MINUTES OF WIRRAL LOC AGM

TUESDAY 14th JUNE 2011

AT POSGRADUATE CENTRE, CLATTERBRIDGE

Attendance(as per attendance sheets)

Dylan Barton, Lynn Daly, Pam Harris, Fred Howard, David McGowan, Ian McGarvey, Peter Ball, Dorothy Ball, Claire Hodges, Madeleine Norton, David Price, Rachel Hyland, Laura Baddeley, Brian Lee, Nick Whittingham, Shane Canning, Ken Roberts, Rob Millican, Vikki Price.

Glenn Coleman (NHS Wirral) and Gary Price (Wirral Community NHS Trust) also present.

Apologies

Joanne Marshall, Kirsty Jackson, Liz Pope, Liz Gartshore, David Lok, Richard Orrell, John Harris, Jan Coetzee.

Minutes of Previous AGM and Matters Arising

There were no matters arising. Acceptance of the minutes was proposed by Ken Roberts and seconded by Shane Canning.

Presentation

Glenn Coleman, deputy Director of Wirral NHS, gave an overview of the current and future position of Wirral NHS and how this would affect Optometric services.

In the new NHS landscape, commissioning for services would have a strong patient voice. National consistency would also be very important. Control was to become more centralised, but based on the best of local innovation, so that the best local practise could be adopted nationally.

Clinical Commissioning Groups (similar to GP Commissioning Consortia) would become responsible for 60-80% of NHS budget.

The NHS Commissioning Board would have a local office, 25% of current staffing levels would remain to manage independent contractors, such as dentists, opticians and pharmacists.

They will be responsible for quality improvements, performance issues and links with Local Professional Networks. These LPNs are being formed to ensure implementation of NHS Commissioning Board strategy. The LPN will involve the areas involved in the new PCT cluster mandated by the Department of Health which includes Wirral Cheshire and Warrington.

At Wirral level, a Local Engagement Network would operate to provide peer review and support and to understand unwarranted variation. The LPN would be concerned with raising quality, providing the NHS with local intelligence and clinically engaging within and across disciplines and pathways.

The Chief Executive of the new PCT cluster was going to be Cathy Doran with Shyamal Mukherjee the Medical Director.

The NHS Commissioning Board was to come into effect from October 1st, 2012.

Gary Price, Business Manager of Wirral Community NHS Trust, gave a brief update on the Wirral Community Ophthalmology Scheme. He announced that there would be an evening dinner/ presentation by Som Prasad at the Village Hotel on June 27th to which participating practices were invited.

He explained that the Wirral Community NHS Trust comprised 1,400 staff and was responsible for a budget of £65,000,000.

So far 18 practices had signed up to the Any Willing Provider ophthalmology service, giving excellent geographic coverage across the area. This was supplemented by the Wirral Vision clinic at Field Road.

Uptake had been good so far but should improve after a publicity launch after June 27th.

Shane Canning asked for clarification of pathway for referring Flashes and Floaters, and Nick Whittingham requested a list of participating practices. Fred Howard explained that a leaflet was to be published with a list of available practices.

Pam Harris pointed out that many of the patients in Heswall had GPs from neighbouring PCT’s, such as Neston, and that a fee could not therefore be claimed. Gary Price responded that they were looking at rolling out the scheme across bordering PCTs.

Chair’s Report

Fred explained changes to the cataract referral scheme. This would re-launch with accreditation using part of the WOPEC scheme. Improvements to the referral forms were afoot, simplifying the process but also being more informative, for example whether the patient drives.

Goldmann IOP training was still ongoing and anybody still requiring training should contact David McGowan.

The Low Vision enhanced service required some amendments to the specifications before rolling out. The service would follow LOCSU guidelines and would require WOPEC accreditation.

The LVA clinic at Arrowe Park Hospital would continue to run.

Fred also reported that the Paediatric Eyecare pathway was still being developed. The next meeting was to take place on June 15th.

Issues with the diabetic screening service were then discussed, highlighting the need for online City and Guild exams to be completed by September. Fred urged screeners to have a good look at unassessable images which were really partially assessable, and also to comment on urgency of photos. Mr Kumar was to carry out compliance visits from July.

Secretary’s Report

Dave McGowan explained that Wirral LOC had been asked to participate in a cluster of north-west LOCs in order to share ideas, compare information and gain feedback. The lead for this cluster was Susan Parker, appointed by LOCSU. Wirral LOC would be sending representatives to any future cluster meetings and was represented in the e-mail forum.

Dave then urged attendees to log onto their nhs.net accounts at least once a week as this was the conduit through which information from the Community NHS Trust would be sent. He added that he had started using the Wirral LOC website to post information on.

Dave also requested that practices could provide him with a practice e-mail address so that any information about future schemes, meetings etc could be passed on to visiting optometrists or locums not already on his e-mail list.

Finally, he reported that to date 40 optometrists had completed Glaucoma WOPEC accreditation.

Treasurer’s Report

Ian McGarvey explained that there had been a rise in payment to LOCSU as there had been an underpayment in the previous year. The arrears of £1150 had been paid. This had arisen as the number of GOS sight tests was not published until after a few months. Glenn Coleman was to arrange the release of these numbers more quickly.

Dave McGowan proposed that the accounts should be accepted as accurate and this was seconded by Lynn Daly.

Election of Officers

Nominations were as follows;

Chair- Fred Howard

Secretary- Dave McGowan

Treasurer- Ian McGarvey

Fred Howard was proposed for Chair by Lynn Daly and seconded by Vikki Price.

Dave McGowan was proposed for secretary by Fred Howard and seconded by Dylan Barton.

Ian McGarvey was proposed by Madeleine Norton and seconded by Dave McGowan.

Adoption of the statutory levy for the forthcoming year

This was proposed by Ian McGarvey and seconded by Fred Howard and was unanimously agreed.

Adoption of the contribution to LOCSU for the forthcoming financial year

This was proposed by Ian McGarvey and seconded by Fred Howard and was unanimously agreed.

Appointment of the Auditors for the forthcoming financial year

Morris and Co Chartered accountants of Chester House, Lloyd Drive, Cheshire Oaks Business Park, Ellesmere Port were proposed by Ian McGarvey and seconded by Dave McGowan and was unanimously agreed.

Any Other Business

Fred pointed out that for enhanced schemes to run properly a reporting system should operate should anyone have any issues. The LOC would appoint leads for each scheme, so for IOP referral refinement Dave McGowan would be lead optometrist. For cataract referral, Madeleine Norton was to be the lead. Lynn Daly was to be the lead for paediatric eyecare.Peter Ball would deal with City and Guilds and Fred Howard would be the lead for low vision and diabetes.

Madeleine asked for clarification as to what could be referred into Wirral Vision at Field Road. Fred replied that anything other than cataracts, children under sixteen and acute referrals could be referred to Wirral Vision.

There was no other business.