch as a patient champion. Dianne explained that they want patients to be involved in how health services are delivered, and encouraged people to become members of Healthwatch.

In Tower Hamlets, Healthwatch has benefitted from the previous experience and people involved in Tower Hamlets Involvement Network (THink). It will continue the role of THink to investigate and feedback on information received from users, and has new responsibilities relating to children and young people and to provide information and signposting to enable local people to find services and navigate the system. It can build on THink’s experience of good access to hard to reach groups, although reaching the isolated housebound is a challenge.

It will be giving feedback on the user experience of services, eg GPs, care homes and hospitals, to decision makers – the local CCG, Tower Hamlets Councillors and Mayor and, nationally, to the Care Quality Commission and Healthwatch England.

Tower Hamlets Healthwatch will launch on 2 July at the Brady Centre and will soon be recruiting Board members. It has a staff of 3 and an annual budget of £245,000.

Dianne identified as challenges:
- how to pick up on people’s concerns (in light of the Mid-Staffs scandal)

- how to get GPs to feedback

- how to ensure a response from those responsible to the person raising the concern

- and how to meet Government expectations that volunteers will be found to carry out much of the work and that Healthwatch can train, motivate and provide effective support.

The local healthwatches have a statutory responsibility to respond to users within 20 working days, and can escalate to Healthwatch England if they get no satisfactory response to their investigation on the user’s behalf.

Dianne identified some local good practice:

- the support organisations, LinkAge Plus and Children’s Centres, and GP referral systems to them

- for PPG recruitment – Crisp St and Jubilee St practices

More details about Heathwatch Tower Hamlets here: .

Discussion centred on a number of concerns raisedrelating to the NHS changes.

  • Healthwatch use of the term “consumer” rather than “patient” or “user” was queried as it suggested a market view where NHS services had to be paid for. Dianne explained that the rationale given by the national Healthwatch for this was that patients have no rights whereas consumers do. It was pointed out that patients do have rights under the NHS constitution and international law. Dianne reported that there is a tension between the national Healthwatch England, more influenced by the Government agenda, and the more grassroots local healthwatches.
  • Vested interests of members of commissioning groups: GP members have to declare any interests they or their family or friends have and concerns can be raised with the new Health Scrutiny Groups.
  • Personal health data for sale: a new Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) has set up a system for approving private firms to purchase access to our personal health information. (BUPA has purchased this access.) Dianne was asked how Healthwatch could help ensure our personal data will be used ethically for medical research and not for commercial purposes. She answered that commercial companies are not allowed to use our data for direct marketing and, locally, a GP IT subgroup has been set up to develop a protocol to try to ensure ethical use. Another concern aired was whether there can be safeguards for patients who don’t want their information sold to commercial health businesses.
  • Private health care businesses can hide behind “commercial confidentiality” whereas the public NHS is subject to our Freedom of Information law. The implications of this were worrying. For example, patients will not be able to discover if we are being treated by the best qualified provider if we are not allowed access to information from all providers. The meeting wished to see Healthwatch make a public statement on its stance on the issue of patient access to comparable data across providers, whether NHS or private. Diane reported that Healthwatch can access Patient-led Assessment (PLACE) information, where NHS patients are represented.

Feedback on BGHC patient survey

Maureen fedback on this. It’s challenging getting feedback as people don’t like filling in forms, but the results of the surveys were very positive overall.

Actions

All to help promote community film screening of ‘Spirit of 45’ by the Tower Hamlets Keep our NHS Public, which tells the story of the NHS. Venue: St Peter’s Church Hall, 56 Warner Place Bethnal Green 6.30pm – 9.30pm Monday 1 July. Melanie/ Carol will bring leaflets/ postcards for the surgery

Melanie/ Carol/ Stephanie to email/ deliver film poster to Strouts Place Medical Centre.

Agenda items for next meeting:

1. PPG constitution – to set out the remit of the group and our objectives

2. Advertising the group to a wider range of patients

3. How other surgeries organise their PPG meetings

Date of next meeting: TBC