Rotherham Patient Participation Groups Network

Meeting held 6-8pm at Rotherham Town Hall, 4th July 2013

The meeting was attended by 36 patients representing the following 15 practice groups :

Dinnington; Woodstock Bower; Kiveton Park; St Annes; Stag: Swallownest; Broom Lane; Treeton; Morthern Rd; Clifton; High Street; Greenside; Surgery of Light; Blyth Rd; Thrybergh; Broom Valley Rd

Apologies received fromGreasborough; Crown St; Market; Village

In attendance:

Rotherham CCG- Helen Wyatt; Angie Brunt; Emma Charnock; Sue Cassin; Dr Julie Kitlowski; Su Lockwood

Speakers
Melanie Hall – HealthWatch

Michael Morgan – Interim Chief Executive, Rotherham Hospital Foundation Trust

  1. Information sharing and updates
  2. Su L gave a reminder on the ongoing urgent care consultation and noted that in September/October the next planning round would start –this would be a good time to be involved in informing the priority setting for the CCG – Action – to bring to next meeting
  3. Su also offered a brief update on Admiral Nurses, she is working on taking this forward and will report more fully in October.
  4. Good attendance noted – request for another evening meeting, but to be aware of darker nights – meeting times will be earlier in the winter, but other evening sessions will be planned.
  5. Saeed informed the meeting that Ramadan was due to start shortly, and that the time of fasting was a good opportunity to deliver health messages like giving up smoking; he asked that people take this information back to practices
  6. Kiveton Park have a Physical Activity session on the 17th, all welcome – 3-7pm
  7. Greenside – noted that the group is actively working on Terms of Reference and how the group will be structured and work; they now have a GP attending regularly.
  8. Useful information news sheet from knowledge service circulated – this will be added to the CCG PPG web pages
  9. Stag had sent in information from the NAPP conference – there is a lot of info, again this will be added to the webpages. One key issue was online medical records, another was safeguarding – these are issues that could be discussed in depth at the PPG network, if people would find this useful.
  10. Swallownest PPGhas been active in developing a new Practice Guide, and has been developing some publicity materials. They now have a GPattending each meeting along with the Practice Manager, and are hoping to run some stalls for various health linked projects/charities and possibly talks
  11. Patient Opinion leaflets passed round – if practices are interested, Helen can work with them to use Patient Opinion to generate comments and feedback
  1. Melanie Hall – HealthWatch. Mel gave an overview of HealthWatch; as part of the structures created in the new Health Act, every area now has a Local HealthWatch. The aims are to make sure that the views and experiences of people who use health and social care services are heard and taken seriouslyat local and national levels. HealthWatch will have considerable influence and a voice at the highest levels, through a seat on the Health and Wellbeing Board, where local decisions about the health and social care priorities are made. They will also work with the Care Quality Commission, who look at the quality of services and inspect health and social care services, and will report to and work with HealthWatch England. In addition, the Rotherham service will operate an Independent Complaints Advocacy Service

•High street shop front - thiswill open shortly -Mon- Fri 9.30 -4.30 Sat 10-2 (opposite Corn Law Rhymer)

•Email

•Phone 01709 717130

Questions and responses – main points

  • People will be able to get involved at different levels of commitment – from receiving information to board member.
  • Organisations will have their own complaints systems, HealthWatch can direct people to these and support people in taking issues forward
  • If a number of people are having similar issues, HealthWatch will be able to highlight this
  • HealthWatch will also signpost people to information and services (part of the PALS function that transferred)
  • The Rotherham budget is approximately £250,000 – this comes from the local Authority, but the amount is not ring fenced
  • Staff in the organisation will have experience and skills in their roles (i.e. advocacy and engagement).
  1. Michael Morgan – Interim Chief Executive Rotherham Hospital

Michael offered a lot of information on how the turnaround team is working, both in his presentation and during many questions from the floor; these are the main points only.

  • Services at the trust are “Good” – Michael shared and directed people to a CQC report demonstrating this, and noted that the community services will be inspected by the CQC in the next 6 months
  • The trust has to save £50million over the next few years
  • The first thing the turnaround team did was to hire nurses; posts had been frozen, 50 nurses are being recruited to date.
  • Systems had been changed, and patients were being moved through better, this has meant that a ward can be closed (from the 4th July); because it is not needed.
  • The recovery plan will take several years, it has to be done participatively, not ‘slash and burn’
  • In the first year, savings have been made by reducing the corporate spend in line with other similar trusts (it was about £23 million, rather than the £16 million of comparative bodies)
  • Year 2 will be harder; work is ongoing to structure the clinical service units from 11 to 4, which will also mean improved quality and efficiency. Plans for year 2 & 3 saving‘s have to be in place by the end of October – this has been put back for one month due to the change of chair.
  • Work will need to be done on the really big picture – Michael used maternity services as an example- with 2,700 babies delivered each year, Rotherham falls below the 4,000-6,000needed to have a safe and sustainable service – for example, staff needed and rotas. However, babies need to be delivered in Rotherham. To make this work, Rotherham Hospital will need to work with other hospitals in the area to provide services. For example, by buying locum services together, cover may be better value for money.
  • Michaels team is looking at finance (and have already moved from loss to surplus); board governance (a report on restructure will be out shortly); and a strategic plan- looking at services over the region, to ensure that plans, and services are sustainable for the long term.

Questions and responses

  • Issue re appointment and length of time to be called back- Michael put this down to the issues with the new Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system, and offered assurance that the issues with this system are now being resolved. Once working properly EPR will offer more functions and a better system.
  • The turnaround team work for ‘Bolt and Partners’
  • Urgent Care Consultation – feels that this is a practical solution if it Is agreed to go ahead
  • New parking area being built
  • Ward closure – because community services are being better usedto support people closer to home, and avoid admissions where possible.
  • Poor staff survey reported in local press – Michael noted this had been done at a time when the trust was losing money; the trust had not started turnaround measures; morale was low and staff unsupported – an indicator of this was that many staff had not been receiving regular development reviews. Michael also felt there were some issues with the survey mechanisms or processes.

Meeting closed