Local Eyecare Professional Network (LEPN)
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Minutes of the meeting on Wednesday 19th September 2012 at 2:30pm in Conference Room 2, Bartholomew House, 142 Hagley Road, B16 9PA
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1. In attendance:
Name / Representing / Name / RepresentingBen Cochrane / Bham/Solihull Cluster / Sarah Johnson / Solihull CCG
Michelle Deenah / Bham/Solihull Cluster / Mary Bairstow / Vision 20-20
David Brown / Bham/Solihull Cluster / Andrew Sheehan / Bham City Council
Victoria Stanley / Bham/Solihull Cluster / Tim Matthews / UHB
Debbie Graham / Optometric Advisor / Mike Hughes / Patient Rep.
Andrew Miller / Optometric Advisor / Ian Hadfield / Birmingham LOC
Liz Green / Sandwell WB CCG / Spencer Parkes / Solihull LOC
Rebecca Marsden / HEFT/Low Vision / Dr A Ahluwalia / Public Health
Robert Cubbidge / Aston University / Dr A Vora / Sth Central CCG
Maged Nessim / Sandwell WB Hosp / Will Thornton / Action for the Blind
Apologies were received from Darren Wright (Health and Well-Being Board), and Andy Wakeman (Public Health). The meeting was chaired by Michelle Deenah.
2.1 The meeting was chaired by Michelle Deenah who confirmed the appointment of the core LEPN members. The clinical members had been selected following submissions of expressions of interest which were reviewed by a small panel (including a patient representative). Contact details of the core LEPN as follows:
Debbie Graham
Tim Matthews
Ian Hadfield
Andrew Miller
Andrew Wakeman
Michelle Deenah
Ben Cochrane
2.2 The future accountability and funding arrangements for LEPNs nationally is yet to be formally decided, however, locally, funding for members is available at sessional rates for the remainder of the financial year.
2.3 The appointment of the LEPN chair will take place at an interim core meeting on a date to be agreed in October. It was suggested that the Terms of Reference for the Network be submitted to the Cluster FHS meeting for ratification or information as appropriate. Members were invited to submit any comments or proposed changes by the end of September 2012.
3. At the previous meeting four key priorities for LEPN workstreams were discussed, these were as follows:
3.1 CCG Priorities.
Debbie Graham gave a presentation on the current position regarding the local CCG’s and the eyecare clinical leads they have appointed. The LEPN will have an important role working with the CCG’s and initial dialogue has already started.
3.2 Service Mapping
Michelle Deenah gave an overview of some initial work that has started with support from Finance colleagues and Perminder Paul in conjunction with HEFT Ophthalmology Group. Further work needs to be done to breakdown overall spend across the eyecare economy into meaningful data to understand what is being commissioned, from which providers and how this maps across to the Needs Assessment.
3.3 Communications Strategy
David Brown presented a brief overview of the LEPN’s draft communication strategy detailing the key principals to be applied and the mechanisms to be used to ensure that the group was able to communicate effectively. The draft strategy will be made available for comment before being finalised.
3.4 Eyecare Needs Assessment (ENA)
Andrew Miller gave a brief run through of the current position giving details of the various ENA’s produced in various parts of the country and explained that the Needs Assessment template produced by the Health Development Agency may be useful going forward. Further discussions would need to take place within the group to identify the strategy and resources needed to make further progress.
3.5 The group then discussed further potential workstreams that could be prioritised. The issue of good communication regarding existing schemes such as the rollout of the IOP scheme across the Black Country was raised. Liz Green will keep colleagues on the LEPN up to date with further developments.
This led to a further discussion regarding access to services out of hours at BMEC since some colleagues felt there was some confusion regarding contact details and how these are cascaded into primary care. Michelle Deenah will Liaise with Maged to look at how this can be resolved and access improved.
The issue of referral pathways was raised as a key area to consider harmonising as there are variations in approach across the Cluster as well as in the Black Country. It was noted that Black Country colleagues have expressed a willingness to do some joint working on pathways. Members expressed the view that it would be good to focus on harmonisation across Birmingham and Solihull initially. The pros and cons of each approach were discussed and Spencer Parkes noted that Birmingham was not in step with the picture nationally and that a review may be needed to understand the implications of each approach. Ian Hadfield volunteered to lead the workstream on this issue given he had already started looking into this issue and is a member of the regional Optical Committee. The need to include secondary care colleagues on this workstream was noted.
3.6 Andrew Sheehan and Will Thornton reminded the group that they should not lose sight of the impact of vision loss from a social care perspective. The group acknowledged the importance of this and it was agreed that future agenda’s would be agreed on a joint basis ahead of meetings.
4. The meeting then split into two groups as follows
4.1 Service Mapping and CCG priorities
· Cataract referrals and Age Related Macular Degeneration(AMD) would be prioritised to determine best practice with a view to providing CCG’s with an evidence base for future commissioning decisions.
· Tim Matthews in his role as an LEPN member to write out to secondary care providers asking for clarity regarding current clinical and communication pathways for Age Related Macular Degeneration.
· As previously agreed Ian Hadfield would lead the referral workstream at 3.5.
4.2 Eyecare Needs Assessment
· A key priority will be the gathering of accurate population data for the Cluster. This will need to include ethnicity data.
· Arun Ahluwalia felt it would be possible to obtain population data at ward level across the Cluster and he would try and obtain this.
· Andrew Miller felt it would be useful to use the UK Vision Strategy Template for Eye Health and Sight Loss model for analyzing population data and he would look into this.
· Will Thornton was aware that some preliminary data had been gathered by Birmingham City Council public health team for a vision strategy document. Andrew Sheehan agreed to look into this and find out what data existed.
· Andrew Miller agreed to meet with Dr Arun Ahluwalia and Dr Andrew Wakeman to discuss the validity and use of the template to gather the necessary data. Amanda Nally, a service development manager from Thomas Pocklington Trust has agreed to offer some time to support a vision strategy. Andrew Miller agreed to meet Amanda to gauge the help she can offer.
5. The meeting concluded and the date and time of the next
meeting would be confirmed shortly.