Regarding the Dates for Meetings and the Need for Forward Planning for the Group to Bear

HealthWatch Programme Board – ADVISORY GROUP
A Summary Briefing Note of meeting held8th November 2011
Welcome and Introductions (a list of who was there is at the end of this briefing)
The following concerns/questions were raised:

regarding the dates for meetings and the need for forward planning for the group to bear in mind there are other external factors that affect the dates that are set;
payment of fees and expenses is still an issue; DH is working on this. Mike Hewins advised the group that he had written to Joan Saddler about the issue;
a request from the Advisory Group for a hard copy of papers to be sent printing is an increasing cost;
the date of the next Programme Board has been changed to 5th December due to the change in directorate;
the group requested that emails should be sent from fewer addresses - important information can get missed. The secretariat will look at how to deal with this.

Frances Hasler acknowledged the difficulties and apologized on behalf of the team where dates/papers have been sent out late. She updated the group on the changes within the team and Programme Board. She also drew attention to Joan Saddler’s letter outlining the changes in her role.
Report from the Programme Board
The Programme Board (PB) met on 5th October. Minutes of the meeting will be circulated with action points and an actiontracker.
The points raisedby the Advisory group(AG)will be acknowledged formally and a responsewill be given to key questions.
Some of the issues raised at the programme board on behalf of the AG were:

clarity – information is being given to the PB from AG but there was no feedback to the AG;
papers being presented will show how AG has influenced some of the aspects of HealthWatch development;
the AG needs to understand what issues are for negotiation and discussion at PB level and what is outside their remit concerning the Bill;
in terms of the risk register, there is still a lot of work to do to make sure HealthWatch is fit for purpose at local and national level;
The concerns about remuneration for the Chair of HealthWatch Englandwere fed back to the PB; ultimately the decision is for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the Department of Health (DH);
HealthWatchEngland will be officially based in Leeds and the Chair will also have an office in London(at CQC headquarters).

Action learning sets were mentioned: work is continuing to progress through the approvals process.
A number of risks were condensed at the PB. A paper was presented by Paul Streetsat the PB and it was thought that it should be shared with the Advisory Group members.
Presentations
Preparing for Local HealthWatch
Tim Gilling,Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS) “Smoothing the way” (a review of LINks)

To gather the information for the presentation they ran an online survey,to which 70 % of LINks responded. CfPS also organised 6 structured interviews around the country.
Summary data is available on their website (attached).
A third report containing the full methodology and data is in preparation and will be available in the next 2-3 weeks.

Lorraine Denoris Director of Citizen Engagement and Communications, NHS Kent and Medway - Readiness check
(Attached) (YouTube link)

Lorraine approached Kent County Council, to work together on the development of local HealthWatch for Kent.
Set up a project plan. Gained senior level input from key stakeholders.
Emphasis on doing things differently to achieve the necessary outcomes.

There was a brief Q & A session after the presentations.
The Advisory Group started to list the information and advice documents that they feel are still needed. A task & finish group could look at these (attached).
Update on Legislation

The Bill went through 2nd reading in October and is now in Lords Committee.
The bulk of the HealthWatch clausesare likely to be considered in mid- December but there is no confirmed date for this.
Wider patient and public involvement clauses are likely to be considered in January.
Amendments relating to independence are due to be debated on either 9thor 14th November.
Royal Assent is still expected to be in May.
Timetables and transcripts of the debates will be available on the Parliament website (

Presentation:Programme changes
The HealthWatch programme has been incorporated into David Behan’s directorate, whose responsibilities including adult social care, children and families, mental health, learning disabilities, health inequalities and equality, health and wellbeing boards, the voluntary and community sector and the strategic relationship with local government. The move allows for maximising the integration between HealthWatch and the wider health and wellbeing agenda. Mary Simpson in her new role in the Public and Patient Experience and Engagement directorate (PPE) will continue to link to the HealthWatch agenda to ensure alignment with the Commissioning Board agenda
Andrew Larter, Deputy Director Local Government and Regional Policy
outlined the main changes to the HealthWatch programme. John Wilderspin National Director, Health and Wellbeing Board Implementation, will Chair the HealthWatch programme board and Joan Saddler will continue to be a member. Membership also needs to be amended and three local authority Chief Executives will be joining. The HealthWatch programme board will report into the Department of Health and Local Government programme board, which David Behan chairs. This board has responsibility for wider health, public health and local government and it was decided to make these changes to reflect, and better support, the implementation phase with one year to go to the establishment of HealthWatch.
Sally Brearley said it is important to get more information out to local government and asked whether this could be issued from the local government side of the Programme. Andrew Larter confirmed that that was the appropriate route and the information would be communicated following co-production with the HealthWatch programme members.
Malcolm Alexander said there were too few resources for HealthWatch, citing cuts to LINks budgets, lack of money for Pathfinders and no progress with Action Learning Sets.
Andrew Larter said the closer alignment between the health and wellbeing board national learning network and HealthWatch Pathfinders would help to address some of these issues. He acknowledged that progress on Action Learning Sets had fallen behind schedule but said that the greater cohesiveness across the whole programme would provide increased momentum.
The group said that local authorities would soon need information about funding for 2012/13 and advice on contracting for LINks between April and September 2012.
Nick Kennedy asked if consideration could be given to integrating the various online forums available to discuss HealthWatch.
Andrew thanked the Group for their time and said his presentation would be circulated with the briefing note. [DN check and attach if available]
Future Task and Finish Groups
Frances Hasler asked the Advisory Group members to consider new Task and Finish Groups. The Programme had agreed there would be further work on: equality and diversity; the information/signposting role; and NHS complaints advocacy.
Members should consider for each of the new Task and Finish Groups:

what exactly is the task?
when will they finish?
how will they know that they have completed the task?
how do we get more local government on the groups?
what other experts need to be brought in to help the groups in their work, without making the groups too large to be able to focus on the task?

There was insufficient time for this item to be discussed. The Group asked if a further meeting could be arranged before Christmas to do this piece of work. [Since the meeting a date of 14 December has been set and members have been advised. See date of next meeting.]
If any members are unable to attend the 14 December meeting, they are requested to indicate by email which T&F groups they are interested in together with their opinion on the questions outlined above.
Key messages to take to the Programme Board

lack of funding for Pathfinders;
late delivery of the Action Learning Sets;
independence of LHW - Malcolm Alexander offered to bring a paper to the next meeting
resource the sharing of good practice from LINks;
how are the relationships with the right people in local government being fostered;
focus on the training that emerging LHWs will need.

Information Update
There was insufficient time for this item
Action points
Actions for secretariat unless otherwise noted:
Administrative actions

improve the despatch of papers
circulate list of meetings for next year
consider offering the option of sending papers by post

Communication actions :

find out how many responses have been submitted to the finance consultation and timetable for production of the Government response to the consultation
circulate information on progress of Bill
circulate the Kent papers again
share written report backs from the existing task and finish groups
consider combining the different online spaces where HW can be discussed

Policy actions

discuss the voice of people with rarer conditions, within one of the task and finish groups
work with CfPS to plan the specific support and information that will be offered by the programme
consider commissioning the production of some information, including some information on what has worked well for LINks as good practice examples
prioritise some good practice information on governance (including information on bodies corporate)

Planning actions

hold wind-down meetings for the HWE and LHW task and finish groups
have a further AG before Christmas, to plan the new task and finish groups
ensure people on the Advisory Group know that they can sign up for one of the new task and finish groups, even if they can't make any additional (December) meeting
speak to the chairs of existing task and finish groups about finishing them (Patrick Vernon)
Focus on the independence of LHW (Malcolm Alexander to contact chair of PB)

Who was there

Patrick Vernon / (Chair) AFIYA Trust
Christopher Akers- Belcher / Hartlepool LINks
Malcolm Alexander / Chair of NALM
Jeremy Ambache / London Regional LINks
Sally Brearley / HealthLink
Tracey Bignall / Race Equality Foundation
Ann Bisbrown-Lee / NW Regional LINks
Jilla Bond / Shaw Trust
Chris Boote / South West Regional LINks
Peter Browne / (supporting) Monzur Miah
Sara Cain / Care Quality Commission
Kasey Chan / Department of Health
Lorraine Denoris / NHS Eastern & Costal Kent
Lucy Dunstan / (supporting) Siraaj Nadat
Sandra Eismann / Care Quality Commission
Tim Gilling / Centre for Public Scrutiny
Frances Hasler / Care Quality Commission (on secondment to DH?)
Anita Higham / South East Regional LINks
Mike Hewins / East of England Regional LINks
Helen Jones / Department of Health
Nicholas Kennedy / London Regional LINks
Andrew Larter / Department of Health
John Lewis / Deputy Regional Director, Government Office East of England – LINks and HealthWatch leadDRD
Jim Kerr / Yorkshire and Humber Regional LINks
Alison Kirk (repSam Hudson) / NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement
Ruth Marsden / Vice Chair of NALM
Monzur Miah / NCIL
Sol Mead / Academy of MedicalRoyalCollege
Siraaj Nadat / National Forum for People with Learning Difficulties
Gerry Robinson / Chair of Consultative Healthcare Council
Dag Saunders / West Midlands Regional LINks
Dave Sheilds / Southampton Council(is he still?)
Mary Simpson / Department of Health
Jane Stubbings / East Midlands Regional LINks
Julia Tabreham / Carers Federation
Michael Turner (rep Peter Fleischmann) / Social Care Institute for Excellence
Nigel Thompson / Care Quality Commission
David Ward / Northamptonshire LINk Host
Agologies
Brian Fisher / NHS Alliance
Katherine Murphy / Chief Executive of the Patients Assocication
Peter Beresford / Shaping Our Lives

Sarah Crossland Department of Health