Minutes of the Board Meeting of St. Mary’s Island Residents’ Association Ltd. (SMIRA)
held at the Community Centre on Tuesday 22nd May 2018
commencing at 7:00pm
Present:
Chair:Bob Muid (Secretary)
Directors:Barry Woolford (Director).
Attendees:
Alan Bennett, Gary Page, Brian Viney, Stella Mountney, Barrie Davis, Alan Brockhurst, John Jones, Gina Carpenter, Steve Quayle, Chris Reynolds, Martine Pay, Jessica Pay, David Small, Mary Slater, Barbara Day, Jane Charlesworth, Patrick O’Mara, Nay Myo, Tim Spence, Sam Rainbow, Chris Rainbow, Jon Baynes, Oliver Wood and Milla Onyiah.
CMT Representatives:Grant Leathwhite.
Guests:PCSO Angela Saunders, Chris Harrison (Community Warden), Sara Hitchen, Sharna Lewis, Sharon Hasscu, Nicole Cole, Shari Cairns and Eleanor Eaton (all from DMC Healthcare).
Apologies for absence:David Taylor (Director), Peter Haigh (Director), Lily Leaver (Treasurer), Cllr. Andrew Mackness, Cllr. Habib Tejan and Dean Marsh (CMT).
Abbreviations: CMT – Chatham Maritime Trust, CML – Countryside Maritime Ltd. (developers), HCA – Homes and Communities Agency (SMI landowner), MDL – MDL Marinas, SMI – St. Mary’s Island.
Item 18/18: Minutes of the previous meeting
Adoption of the minutes of the meeting of the 10th April 2018were proposed byBarry Woolford, seconded by Gary Pageand adopted. The minutes are posted on our website as well as being emailed out to everyone on our mailing list.
Item 19/18: DMC Healthcare
Bob Muid (Secretary), chairing the meeting, introduced Sara Hitchen, Director of Primary Care at DMC Healthcare which has taken over the running of the St. Mary’s Island Surgery.
Sara thanked SMIRA for inviting the team to the meeting. DMC Healthcare was awarded the contract to run the surgery in February. They were given 5 days’ notice to come into the surgery and there were no admin staff and no clinical staff. DMC have been working with the Clinical Commissions Group for many years. Sara has been with the group for 5 years and has taken on four surgeries which had been in special measures and got them to outstanding.
Currently in the SMI surgery there are no locums; there are three doctors, a practice nurse, a healthcare assistant, a pharmacist prescriber, a practice manager and full admin quota. The staff are currently involved in a lot of backlog work such as patients in for health checks etc. Sara apologised that residents will be getting a lot of letters from the surgery saying that they need to attend for various checks because they’ve not been done in many years and the surgery want to look after the patients on their books.
DMC Healthcare are only commissioned for one year but they will be tendering for the contract for the next 5-10 years in July/August time.
They’ve put about £15,000 into the surgery; medical equipment which wasn’t there, ECG machine, BP machines etc. and also do recruitment.
Sara is looking for Patient Participation Group members from the community to meet every couple of months with patients before giving feedback to the Practice. This is to remove any bias in comments which will eventually be given to the Care Quality Commission. That way the Practice can improve on anything which is not up to patients’ standards.
In August the Practice is organising a fun day which will also be educational, e.g. staff will be there to show residents how to do CPR on children and adults. They will also be looking at the winter surgeries, flu etc.
On average there are 32 appointments per clinician per day (64 a day) however the surgery is suffering from patients who book appointments but then don’t show up (DNA - Did Not Attend). This is why they are doing more appointments on the day as the bookable appointments get abused, which is unfair on residents who do want an appointment. It tends to be the younger population who book appointments for their children and then do not arrive. If a patient regularly doesn’t turn up for their appointments they are written to and told that if it continues they will only be able to book an appointment on the day.
There are six clinical rooms in the surgery so they want to expand the service to include children’s clinics in the afternoon twice a week. They also hope to extend the practice opening hours to be a seven-day service 8:00am to 8:00pm and they have made an application to NHS England to that effect.
One problem the surgery has found is that parents picking up their children from the school have been parking in the surgery parking bays preventing doctors, who have been on house visits, from parking in their bays. Parents who have been asked to move their cars have been abusive to the doctors and surgery staff.
Last month an ambulance couldn’t get to the surgery on an emergency call because of inconsiderate parking. Fortunately, because the surgery is equipped with a defibrillator treatment was initially able to be given in the surgery.
Sara said that the Island residents had made the staff all feel very welcome and she thanked everyone.
A resident asked whether the surgery would be improving the methods of getting repeat prescriptions. Sara said that currently Prescription Clerk Sharon is getting the 200-300 prescriptions a day ready and delivered to the pharmacy within 24 hours. However, the software system that Dr Lawrence introduced seems to lose a few of the prescriptions when they go to the pharmacy and the surgery can’t find out why. Sharon keeps a log book of prescriptions sent to the pharmacy. If patients are on regular medication they can write X2 MONTHS on the prescription and the surgery will give them two months medication. This will save money if you pay for your prescription and it cuts down on the number of visits to the surgery to put in prescriptions. Before they will do this, however, you must have had a medication review with the doctor.
Chris Reynolds asked why the MyGP system that Dr Lawrence introduced wouldn’t work for repeat prescriptions as it seems to redirect to another website which asks for a long login PIN number. Sharna Lewis, who is the practice manager, explained that the practice would be moving to use Patient Access, which is the NHS England system ( Sharna said that once the surgery staff have had their training on Patient Access and everything is set up and the surgery has collected ID from patients then the PIN numbers will be sent out (usually by email).Patient Access lets users book appointments, get repeat prescriptions but also see all your patient records, scans, blood tests and medication you have received.
You won’t need MyGP anymore. All patients will be contacted to tell them of the change, either by email or text message, or if the surgery doesn’t have either then the patient will receive a letter.
A resident said that she had been given a form for a blood test by the surgery but that they couldn’t do one for 11 days. Sara explained that legally they don’t have to do blood tests in the surgery and they don’t get paid for doing them. However they do offer a blood test service but they can only do blood tests up to 11:00am. This is why there are blood test clinics. The practice nurse (who works Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and the Health Care Assistant (who works Tuesday and Thursday) are able to take blood but the tests must be done by 11:00am when the laboratory comes to collect them. Because of the backlog in medical reviews, many of which require blood tests, there is currently a long waiting time for blood tests. All 3,800 patients are having their records reviewed. Over time it is expected that appointment times for blood tests will reduce considerably but, for the time being, Sara apologized for not being able to accommodate all patients’ requirements for blood tests. On occasions when the lab hasn’t collected them some of the staff have taken them up to the hospital themselves.
Some residents thanked Sara and the Team for the improvements they’ve already made.
Item 20/18: Matters Arising
Because the last meeting was truncated early due to safety issues there were a few items which haven’t been discussed at an open meeting, but which were appended to the end of the minutes of the last meeting.
One such item is the winter gritting of the pavements/walkways. After a campaign on behalf of SMIRA by David Taylor and Allan Sneller, St. Mary’s Island is to get 6 salt/grit bins to cope with future winter conditions. Cllrs. Andrew Mackness and Habib Tejan have agreed to pay for 4 from their Ward Councillor Fund and Andrew has managed to negotiate another 2 from Medway Council. Each grit bin and the supply of salt/grit for four years costs nearly £900 so this is a very good result as the Island wouldn’t normally qualify for any bins as it is a flat area. This is another example where SMIRA’s approach and our Councillors’ proactive response has resulted in a long-term solution and Bob Muid, on behalf of SMIRA, wanted to thank our two Councillors for their generous support.
Item 21/18: Chatham Maritime Trust Report
Grant Leathwhite presented the report on behalf of CMT.
Websites and Media
The Community Centre website is being finalised, with filming completed, and is to be rolled out in the first week of June.
In the Summer CMT will be putting out another online survey to all residents.
CMT do NOT monitor the various Facebook groups 24/7 so please do not use the FB pages to alert CMT or security to issues.
Basin 2
The aeration system in Basin 2 has been operating for the last few months and water samples taken have come back as perfect swimming water. Arethusa have already expanded their watersports activities and the basin is now being used in the evenings and weekends as well as during the day. There is a discount for residents.
CMT Planning applications
There is a planning application going into Medway Council for a permanent watersports centre and CMT have some s106 money to fund the building. It’s a single storey structure with a classroom, changing rooms, reception area and café. Four new containers have been put on the pontoons.
Post Meeting Note:
Another application has been made for a permanent Trust office on the edge of Basin 1 alongside HMS Chatham Bridge. Again, it’s a single storey building.
A resident asked about the reduction in car parking spaces where the new watersports centre and the new office are going. Grant replied that there would be a loss of a few parking spaces for the watersports centre but there arethe parking spaces which Bose are currently using during the daytime which are available in the evenings and weekends.
Very few cars park on the gravel area where the new CMT office will be going and these spaces will be replaced by CMT taking the little square with bollards on it near the Ship & Trade car park and where the tugs moor. The rumour that the bollards by Marine View would be removed and car parking spaces made there is untrue. The Trust staff will park at the end of the Bose car park (where the land is owned by the Trust).
A resident raised the problem of the ground surface under the bridge and around by where the new Trust office will be. The stones can get quite slippery. Grant said that the area would be improved when the office is built.
Pontoon in Basin 2
The pontoon in Basin 2 in due to be replaced this year and an invitation to tender has gone out to three companies. CMT now expect that the work will start at the end of December to minimise inconvenience to users. The material used for the decking may change to a composite material, which would be quieter, last longer than wood, need less maintenance and not be so slippery in the wet.
Redrow
The transfer of the landscaping from Redrow to CMT has finally happened and work will start from next week. It had been hoped that the landscaping would be adopted last September, which is a quiet period, so a lot of work could have been done. However, it has come at a time when the growing season is at its peak. Where areas are dead the ground will be rotavated and bark will be applied until the September planting time when all sections will be replanted. Any sections that have been looked after by residents and look nice will not be touched.
There is an £8,000 fund with the transfer to buy new plants and shrubs and after the initial planting CMT will maintain the area.SMIRA have been working with CMT to achieve this preferential result across the Island through quarterly Road Adoption meetings with all parties for over 5 years.SMIRA would also like to acknowledge the support of Medway Council Highways Adoption Team and our Ward Councillors for working with us on this transfer.
Food and Drink Festival
The Food & Drink Festival 2018 takes place this weekend, the 26th, 27th and 28th May. On Saturday and Monday Arethusa are putting on activities for children and adults who want to try water sports. The Dragon boat racing will be on the Sunday; currently there are 26 teams competing. There is no parking on the Colonial House site but there will be parking on the university grounds. Signs will be put up to say there is no parking on the Island.
Resident Planting day
Saturday 6th October is resident planting day on the West Bund. Pink flowers will be planted in aid of Breast Cancer UK. All residents are invited to attend and help plant the flowers; last year we didn’t have many residents volunteering. Young children generally find it a fun day.
Christmas Fair
The Christmas Fair is going ahead again this year on24th November at the Community Centre.
Covenants
CMT will start the covenants audit at the start of next month so there may be some issues which come up and some residents will get letters.
There’s an urban myth on the Island that the covenants only last for two years; some people believe they only last for 10 years. In fact, in the transfer document of residents’ deeds it states that the covenants are in perpetuity. In law perpetuity is 80 years and we are twenty years into the covenants, so we have another 60 years, at least. If a house is white you can change the colour after 12 years but if residents want to change the colour of their front door or make other changes to their property they need consent from the Trust for the next 60 years.
There will be another Estate Walk later in the year
Residents asked if the trees which were removed from the bunds would be replaced with something with a bit of height. Grant explained that whatever is replanted will need to have shallower roots to prevent them from penetrating the membrane covering the waste material beneath.
Areas where the hard frost killed off the Hebes will be replaced later in the year. Some of the plants are still dying back so the Trust don’t know the full extent of the damage yet.
Chris Reynolds asked Grant about the riverside walkway; where the cobbles were tarmacked over in black, instead of the red of the other areas. Grant replied that the cobbles were removed because of the increasing number of complaints by residents, wheelchair users and those with baby buggies. When the section of riverside walk is redone it will all be one colour, although that might not be for several years.
On Finsborough Slip there is coloured glass on the ground in a pattern. It was redone a few years ago but it is not wearing well and consideration will be given to trying something else. Bob Muid suggested using coloured resin surfaces which can be made into complicated designs. Grant said that the cost of such a surface would be much more expensive than we have.
Item 22/18: Chair’s Report
There is no Chair’s report.
Item 23/18: Secretary’s Report
Since the last meeting we’ve had 8 new members. A resident asked why the Board were resigning at the next AGM as there was never a vote of no confidence in them. The Directors found that some of the things said about them on Facebook groups to be personally abhorrent. Attendees at this meeting said that since then there has been a great deal of support by residents of David Taylor and the existing Board and don’t really see why the Board should resign.
Item 24/18: Treasurer’s Report