Gainsborough HealthWatch Group

Summary of feedback

24thJuly 2012

Local HealthWatch Lead – Meg Davidson LINk Executive

Local HealthWatch Background:

Aim: Develop an independent forum for constructive two way communication between the people who plan and run care services and the people who use them

Objective:To build a clear pathway for local people to share views and experiences of health and social care and also to access information about what services are available. Not to duplicate or replace what already exists but to improve communication, understand what works well and what needs improving and work together effectively to ensure health and social care services better meet the needs of local people.

Introduction: The sixth meeting of the Gainsborough HealthWatch group was held on the 24thJuly 2012 and was well attended by local people, representatives from local support groups organisations and professionals working in the field of health and social care. (Attendance list attached)

The purpose of this meeting was to

  • Feedback responses from providers to some of the issues and concerns previously raised by the group in relation to care services in Gainsborough. On this occasion these particularly related to access within East Midlands Ambulance Services.
  • Share information about a range of health and wellbeing services and involvement opportunities in the area.
  • Continue to facilitate an effective dialogue between people who access care services and people that plan and run them.

Presentations:

Presentation Slides from the meeting – attached or downloaded from the LINk website

Mary McNulty (MM)– A and E Manager – Lincolnshire Division – East Midlands Ambulance Services

MM gave an overview of EMAS and the area covered by those services

•East Midlands, North and NE Lincolnshire (4.8m population)

•3200 staff

•65 stations

•776,082calls per year – one every 45 seconds

•592,639 responses

In terms of Lincolnshire Activity MM gave the following statistics

•Approximately 153,000 calls per year

•498 A/E staff

•48 A/E vehicles & 31 FRV cars

•37 new A/E vehicles and 23 new FRV’s

•18 bases

•Resident population of 1.1 million

•Transient population of 4.5 million

MM went on to explain performance, some of the challenges facing the service and the EMAS vision for the future. To deliver this vision MM explained the action plan which included

•High quality clinical assessment – 999/111

•3-tier response model

–Urgent care - for those assessed by other healthcare professionals

–Paramedic response - the ‘normal’ 999 response

–Emergency Care Practitioner - for those who will benefit from more expertise and where there is good potential to stay at home

•Best practice logistics

–‘Hubs’ to provide better support to staff

In summary MM identified the following key prioritieswhich EMAS hope will enable them to become the best ambulance service:

•Providing the best quality

•Managing staff well

•Being better organised

•Knowing what we are doing and dealing with variance

•Consultation from July

•A strong Board with a clear plan and a confident and assured organisation

Members were encouraged to participate in the consultation and MM expressed a willingness to return in the future to address any specific issues identified by the group. In terms of Patient Transport Services MM confirmed that this service was now provided by a private company in the West Lindsey area and commissioned by NHS Lincolnshire. For more information contact Mary:

Jackie Brown(JB) – Exercise Referral and Walks Coordinator

JB spoke briefly and showed two informative videos demonstrating the accessibility and health benefits of Exercise referral and local health walks. These and other short information films can be seen on the Lincolnshire Sports partnership website for more information contact Jackie-

Exercise Referral -

Fit Kids -

Food & Health Project -

Health Trainers -

Health Walks -

Vitality -

Feedback and Information Sharing:

Feedback on WL Health& Wellbeing Strategy

In the absence of Allison Walker (AW) Heather Emmerson(HE) gave a brief update and encouraged members to participants in the ongoing consultation. Hard copies were distributed and electronic version can be found on the WLDC website.

HE also informed members about the ‘Every Contact Counts’ project - a new initiative training lay people within communities such as hairdressers, library workers and taxi drivers to provide signposting and health and wellbeing advice. AW will attend the next meeting to expand on this project. For more information contact Allison

Update from LincolnshireWest CCG

In the absence of Stephanie King (SK) Heather Emmerson (HE) gave a brief update explaining that

  • The LW CCG vision, mission and goals 12 week consultation finished at the end June
  • The University of Lincoln have analysed the results
  • A draft report of the results have been sent to stakeholders engaged from the start of the process (during the deliberative events in November 2011) for their final comments
  • These will be considered and the final report and final vision, mission and goals will be signed off by LW CCG Executive in August
  • The final vision, mission and goals will be communicated widely following this sign off.

For more information contact Steph:

Update from First Contact

Sandi Simonson (SS) distributed leaflets and gave an overview of the First Contact service which provides a one stop shop enabling people over 60 to easily access a range of services and support. SS also mentioned briefly on a number of other Age UK projects including falls prevention and personalisation. SS expressed willingness to talk to any community groups of staff meetings about First Contact and projects. For more information contact Sandi -

Update from West Lindsey Mature Fitness

Liz Clews(LC) distributed leaflets and gave an informative update of a number of health fitness services available for older people including Vitality, Fit as a Fiddle and other new collaborative projects which are being developed to support older peoples health, wellbeing and fitness in the area. Liz encouraged health and social care professionals to raise awareness of these projects to those they support and work with.

For more information contact Liz -

Update from Disability Network West Lindsey – (DNWL)

Nigel Webster (NW) spoke about the diverse and valuable work of the DNWL supporting and providing a voice to people with a disability in the area and also through other forums those with Mental Health issues. DNWL is a cooperative and all members are volunteers.

Voice of Experience Project

Meg Davidson (MD) gave an overview of this pilot project explaining that this was an opportunity to use audio visual techniques in order to help LINk / HealthWatch engage with communities and better represent patients, service users and the public in a locality. Members were issued with the survey and encouraged to get involved with the filming which would take place on 28th / 29th / 30th August at The Guildhall. For more information contact the LINk Office: 01522 705190

MD outlined the aims and objectives of this work as being;

Objective:

Raise awareness of a local HealthWatch group and explain its purpose and remit

Gather views and experiences of the wider public not currently engaged with the HealthWatch Group

Further involve existing members of the HealthWatch group

Present this valuable feedback to commissioners and providers in a more creative powerful method way more likely to influence change and improvement

Aim:

To create two short films

1. HealthWatch Group Promotion – raise awareness locally

  • What is the group
  • What will it do
  • How to get involved
  • Examples

2. Voice of Experience – constructive feedback form local people on local care services

  • Short Survey on specific topic of priority to local people – Access to GP Services
  • 3 questions - What is good? / what is not? / what would make it better?
  • Audio visual media consolidated with written document.

Community Transport Project

Mike Ward (MW) a researcher form Lincoln University spoke about his project which has been commissioned to understanding the needs of people over 60 in relation to community transport with a view to improving this service. Having spent time talking to those that currently use the service (Call Connect and Dial a Ride etc) MW is looking for Gainsborough residents over 60 who do not presently usilise community transport to form a small focus group. For more information contact Mike:

Within the open forum the following questions and issues were raised:

No additional questions or issues raised

Members of the Group asked for information about the following:

Feedback from Lincolnshire West Clinical Commissioning Group on their current consultation – Sarah Newton

Other Partners offered to share information about current projects

Personalisation Project – Gill Collins at the December Meeting

This will form the outline of the December meeting Agenda.

Conclusion:

Members of the group have welcomed the fact that commissioners from both Health and Social care have been proactive in engaging with them and discussing the changes underway in the way care services are planned.

The Way Forward:

The group should be inclusive and representative and we will

•Continue to develop the Group

•Increase Access and Improve Representation

•Focus on the Priorities identified by the Group

•Feedback to the Commissioners and Providers and invite their responses

Date and time of next meeting:

6th December 2012

10am – 12 noon

The Guildhall, Marshalls Yard, Gainsborough

(Agenda to follow)

LINk / HealthWatch Gainsborough1of4240712HE