Minutes for the Dudley LOC Committee Meeting held at 6.40p.m. on Monday 5th October 2015
RussellsHallHospital, Education Centre
Committee in Attendance
Shamina Asif (Chair),David Wright (Treasurer),Paul Sidhu (Secretary),Kay Reeves, Sunit Jolly, Peter Bainbridge, Rosie Birhah, Sonia Tyrell, Narinder Hunjan
Also in attendance
Mark Tuffin
- Apologies
Charles Barlow, Jiva Bangay, Jasheen Mangat
2.Declarations of Interest
There were no new declarations of interest.
3. Minutes of Previous Meeting
These were accepted as an accurate record, Proposed bySA, secondedbyPB
- Matters Arising
All actions completed except that Peter Bainbridge will forward list of MPs to SA and PS
Action: PB
5. AGM, Filling Vacancies and Expenses
It was recommended by CB at the AGM that, due to the low turnout, the Committee should vote to ratify the following resolutions from the AGM:
Items 5, 10, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 on the AGM agenda.
A vote was held with regard to the item 5 electronic invites alone being acceptable for the AGM. There were 8 in favour, none against and 1 abstention
A vote was held with regard to item 10 resolution on elections. This was agreed.
A vote was held with regard to the item 15the Statutory Levy There were 8 in favour, none against and 1 abstention.
A vote was held with regard to Item 16 contribution to LOCSU and carried unanimously.
Item 17 discussed in Treasurer’s report later in these minutes.
A discussion took place regarding item 18 the proposed increase in the contribution to the Central (LOC) Fund to £1000 to include (and instead of)any contribution to National eye health week. A vote was held, none voted for zero contribution, 7 for £500, 1 for £1000 and there was 1 abstention. It was therefore agreed to contribute £500 this year. DW to send the contribution
Action: DW
A vote was held with regard to Item 19 Appointment of Auditors. DW recommendedE.R. Grove be appointed again. Voted and carried unanimously.
6. Correspondence
Hot Briefs distributed prior to meeting by PS
7.NHS Updates
7.1 Forensic Audit of GOS Claims
PB informed the Committee that this was still ongoing.
8.CCG Engagement
CB reports (see later) that the CCG have not replied to recent attempts to contact them.
9. Chair’sBusiness
9.1 - Healthy Living Optician Scheme – This has now commenced with the first practice, R.T. Knights in Sedgley having an open day attended by the Mayor and Mayoress of Dudley. Two new practices are to join the scheme, by the end of the month all practices should be accredited. CB has informed SA that he will nominate Dudley for an Innovation Award.
9.2 Meeting Reports– SA has agreed to carry out a workshop with Michelle Dyas at the NOC regarding the HLO scheme.
9.3 Special Needs Sight Tests – Nothing to report.
9.4 College Updates – On 22nd November there is to be a Peer Discussion held at the Botanical Gardens in Edgbaston.
9.5 Jasheen (aka Sheena) has been undertaking the new members induction course run by LOCSU.
9.6. SA informed the Committee that she has been shortlisted for the NOC Poster Competition.
9.7 SA and PS expressed their embarrassment at forgetting the Vision Strategy being worked on with help from CB.
10 . Secretary’s Business
10.1 – HWMROC –PS has circulated the minutes from the last meeting.
10.2 - AGM Matters Arising - Already dealt with above.
10.3 - Laurie Mayne- CB suggested that Laurie be removed from the Committee email communications as he is retired and no longer registered with the GOC. The Committee agreed but will continue to email Laurie with general notifications.
Action: PS
11 . Treasurer’s Business
DW reported that the current balance is now below £20,000 and falling quickly. He proposed that, in line with the authorisation received at previous AGMs to alter the levy, it should be raised by 0.25%. A vote was held and this was agreed unanimously.
DW is concerned about the amount of expenditure the LOC has undertaken recently and suggested a fixed fee amount for organising CET which should include hours worked. PB felt that as long as the expenditure was kept with the yearly CET budget of £5,000 he was not too concerned. RB commented that the expenditure was in line with the number of events planned. This was discussed by the Committee and it was decided that DW would monitor more closely and report back to the Committee.
DW is to find out who he now needs to contact in order to raise the Levy.
ACTION: DW
12.Vice Chair report
CB not in attendance but submitted a report:
12.1 Russells Hall Approach
CB met with the Surgical Director of the Dudley Acute Trust (Russells Hall)& with Mr Shafquat on 1st September. The Trust have reached breaking pointwith ophthalmology and want to explore ways in which optometry can assistwith the management of stable patients. CB reports it was a productive meeting, with the clinical lead reluctant to let workout, but under pressure from his management to make changes.
It was agreed that the way to help the Trust was to try to reduce thenumber of patients being sent to the Trust, as well as taking over low riskstable cases. The Surgical Director confirmed the Trusts support for our proposals tothe CCG.The Trust is as frustrated with the CCG as we are as they have made noprogress either. CB has contacted Mark Curran, commissioning manager at the CCG, twicerecently regarding this but he has not replied yet.
12.2 Wet AMD Fax
CB reports he was informed the Wet AMD Fax has been removed when he tried to recentlyFax a referral. CB was told that Wet AMD referrals need to be sent by email. CB has contacted Mr Shafquat about this raising the point that we do nothave NHS email addresses and therefore cannot send patient identifiable data by email. He has not replied.
CB has therefore contacted the Surgical Director advising that he shall be reportingthis as a serious clinical incident/risk if something is not done. She is onannual leave and returns on Wednesday.
In the meantime, CB suggests that if practices are unable to access the faxmachine, then phone RHH and inform them that you are sending them as anemergency. Under no circumstances must practitioners allow problems with the pathwaydelay patients being seen, as we are professionally liable if there is adelay to their treatment.
PS to notify all practices of this issue.
Action: CB, PS
12.3 Paid Administrator – Nothing to report.
13.CET Officer’s Business
RB informed the Committee that 74 people attended the last CET event and its approximate cost was £1500.
A joint Sandwell and Dudley Glaucoma evening is being held on 16th November sponsored by Allergan. When final details have been confirmed RB will email PS.
The next CET event is to be the last week in February 2016.
PS asked the committee if there was anything we could do to improve the “production value” of the events. Those who attended College of Optometry events expressed the opinion that we are on a par with those.
14.Communication Officer’s Business
NH informed the Committee that,now the new website has been completed, we can add links to Facebook, Twitter etc. NH asked the Committee what ourplan was for our use ofsocial media: is it to communicate with Optometrists or other eyecare professionals? PS and SA agreed that its purpose is to communicate with our constituents i.e. performers and contractors. NH will forward the login details for social media accounts to PS, SA, DW and CB.
NH also asked how much time the Committee would like him to spend on this as he realised there were possible budget constraints. The Committee agreed that he should spend between 2-4 hours per month and to report back if this wasn’t sufficient time.
PB suggested that the Committee should target 2 to 4 people from the local area to attend each meeting with a personalised invitation to try and improve participation.
ACTION: NH, PS
15. Authorisation to act and email conversations
Same proposal as previously. PS proposed. Authorisation approved.
16. AOB
CB asked the Committee if they had noticed an increase in referrals for NHS sight tests which are not suitable under the GOS guidelines. Both ST and SJ reported a recent increase.
CB feels the agendas and meeting length for this committee are too long. He proposed that officers should write reports before the meetings to be sent out and read to include any draft proposals. The Committee discussed and agreed.
Action : SA, DW, PS, CB
SA distributed a leaflet from Public Health that she has helped to design and informed the Committee that she has been interviewed by Optometry Today with regard to being an Asian woman in Optometry.
17.Date for Next Meeting
Monday 11th January 2016
The meeting closed at8.40p.m.
Action / Action byForward to PS and SA details of local MPs / PB
Send £500 contribution to the Central (LOC) Fund / DW
Remove LM from committee email list, and put him on general email list / PS
Arrange for the Levy to increase by 0.25% / DW
Press for reinstatement of the Wet AMD pathway fax machine / CB
Inform practitioners of the LOC’s advice regarding the issues with the Wet AMD pathway fax machine / PS
Forward login details for social media accounts to PS, SA, DW and CB / NH
Contact 2 to 4 people to personally invite them to the next committee meeting / PS
Prepare and circulate reports for the next committee meeting / SA, DW, PS, CB