Taunton Deane Federation of General Practices
c/o French Weir Health Centre, French Weir Ave, Taunton, TA1 1NW
Chair: Dr William Chandler; Vice-chair: Dr Mike Gorman
Secretary: Lisa Wallis, 01823 331381,
MINUTES
12 March 2015,Blackbrook Surgery 12.30 to 1.45 pm
COMMISSIONING
Surgery / Present / ApologiesBlackbrook Surgery / Rey Felek (RF)
Caroline Samuel (CS)
Mike Gorman (MG)
College Way Surgery / John Parkinson (JP)
Creech Medical Centre / Trudi Mann (TM)
Crown Medical Centre / Justin Harrington (JH)
Claire Gregory (CG)
French Weir Health Centre / Lisa Wallis (LWa)
Will Chandler (WC)
Maria Chapman (MC)
Luson Surgery / Rachel Yates (RY)
Martin Ellacott (ME)
Lyngford Park Surgery / Trudi Mann (TM)
North Curry Health Centre / Nick Chapman (NC)
Sarah Keen (SK)
Quantock Vale Surgery / Rianne Sewell (RS)
St James Medical Centre / Adrian Fulford (AF) / Guy Patey (GP)
Victoria Gate Surgery / Linda Willis (LW) / Bernard Newmarch (BN)
Warwick House Medical Centre / Mandy Stewart (MS)
Andy Perry (AP)
Wellington Medical Centre / Lydia Daniel-Baker (LDB)
Wiveliscombe Surgery / John Trepess (JT)
Prescribing Lead
Taunton Deane Federation of GP Practices / Sue Pilkington (SP)
Jonathan Davies (JD)
Apologies: See Above
Minutes from the Full Federation meeting held on 12 February 2015 had been circulated, were read and agreed.
Matters Arising
No matters arising
Northern Docs Presentation
John Hamson, CEO Vocare
Heather Maughan, Clinical Manager
Tom Maughan, Mobilisation Manager
The three presenters introduced themselves and explained the background of Vocare, the umbrella organisation, how the OOH and 111 contract has been won by a division of Vocare, Northern Docs, but that this will now be known as Somerset Doctors Urgent Care to give a local feel, with branding on cars etc.The service will be transferred from 1 July 2015.
JH explained the background of the organisation and how it began in 1996 as a group of coop GPs. In 2004, the group made the decision to grow and had developed since then. The group now employs 1150 staff and look after 2.5 million patients, which is set to grow to 4 million in July 2015. The presentation described how the care for OOH, 111, or both services is delivered in each part of the country.The group believe that one of their strengths is that they are not adverse to going back to NHS England to challenge pathways for patient care. The organisation has a 0.05% complaints rates and delivered 513,174 episodes of care nationally from January 2014-December 2014.
JH explained how there is a lot of work to be done to integrate OOH with the MPH A&E and is keen to explore how the two organisations can work together. He explained how the service will be at the front end of the emergency department so that they are able to intercept more. The operation centre for Somerset will be based in Taunton, working from Wellington House in Taunton, the clinical hub will be at MPH.
HM offered an opportunities for anyone who may be interested in working in 111 or OOH to let them know.
There will be direct contact name for Practices to feedback directly any problems encountered with 111 or OOHs. There will be a health professional line for GPs to use to have direct access to the service.
The service will handle: electronic booking, a healthcare professional line, a directory of service, transfer of care, summary care records/GP records and special patient notes. The current EPACs system will transfer data to the SDUC. One of the intentions of SDUC is to make special patient notes more meaningful.
The service will provide: 4 x 4 marked vehicles, drivers, TomTom Webfleet, ruggedised laptops. They are also able to provide reports and medicines management.
The presentation went on to describe the benefits of the OOH and 111 Service being provided by the same organisation, one of which being a single IT system and improved communication.
The service is currently recruiting a local clinical director and is in talks with SWAST about TUPE arrangements.
The organisation aims to engage locally with Federations and come to Practices if invited. A letter of introduction will be going out to all Practices in Somerset. This will include details about how to contact the service if anyone wishes to work within the OOH service. The presenters stressed that if everyone sits back and waits, the service will be exactly the same as it is now and that this needs to be viewed as a community. An evening will be arranged when GPs can attend if they are interested in working within the service.
WC thanked Northern Docs for their presentation.
Prime Ministers Challenge Fund
Nothing to report at the moment.
COG 1st April
WC informed those present that the Federation is invited to attend COG on 1st April and asked whether anyone would be interested in attending.
LTC Hubs Update
SP updated that she will be circulating an updated action plan. The Taunton West cluster have met and SP is trying to arrange a date for the second cluster to meet. Two key workers have been interviewed and selected, but the contractual side needs to be explored further, as concerns have been raised following an employment law seminar. JP and SP will be discussing options with Adrian Porter, from Porter Dodson Solicitors. If a solution cannot be found it may be that another organisation will be able to hold the contracts on behalf of the Federation.
SP reported difficulties obtaining access to posting job advertisements on the NHS Jobs website. Mandy Stewart offered to do this.
SP gave an update on the house of care training dates, 10 spaces are currently booked and 10 are available for the first date on 1 April.
Complex Care GP
JD explained that there is a letter coming out which will be offering Federations the opportunity to offer CCGP care to any patient in any environment, allowing this resource to be utilised within the hubs. WC added that the intention is to utilise this resource to fund GP time within the PCCF.
MG commented that the success of the work that has been carried out in getting the PCCF to the point where it is now compared to the time frame taken for symphony to get off the ground is worth mentioning and that this has been down to the hard work of RS, WC, SP and JD.
Federation Wide Provider Update
WC brought all up to speed with the developments that seem to have taken place within the CCG that sees a move towards supporting Federations moving in a direction to develop a provider arm. WC continued that there seems to be a strong message that is coming from the top down to suggest that there is an opportunity for us as a Federation to lead with provision, because there is the risk that if we don’t do this, another organisation will. The LMC and SPH have sent out a letter to all Practices concerning this and WC would like to respond to say that the Federation is well placed to deliver the long-term aims, while developing strategic partnerships with other organisations, for example SPH. WC added that he will be writing to every member Practice to keep them informed of the developments that the steering group were mandated to explore at the away half day. The Federation is already proving that it can work with partnerships to deliver care from the work that has been carried out with the PCCF. At COG on 1st April, the Federation has been asked to put together a presentation, one of the proposals the Federation would like to put forward will be to ask for a movement of funds of the commissioning management budget to support the development of a provider arm. This will only be put forward to the CCG at COG if WC is mandated by Practices to do so. The letter from WC will be sent out within the next few days.
If the Federation receives a positive response from the CCG, the next step will be to have discussions with the LMC about who can help the Federation to move forward with this.
NC raised concerns about a conflict of interest with SPH. WC replied that there needs to be openness and the Federation has already identified that there needs to be a local provider arm rather than a county wide arm. If mandated, the Federation will need to look at which strategic partner is able to help the Federation develop.
AOB
Strategic Workforce Planning SP explained that she is doing a strategic workforce planning course and will be sending out an email to Practices to explain that this addresses decision management and decision support.
EPS and Batch Prescribing RF explained that Blackbrook Surgery think that they have identified an issue with batch prescribing and warnings being issued to patients who are on batch prescribing. This is being looked into. Normal repeat prescribing is fine.
E-messaging – MC updated all that she and Justin Harrington have been working with Practices looking at e-messaging, these should come through the workflow. MC asked Practices to let her know if these are or are not coming through.
May Federation Meeting – RY pointed out that this clashes with an LMC event. The steering group will look at this further.
Officers Posts – WC asked whether there are any interested partied for the post of treasurer. If anyone is interested, JP will be happy to speak to anyone to let them know what is involved. WC also mentioned that the post of chair will be re-elected in the summer.
OASIS – Concerns were raised about the double waiting time for patients attending OASIS. It was agreed that this is worth a letter from the Federation to COG.
Date of next meeting:
COG Meeting – 1st April, Blackbrook Inn, Taunton
Full Federation Meeting -Thursday 9 April 2015, 12.30 pm. Blackbrook Surgery.