Healthwatch Management Committee Meeting
held in the Oak Room, Tontine House, St Helens
10.30am – 13.30pm on Tuesday 1st September 2015
Present:
Tom Hughes (Chair)
Wendy Burton
Francis Williams
Brenda Smith
Alan Griffiths
Jane Dearden
Sam Omar
Jonathan Griffith
Sheila Barron (PA)
Emma Rodriguez Dos Santos
Debbie East (Minutes)
Apologies:
Joan Young
Elaine Cotterill
Chris Coffey
Joyce Storton
Welcome and Apologies
Tom welcomed everybody and apologies were noted.
Declarations of Interest/Conflict of Interest
Tom asked if there was any declarations of interest.
Governance
Away Day on Tuesday 1st September 2015 – draft programme (to be tabled):
Members reviewed a draft copy of the agenda for the day and asked for comment. Handouts, around task groups and information-sharing sessions, will be available on the day. Some members queried why ‘Understanding Data’ had been taken off the agenda and requested to cover this subject at a later date. Healthwatch could possibly look at having a ‘Skills Sharing’ day if there was enough interest.
Representative request – CCG work:
Healthwatch have had a request from the CCG for a representative for the Out of Hospital/Community Nursing Review. This is a major piece of work in conjunction with other CCGs. Ideally two people are required from Healthwatch on each steering group, and Emma has suggested Brenda and Joyce for this role. The public session on 22nd Sept. was open to all and Jonathan was booked onto this and it would be circulated to the wider membership.
Sponsorship of Health Education Awards
Healthwatch is contributing £200 alongside the CCG towards certificates to be awarded to young people volunteering in educational pursuits.
Minutes of previous meeting – 4th August 2015
The previous minutes were accepted as an accurate record, with a couple of amendments.
Accuracy and matters arising
Page 3 – Preventing Mental Ill Health:
The management committee requested figures for suicides in the St Helens area and analysis of how many of these are linked to cuts in benefits. They also asked if we could find out how service providers judge the difference between being suicidal and having a mental health issue as 5BP say that not all suicides meet the criteria of mental health. Emma to request this information.
Action: Emma
Page 4 – Good Quality GP service task group:
The next step is to work with the Practice Managers around a good quality GP service award. We had originally said that awards would be given out by Christmas, however the task group was not able to meet over the summer due to practice manager and volunteer availability.
Jayne went to a PPG meeting, at Wendy’s request to present this report and give the results of the survey. The members were very impressed with all the work that had been done.
The management committee said that they would like to know why patients registering with a new GP have to wait weeks before they can get an appointment. They asked for an outline from St Helens CCG what their new patient criteria is and how long they should expect to wait before they are seen.
Action: Jayne
Page 5 – End of Life:
The management committee said that they would like to know what 5BP’s policy is around End of Life.
Action: Janet
Page 5 – Safer Staffing:
This section needed re-wording
Feedback from Reps – Wednesday 10th June 2015 – Patient Safety Council – Alan:
An activity log is still needed for this meeting.
Action: Alan
Workplan:
Preventing Mental Ill Health
Strategic framework and evaluation of action plans:
Healthwatch has provided two responses on the strategic framework, a total of 6 responses were received as comments.
· Time to Talk and suicide prevention awareness:
Healthwatch to support this event which is being hosted by Drew Perkins from the Healthy Living Team. It is to get St Helens talking about mental health and 100 people to have a 10 minute conversation with 10 people. The event is on Monday 5th October at St Helens Town Hall from 1pm – 4.30pm and people can join up any time until end of December.
The management committee discussed the possibility of putting ‘Time to Talk’ on the agenda for the Away Day, as an information session, however the day was already quite full. It was felt that there doesn’t appear to be a joined up service to cater for all ages although mental ill health is such a broad spectrum.
Volunteers are needed for this event.
Healthwatch are expecting some information around Suicide Prevention Awareness training which we can send out, as there is still a need for this kind of training.
Rep request – hospital trust meeting:
The Mental Health strategic framework is soon to be signed off. However the hospital trust has meetings around what service people with a mental health crisis get when they go to A&E. Emma suggested Sam would be suitable representative on this, Wendy said that she would like to be his deputy for this.
Action: Sam
Good Quality GP service task group
Interim report – JSNA, CCG:
This will be taken to the next practice managers meeting and Tom has been asked to speak at the CCGs AGM on Thursday 17th September 2015.
SIN session about GPs – 30th September:
Karen Leverett will be going along to the next Social Inclusion Network on 30th September to speak about GPs.
End of Life care
Coffee morning to consult – different stages of information needs:
Healthwatch are going to put together some useful information which is needed when an End of Life situation occurs and Janet is leading on this. Looking at doing this in 3 sections:
· Preceding death – Advanced Care Planning
· Point of death – funeral arrangements etc
· Post bereavement – what happens now; impact of the death.
Healthwatch to host a coffee morning to look at this. We also need to look at carers’ duties and what happens to the cared for when their carer dies. Also getting information around what support available when a child dies.
Citizens Charter, Locality meeting, EoL steering group:
At present there is no AMBER bundle (a training programme) co-ordinator, but there is money available to employ another one.
Essential meetings – revise list of commitments (discussion)
Emma said that she is going to take a look at what meetings fit our workplan and the management committee should then cease going to activities that aren’t necessary to deliver our work. Emma to provide a new list and if anybody is interested in attending a specific meeting they need to agree it with committee beforehand.
The management committee felt that they were often asked to attend meetings that weren’t within their remit.
Action: Emma
Feedback from Reps – Strategic meetings and other reports:
Tuesday 4th August 2015 – Frailty Pathway Strategy Project Group – Brenda/Chris (verbal):
This meeting didn’t go ahead as it is being ceased for the time being. Debbie to send cancellations to for all meetings that are no longer relevant, due to CCG’s pause.
Action: Debbie
Wednesday 5th August 2015 – StH&K Trust Patient Experience Council – Joan (report):
The management committee were given a copy of this report.
Tuesday 11th August 2015 – StH&K Trust CQC Public Listening Event – Emma (verbal):
Healthwatch obtained 2 case studies from this event. The first one has been passed on to 5BP and the second has been passed to the relevant Healthwatch as it was out of our area. It was a good event and opinions of St Helens & Knowsley NHS Trust were good overall but it was felt that the management committee needed to be present at future sessions.
Wednesday 12th August 2015 – StH&K NHS Trust Patient Safety Council – Alan (verbal):
Alan was unable to attend this meeting.
Thursday 13th August 2015 – Systems Resilience Group (Mid Mersey) – Tom (verbal):
This meeting is about allocation of funding from the winter pressures budget that CCG’s administer every year, usually by giving providers extra money to go towards relieving pressures at A&E. Tom feels they need to get them to provide an outcomes-proven approach, rather than doing the same stuff that hasn’t worked before.
e.g. what would their policy be around polluted water and winter pressure schemes?
The CCG want a survey done to see why people are turning up at A&E, members suggested it could be because they couldn’t get an appointment at their doctors. ERDS is still waiting to hear whether Healthwatch will be commissioned to do this, it will need additional staff and several volunteers to do this and some hours will be unsociable. A quote has been provided, as this will be additional to our statutory duties and will not impact on the agreed work plan.
The committee confirmed this work would be acceptable if commissioned.
Thursday 13th August 2015 – Scrutiny meeting with the ASCH Team – Brenda (report):
The committee were given a copy of the Care Act 2014: ‘Needs that meet the eligibility criteria: adults who need care and support’. The committee to take this away and come back with any comments they may have. The committee said they would like to know what the standards are for meeting the eligibility criteria and on what grounds they are making their decision.
Action: Emma
Thursday 13th August 2015 – Patient Experience & Involvement Group – Emma (verbal):
Healthwatch and CCG are now starting to debate about/around the quality of services.
Monday 17th August 2015 – End of Life Steering Group – Brenda (report):
This was discussed earlier.
Wednesday 19th August 2015 – NW Chairs and Chief Officers Healthwatch meeting – Emma (verbal):
Discussed what progress we have made around ILF isuses as this is now starting to be discussed in other Healthwatch and what had come out of the Personalisation event. Other NW local Healthwatch were interested in this.
Friday 21st August 2015 – St Helens Strategic Development Group – Tom (verbal):
There was nothing to report from this meeting.
Any Other Business
Carers UK
Carers UK are doing a piece of work around hospital car parking and have a questionnaire which they would like us to advertise. This will be put on the website.
Patient Experience Group (Walton centre)
The meeting wasn’t quorate from the staff side, so they had to wait 25 minutes before they could start. Future meetings to be rearranged and changed as a result.
Visit to Alder Hey
Notes from this visit to be brought to the next meeting. The committee were asked about the possibility of sponsoring a bird as part of the artwork for £500.
CQC Session
A CQC Session was to be held in Manchester on 13th October and if anybody is interested in attending they need to let Debbie know as they need to register by 30th September. Debbie to re-send a copy of the email giving more details. Alan said that he is interested in attending.
Action: Debbie
Lilycross care home
We have had information that Lilycross has now closed. CQC took urgent action and 28 residents, of which 12 were St Helens patients, have had to be placed elsewhere.
Monitoring Report
Debbie to send the management committee the latest copy of the monitoring report.
Action: Debbie
Informal Committee Meeting
It was decided to cancel the next informal meeting on 15th September 2015.
Actions:
Emma: To find out the figures for suicides in the St Helens area and how many of these can be linked to cuts in benefits.
Jayne: To contact St Helens CCG to find out what their new patient criteria is and how long they should expect to wait before they are seen.
Janet: To find out what 5BP’s policy is around End of Life.
Alan PEC meeting June – activity log required
Sam Advise whether willing to attend hospital-led meeting re. Mental health
Emma: To revise the Essential Meetings list.
Emma: Request Adult Services to send new eligibility criteria in plain language for local members (advised this was to be available from March 2015)
Jane D: Copy of carers survey to be sent to support team for website
Debbie: To send Alan a cancellation for the Frailty Pathway Strategy Project Group.
Debbie: To send the management committee a copy of the email regarding the CQC Session in Manchester on 13th October 2015.
Debbie: Debbie to send the management committee the latest copy of the monitoring report.
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