Archive for March, 2009

More Wandsworth GPs increase opening hours

More than three-quarters of Wandsworth GPs have now increased their opening hours to offer patients appointments at more convenient times. Nearly 80% of surgeries in the borough now open longer hours according to the latest figures released yesterday by the Department of Health. Check out your surgery hours now and see if they suit you better. If they do not, bring it up with your GP or the practice patients’ group.

Health by any other name would smell as sweet?

Wandsworth PCT is changing its name to NHS Wandsworth as of March this year. You may not notice an immediate change since the changeover is to be a gradual one over the next 12 months as they run out of the old stationery. The initials PCT never meant much to people and hence the change to a name which, it is hoped, will mean more to users of health services in Wandsworth.

The PCT adds that ‘the move is in accordance with the Government’s plan to persuade more patients to be treated at sites run by their PCT, including GP surgeries, rather than going into hospitals, which are operated by separate trusts. We hope the simplified name will help patients to better understand the services available to them…’

If you have any comments on these developments, use the comment feature.

Welcome to LINkED UP for Spring 2009 – the Voice of the Users of Health and Social Care Services in Wandsworth.

The Wandsworth Local Involvement Network is a membership organisation, open to individuals and organisations in Wandsworth who want to make the local health and social care services better.

In this issue:

• A letter from Jeremy Ambache Chair of the new Executive Committees
  - Priorities
  - Lots of Ways to Get Involved
  – Write for the Newsletter
• News in Brief
  - Day Care for Older People
  - Service Users in the Driving Seat?
  - Local LINk involved in National Dementia Strategy
  - PECMAN – news from the PCT

A Letter from Jeremy Ambache, our new Chair

I was pleased to be elected to take over the Chair of Wandsworth LINk at the first meeting of the new Executive on 16th February and am very encouraged by the broad range of experiences in the user / patient movement that we now have on the committee. We will be able to put that experience to good use on behalf of all Wandsworth people who need health and care services.

A heartfelt thanks from us all to the members of the outgoing Interim Executive for their work in getting this new organisation off the ground. Wandsworth LINk was an early trailblazer and we are learning that while civil servants at the Department of Health can write all the guidance in the world, actually doing the job still holds many challenges. As a member during this time, I saw the Interim Executive facing these challenges and moving the LINk on. Thank you.

A new Executive was put in place after the public meeting in January where 12 names were put forward for the 12 vacancies. For details on who they were, see our news post of 6th January.

We are still only 10 months down the road as the statutory service user / patient / carer organisation in Wandsworth. A continuing and vital part of our development is to get well ‘linked in’ to all the many user and patient groups. If your group has an issue that you feel we need to know about and bring to the attention of the PCT or Wandsworth Council, come to us and we will see how best to add our voice to yours.

Setting our priorities
The Executive has agreed we will try to respond to issues as they arise but also to promote improvement in health and social care on 3 or 4 key priority issues over the next year. We will decide the issues we want to work on if they:

• Have an impact and lead to improved services for users and patients
• are do-able within our resources
• are of general importance with broad applicability for a particular group of users, carers and patients
• cover both health and social care

If you have any views about this please let us know if you can before March 16th. The Executive meeting in April will finalize a work plan for the next year.

Some current issues
I am encouraged by the number of requests for our involvement in the important things that are going on in the health and social care fields in Wandsworth. All these developments are opportunities for us to influence things for the better. Recently, we have been asked to contribute to the current Inspection of Older Peoples Care Services, and also to represent LINk on the South Wandsworth Project Board reviewing Health Services in the South of the Borough. This project is about reconfiguring the way primary care services such as GP surgeries are grouped as well as moving some acute hospital-based services out into primary care facilities as recommended by Lord Darzi in his review of the NHS. The consultation starts in May and we will keep you in touch with developments via the website and LINKed UP.

We are still interested in hearing from you to contribute to the exercise which assesses your local health care provider every year. For more on this see our news post on 10th December last year – ‘Do You Have an Opinion?‘

Get Involved
There are lots of ways that you can be actively involved with LINKs. For example, we need to be able to respond to requests for LINks to be involved in a range of health and care issues. When you joined, you had a chance to tell us on the registration form what your interests were. We may well be contacting you at short notice to help out when the issue is one you have told us you are interested in. If you want to advise us of any new interests, let us know at the contact addresses at the end of the newsletter.

Get Into Print
Another way to contribute is to be a contributor to the Newsletter. Our new Editor Jenny Weinstein wants to hear from you if you want to write and have things to say to the LINks community. Jenny can be contacted through the LINk office – details below.

I look forward to getting to know and working with our members. I’d like to hear from LINks members and from patients, social care users and carers in Wandsworth on any issue in the health and social care fields. You can email me:

Jeremy Ambache
Chair Wandsworth LINk
office@wandsworthlink.org.uk

P.S. Encourage your friends and family to join as members of Wandsworth LINk.

LINKed Up News in Brief

Service user Involvement
A consultation process on a strategy for engaging service users in the proposals for transforming Adult Care Services in Wandsworth has been approved by Wandsworth Council. The proposals are at an early stage and the Director of Adult services, Dawn Warwick is keen for LINK to be involved in further developments.

Day Care for Older People
Wandsworth Council agreed in February to undertake a comprehensive review of Day Care provision for older people in the light of Government Directives to promote independence and choice for older people. A consultation involving all stakeholders will take place over the next 6 months and the LINKS Primary and Social Care sub-group will ensure that the views of older people are taken into account.

Service users in the driving seat?
Users will be in the driving seat – making their own choices and decisions explained Dawn Warwick Director of Adult Services in Wandsworth when she spoke to representatives of the Wandsworth Mental Health Network on the way Adult Services are to be transformed with, for example, one third of eligible service users receiving a direct payment or individual budgets to purchase a personalised package of support to meet needs that they themselves will identify.

Voluntary sector workers and a service user responded to what Dawn had said with their concerns on a range of issues such as the absence of a systematic (not tokenistic) approach to involving users in the new developments, the lack of a community development infrastructure to support the preventive aspect of the strategy and the slow progress in addressing serious problems of inequalities in relation to mental health services for BME communities.

National Dementia Strategy – LINk to be involved locally
A new Government Strategy to improve services for people with dementia and their carers was published in February 2009.

570,000 people in England have dementia and the number is set to double over the next 30 years. The Government acknowledges that current services are patchy or even non-existent and many people are left to manage on their own causing distress to patients and a huge burden on family and neighbourhood carers.

The new Strategy consists of 17 objectives which include: good quality diagnosis and early intervention for all, improved access to care, support advice and information following diagnosis, improved support for dementia sufferers and their carers living in the community and better standards of care for people with dementia living in care homes and hospitals.

LINK members will be involved in the development and implementation of this strategy in Wandsworth. More information: Living Well with Dementia: A National Dementia Strategy www.dh.gov.uk

PECMAN
Andrew Craig’s latest report from what we have called the ‘engine room’ of health delivery in Wandsworth can be found on the LINk website under Resources – Health & Social Care. If you want to know more about commissioning competencies – how the PCT was approaching this and what an external panel thought of its achievements so far take a look at www.wandsworth-pct.nhs.uk/about/WCC/default.asp (PEC and Board papers are available at www.wandsworth.nhs.uk For further information about Board meetings which are held in public contact Sandra Notridge on 020 8812 7740 or e-mail at sandra.notridge@wpct.nhs.uk )

One general point emerged very clearly from Andrew’s commentary on the meeting – how important it will be for the PCT to work with users of health and social care services to make sure that the changes proposed are understood. They need Wandsworth people to go with them on this journey of change and transformation in the way our health services are to be delivered. The LINk will be on board for the whole trip.

CONTACT US

If you have any enquiries (or news/information) for the Wandsworth LINk please contact us (click here for our contact details).

The NCI newsletter tells of conferences past and future. You can see presentations from the day at the LINks national conference which happened on 5th February by looking at this site.

The delegates voted on priorities such as more training and for LINks to work together on a regional basis. You can get a conference round-up report.

Looking to the future, the first NALM AGM and Conference will be held on 2nd April in London. You will need to fill out your registration form by 15th March 2009 using this website.This conference is free to LINks members.

More to get your teeth into

Could not resist the headline to tell you about a chance to get involved and have your say on NHS Dentistry by emailing your thoughts and comments to dentistry.review@dh.gsi.gov.uk by 30th April.  Other stuff to munch on are  opportunities for those interested in representing the patient voice nationally in organisations such as two independent advisory committees set up by NICE -  the Public Health Interventions Advisory Committee and the Primary Care Quality and Outcomes Framework Indicator Advisory Committee.

Closer to home, the BMA is supporting the cause of effective patient representation by publishing advice and guidance on Patient Participation Groups set up within GP practices. They are working with the National Association of Patient Participation (NAPP). You can see what the BMA are providing here

More Web Resources – the LX Network

This site brings together two previous sites the PCX network (Patient-Citizen Exchange) and the PPIX network (Patient and Public Involvement Exchange) and to login or register please go here . There is a registration procedure which you can avoid if you were a member of either of the two merged networks and can dimly recall what your log-in details were for either or both.

No need to log in to see all that has happening on the Wandsworth LINk site – stay in touch.

New Committee

The meeting saw a good turn out iwith over fifty in the audience. The new committee was confirmed as being all the 12 people who had put their names forward.

New Priorities

The second half of the January meeting and most of the discussion at the new Executive’s first meeting on 16th February was about priorities. Jeremy Ambache since confirmed as the new Chair put forward a way of deciding what the priorities should be in the meeting and you can see his paper on the topic here.

The minutes of the meeting on 16th February will be posted soon under Resources on the website.

Next Meeting 20th April

The next LINk Executive Committee Meeting will be held at Earlsfield Library, 276 Magdalen Road, SW18 3NY on Monday 20th April 2009 at 6pm to 8.30pm.

LAY MEMBER’S HEADLINE FEEDBACK FROM THE WANDSWORTH PCT PROFESSIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (PEC) MEETING WITH THE MANAGEMENT TEAM AND THE PCT BOARD 11 FEBRUARY 2009

Andrew Craig’s latest report from what we have called the ‘engine room’ of health delivery in Wandsworth can be seen on the LINk website under Resources – Health & Social Care. Andrew is a Lay Member on the PEC ( Professional Executive Committee) of the Wandsworth PCT. The note reflects his own views and not necessarily those of the PCT or the PEC itself.

If you want to know more about commissioning competencies – how the PCT was approaching this and what an external panel thought of its achievements so far take a look at www.wandsworth-pct.nhs.uk/about/WCC/default.asp (PEC and Board papers are available at www.wandsworth.nhs.uk For further information about Board meetings which are held in public contact Sandra Notridge on 020 8812 7740 or e-mail at sandra.notridge@wpct.nhs.uk )

One general point emerged very clearly from Andrew’s commentary on the meeting – how important it will be for the PCT to work with users of health and social care services to make sure that the changes proposed are understood. They need Wandsworth people to go with them on this journey of change and transformation in the way our health services are to be delivered. The LINk will be on board for the whole trip.

More than 180 residents from streets in the vicinity of Springfield Hospital attended a meeting organised by the local MP, Sadiq Khan, on February 26^th to protest about plans to redevelop the Springfield Hospital site.

Senior Managers from South West London and St. George’s Mental Health Trust explained to the meeting that urgent improvements to the current facilities for children and adults with mental health needs on the site could only be undertaken if funds were raised through commercial development on the site.

A day patient at the Hospital stressed the therapeutic value of space and calm for people in mental distress and felt that the massive development – 1200 housing units and 10 years of building work would be very detrimental to patient well being. The views of in-patients were not heard at the meeting but neighbouring residents objected strongly on the grounds of over-development and congestion.

If you have comments on this campaign, please use the blue comment link at the top of this news item.

In November’s newsletter we asked two very quick questions about paying for drugs privately.

We have received 12 responses (so far). While this isn’t a statistically significant number of Wandsworth residents, the overwhelming feeling is that if the NHS does not provide a drug, patients should be able to pay for the drug themselves and not be prevented from receiving further treatment on the NHS.

The original question we asked was:

Please tell us to what extent you agree with the following: Everyone should be able to pay for drugs they need if the NHS does not provide them and still get treated on the NHS

Since we posed the question, there have been changes announced in the NHS:

From the Guardian – Johnson lifts NHS ban on top-up treatment, the Daily Telegraph – Victory for cancer patients as NHS ban on ‘top-up’ drugs is lifted.

However, argument still continues about paying for drugs privately – from the Times 12/02/09 – Top-up payments will not create two-tier NHS: cancer tsar.

What do Wandsworth residents think? Post a comment on the website, or email us. If you want to take the original survey – click here.