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Minutes of Annual General Meeting Held on 23rd October 2012
1. Present:Victor Scofield: Chair
Alex Bradshaw, Nicola Greaves, Stella Thornett, Jeanette Riglin
Meg Clarke, Geoff Parry,Mike Allen,Pat Alker, Anne Castledine
Apologies: Jim McMurdo,Joan Edwards, Pat Kenzie,Sara Lee
Terry Lee, Geoff Perry, Maggie Hughes, Peter Gillard
2. Minutes of the 2012 AGM.
The Chairman read the Minutes of the previous AGM held on the 24thOctober 2012. There was a spelling amendment to pg 3(Patients’ Participation Group) It was Proposed by N Greaves and Seconded by S Thornett that these be accepted as a true record. Agreed.
3. Chairman’s Report.
Last year we embarked on a new meeting system. We had in the past met monthly at 7p on the 4th Wednesday of each month excluding August and December. This last year we have met Bi-monthly at 7pm in summertime and 2.30pm in the darker months except of course August and December but with this AGM as an exception at 7pm.
The reasons we changed was to attempt to increase numbers attending each meeting as well as hoping to attract new members. Has it worked? We have attracted two new members one of which does not wish to attend 7pm meetings especially in darker months and therefore sent her apologies for this meeting. Attendance at meetings has changed from an average of 81/2 members per meeting in 2012 to 10 per meeting 2013. Later in this meeting we can decide when meetings should take place in 2014.
Looking back over the year I see that we heard that our work to obtain more Dental Units for the Dentist had born fruit. However, we had concerns about holiday cover for the dentist, something I see we have not done anything about yet.
We raised concerns we had heard about from patients about the GP cover in the Health Centre. .By raising the concerns we learnt that in fact we had more GP cover than last year because of more resident GP’s working full time and that when we lost a GP a replacement was found swiftly. I know that some of the other GP practices in the Stafford and Surrounds Clinical Commissioning group have not had the same success as there are still GP vacancies in the District. However, not all the good things that are done hear are published to the Patients. The Practice has done things to correct this and we must do our part. We have put regular articles in the GPN in the past and I think we must start this again.
This year we were very much concerned with the situation at StaffordHospital. The situation is most concerned with Finance and it is that that has driven the Special Report on the hospital drafted not by medically trained staff but by accountants. There was public outcry which culminated in a public march in favour of keeping services at the hospital of 53,000 people. There followed both public and private meetings with the Special Administrators appointed. It remains to be seen if the special administrators will change the plans they published in light of public comments or not. Of course this is only the start of what is likely to happen all over the country to small or midsized hospitals. The Special Administrators will now be compiling their final report which will be sent to the Ministry of Health by the end of 2013 and will there be scrutinized. We will not know what is in it and the Ministry will only agree to anything in it if they are willing to supply the money to implement it. What then comes out we will have to live (or die) with but will not know if it was what the Special Administrators put into their plans or not.
We were much concerned about the Out of Hours Service which had let down patients all over the region including us. The out of hour’s contract is one that our Clinical Commissioning Group controls and is now up for granting. We have made our views known via the Patient Participation Group. The people who will be considering the contract will have before them the constructive comments that came from our July meeting. It was disappointing for us to learn that despite the new NHS organisation being supposed to be being led by GP,s they will not have a veto over the contracts granted by the Clinical Commissioning Group. However, on the subject of the afterhour’s service we have had our say.
We recently have heard of the Ministry of Health’s new initiative for sharing our Health Records to create a better service. Our only worry is that the Ministry does not have a good reputation for keeping our records out of the hands of those who should not have them This time they assure us that Insurance Companies and Drug companies will not have access to them but as the records they will share will have the date of birth, gender postcode and NHS number we knew that many of the patients of this practice would not want their records included in this. We are taking steps to publicise this as much as possible. The Stafford Newsletter has put in a brief mention and I am hoping the GPN will carry a fuller comment so that those who do not wish their medical record shared can let the Health Centre know.
Through out the year we have been kept up to date with the work of the Health Centre by the good offices of Dr Greaves and the Practice Manager Mrs N Greaves and are grateful for this. We hope that we can continue to help them spread news the good work they do but also let them know when we think change is either not required or needed.
At the start of the year members said that they wanted to know more of work of the Stafford and Surrounds Clinical Commissioning Group. Next month a lay member of the Trust Board namely Ruth Goodison is coming to our meeting both to see how we operate and to inform us of the SAS CCGs work.
I thank all who have attended the meetings and especially Peter who has been taking the minutes, Stella the Vice-chair who has stepped in to chair meetings in my absence and Joan Edwards our Treasurer who has looked after our money. Unfortunately Peter has let us know he can no longer continue to take the notes of our meetings. I thank Peter for the work he has done which has not been easy for him. Also I report that Joan Edwards who has been our Treasurer for many years is resigning both as treasurer and as a member. I think that as a Forum we should send Joan our thanks for all the good work she has done in the past not only as Treasurer but also for publicity in the past.
So to the next year. We must continue to keep watchful eye on changes to the NHS and in out Health Centre, listen to our fellow patients especially those who do not or cannot attend meetings and speak up for them and keep them informed.
4. Treasurer’s Report
In the Treasurer’s absence, the Chairman reported that funds currently stood at £675.52. There has been no demand on funds throughout the year. There was a discussion about the need for funds. Clarity was sort about fundraising for the surgery. NG explained that the Friends and Patients group had been allocated fundraising as their remit some years ago and that Patients’ Forum had decided not to engage in fundraising.
- (i)
Appointment of Chairman
It was Proposed by Mike Allen and Seconded by Nicola Greaves that Victor Scofield be re-appointed as Chairman. Agreed.
(ii)
Appointment of Vice Chair
Stella Thornett stood down as vice chair. It was proposed by Victor Scofield and seconded by Stella Thornett that Alex Bradshaw should be appointed as Vice-Chair. Agreed.
(iii) Appointment of Secretary
It was Proposed by Victor Scofield and Seconded by Mike Allen that Maggie Hughes be appointed as Secretary. Agreed.
(iv) Appointment of Treasurer
It was Proposed by Victor Scofield and Seconded by Mike Allen that Alex Bradshaw should be appointed as Treasurer. Agreed.
6. Members
Geoff Parry and Joan Edwards announced they would be unable to attend further meetings due to other commitments. The surgery expressed their gratitude for the contribution made by members.
7. Any Other Business
Due to the change in membership the following new signatories were agreed for the building society account: P Alker, A Bradshaw, (existing V Scofield to remain)
The A.G.M. closed at 7.35p.m.
Further discussions
Nicola was able to report about the latest news from the surgery which includes the flu clinics and the vaccinations available for Shingles and Pneumonia.
Dr Ziobro, or Dr Kate as many patients know her will be going on maternity leave from the 15th November, she hopes to return to her job mid summer next year. In the meantime Dr Deepal Patel will be covering her hours and ensuring we have another female doctor at the practice. Many patients already know Deepal as she is a regular locum at the practice.
There was a discussion about the future of the local hospital and the forthcoming TSA report. Nicola was able to explain the decision made by the SAS CCG not to support the initial plan.
The meeting schedule was discussed it was agreed to keep to the variation in times between afternoon and evening to make it possible for a wide range of patients to attend. It was also noted that parents who attend baby clinic are able to give feedback or comments on services to the forum.
Meeting dates for 2014
2nd January 2014 2.30pm
26th March 2014 2.30pm
28th May 2014 7pm
23rd July 2014 7pm
24th September 2014 2.30pm
22nd October 2014 AGM 7pm
26th November 2014 2.30pm