http://apps.facebook.com/my-surveys/yourvoice

If you’ve used out of hours health services in Wandsworth take the survey now by clicking on the link below

http://apps.facebook.com/my-surveys/oohhealth

Feel free to pass on the link. Any questions just shout, and let us know what you think

The newly formed joint board are seeking 4 LINk representatives for the 6 boroughs on this board. If you feel you can help please email Ken Lehmann (office@wandcareall.org.uk) or Sarah Ellison (sarah@wandcarecall.org.uk) or call us on 020 8516 7767

Background

In November 2010, the PCTs in south west London agreed to work together more closely to manage the transition from PCT-led commissioning to GP and Local Authority Commissioning, and also make significant management cost savings.  Although individual PCTs will remain as statutory organisations, we will now operate as one management team across south west London to share resources, roles and functions. As such we now have the Joint Boards of South West London PCTs. The Chair of the Joint Boards is Sian Bates.

Upcoming Meetings & Further Info

The next public meeting is 2 – 5pm on Thursday 7th July 2011

The Joint Board meets at 120, The Broadway, Wimbledon, which is convenient for many bus routes. This is the former HQ for Sutton and Merton PCT. The meeting venue has disabled access and there is a hearing loop.

You can access the Joint Board papers for previous meetings from www.wandsworth.nhs.uk/About/oursector/Pages/JCPCT.aspx

There is a Public Question Time section on the monthly agenda.  Members of the public will have the opportunity to ask questions of the Joint Boards relating to the business. The Joint Boards will give priority to written questions that have been sent to the Chief Executive’s office in advance of the meeting. If you would like to send a question in advance of the meeting please email ceoffice@swlondon.nhs.uk

Future meeting dates are as follows

1–3.30pm Thursday 8th September 2011

2-5pm Thursday 3rd November 2011

2-5pm Thursday 5th January 2012

2-5pm Thursday 1st March 2012

User involvement in GP Consortia was enthusiastically tackled by  85 patients, service users and carers at a workshop held on 25^th May at SW London Golf Centre, jointly facilitated by LINk Chair Jenny Weinstein and Colin Smith PPI lead for the Wandsworth Borough team.  GP Sian Job was a key organizer but was unable to attend on the day. 

 Dr. Jeremy Gray, lead GP for the Battersea area and Jude Channon, locality manager, explained the role of the GP consortia to purchase health services for patients in Wandsworth and expressed the commitment of GPs to involve patients from the outset.  They stressed the link between health and social problems such as unemployment and housing and the necessity for future services to be more integrated.

See attachment below for details of the recommendation for a strategy and GP response & next steps

Recommendations & Next Steps (Word Attachment)

What is the ‘Carers Strategy Group’:

• Responsible for the delivery of the Carers Strategy
• Carers can positively challenge the work of local services
• Carers can ensure that services deliver what was promised
• Staff involved include Wandsworth Council, Social services, Mental Health Trust, NHS Wandsworth and Voluntary Sector Organisations

How do I find out more?

Contact Daniel at the Carers Centre on 020 8675 0811 before 14th December

You will receive full training as well as ongoing support from Carers Centre staff.

Please note this group is specifically for unpaid carers.

Will the Primary Care Scorecard help?

Soon you will be seeing a table that ranks GP performance in a way that will be intelligible and useable for members of the public. This will be the ‘Primary Care Scorecard’ which will make comparisons between local GP practices. Andrew hopes that the final version of the scorecard will show both individual practices who are poor performers and areas of service where particular practices are performing poorly. He calls for action by the PCT to decommission consistently failing practices, tell their patients why and find them alternatives which offer better quality service.

Are You Ready to Share?

There is a system whereby your records can be shared over something called the EMIS Web System. This makes your medical records available when you are being treated in an emergency when looking at your GP medical notes or hospital records may not be possible. You will be asked for your consent for this sharing by your GP (if you have not been already). You have the right to take a look at them before they are uploaded to check their accuracy. The PEC committee are going to do a Privacy Impact Assessment to make sure that this is all in the patients’ interests.

Next Meetings

Andrew Craig reports in his capacity as the Lay Member on the PEC committee which regularly meets with the Wandsworth PCT management. The PEC meets again on 1st December and the NHS Wandsworth Board on 2nd December. This is a public meeting and you can find information about time and place here.

Booking

To book your place at the event, please call 0114 281 6256 or email Lee.Alexander@patientopinion.org.uk
For further information on this event, please visit the website.
When:
30 Nov 2009 – 09:30am
Where:
The Resource Centre
356 Holloway Road, N7 6PA
London

For more information about Patient Opinion see our own site – who they are and what they do, check them out on the LINks website

GPs feature in both reports.

How did you get on with taking the pills after leaving hospital? Were you given enough help?

The first report looks at how well patients’ medication is managed after patients leave hospital. The CQC visited 12 primary care trusts (PCTs), and surveyed 280 of their GP practices.

During our visits, the CQC saw some evidence of good practice, but also found the following concerns:

* Information shared about patients moving between GPs and hospitals is often patchy, incomplete and not shared quickly enough
* GP patient records are not always updated by clinical staff
* Too few patients are offered discussions with their GP about managing their medication
* GPs are not consistently reporting medication incidents and errors, and PCTs are not always monitoring them.

Worries about out of hours services from GPs

On the basis of its work with five trusts, the CQC believes there might be a widespread problem with PCTs across the country not monitoring GP out-of-hours services closely enough.

It says PCTs must look at details like the quality of clinical decisions, the efficiency of call handling, the adequacy of staffing and doctors’ training in order to rigorously monitor performance.

The work was triggered by the tragic case of Mr David Gray, a patient treated by an out-of-hours locum doctor from Germany who died following the administration of 100mg of diamorphine.

The CQC’s enquiries continue.

The CQC Strategy Plan 2010-15

The CQC is asking for your views on how best it should be going about using its powers and resources to achieve the best possible for people in England. Find out how you can get involved here.

At risk residents are urged to get the swine flu vaccine

The NHS is urging local residents to take up the swine flu vaccination. The vaccine is being offered first to people most likely to become seriously ill if they catch swine flu.

The priority groups for vaccination are:

· Adults and children between six months and 65 years of age in the current seasonal flu vaccine clinical ‘at risk’ groups. e.g. who have a long-term health condition, including chronic lung disease and heart disease;

· Pregnant women;

· People who live in the same house as someone whose immune system is compromised by disease or treatment, and

· People aged 65 and over in the current seasonal flu vaccine clinical “at risk” groups.

NHS Wandsworth’s Joint Medical Director, Dr Dave Finch said: “We know that for the majority of cases swine flu is a mild illness, but for some people, mostly with other existing health problems, it can be more serious. The vaccine is our best line of defence against swine flu, and I urge everyone in the priority groups to take up the offer of being vaccinated. Your GP will contact you to let you know if you are in one of the at-risk groups.”

Residents in the priority groups who are not registered with a GP can arrange to have their free swine vaccination at Tooting Walk-in Centre by calling 020 8700 0505.

Clinic times are:

Wednesday 11, 18 and 25 November 4pm – 7pm

Thursday 12, 19 and 26 November 7am – 10am

Saturday 14, 21 and 28 November 5.30pm – 8pm

Dr Finch continued “We are seeing increasing numbers of cases in the local community and the number of people catching the illness may rise as we move into the winter season Being vaccinated against swine flu is voluntary but the NHS wants to protect as many people in the community as possible. ”

The swine flu vaccines have under-gone a series of stringent tests to be granted a licence by the European Medicines Agency and have undergone extensive trials involving thousands of people.”

One of the best things that everyone can do to protect themselves and others from swine flu and ordinary seasonal flu is to follow good basic hygiene, said Dr Finch, especially covering your nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing, placing used tissues in a bin and remembering to wash your hands frequently with soap and water to reduce the spread of the virus.”

The swine flu vaccination will not protect you against seasonal flu so if you are at-risk it is important to have both vaccinations.”

For more information on swine flu, visit www.nhs.uk or call the Swine Flu Information Line on 0800 1 513 513.

There are three main topics in the latest issue

Campaign

The Department of Health has launched a campaign to ‘promote the meaning and merits of LINks – among the whole community and among health and social care care professionals. with the ultimate aim of encouraging engagement and participation in your LINk’ The Department is using a social PR company – Forster – who will be coming out to LINks to work with them on this.

Last change to have your say on Quality Accounts

In High Quality Care for All, Lord Darzi said publishing quality performance would help patients and their carers make better informed choices about health care and allow clinical teams to benchmark, compare and improve their performance.

High Quality Care for All proposed that all providers of NHS care should produce Quality Accounts to provide the public with information on the quality of care they provide. The Department of Health has introduced legislation to require the publication of Quality Accounts from April 2010. Designing the format and content of Quality Accounts, is being facilitated by the DH, and steered by stakeholders, including the regulators, NHS management, clinicians, professional organisations, patient groups and the public.

The lessons learnt in a pilot from producing Quality Reports , alongside those from the Quality Accounts engagement process, are being used to develop the detailed guidance that the Department of Health aims to publish in early 2010, following a consultation on the proposed content of Quality Accounts over the autumn 2009. This process will also inform the Care Quality Commission and Monitor in their approach to developing the regulatory system for healthcare.

In September the Department of Health launched a consultation which you can find here.

The consultation closes on Thursday 10th December.

Indemnity Update

A number of LINks have asked about this topic and whether LINks are covered by a indemnity policy set up by the Secretary of State. Some LINks have concerns that an authorised representative making a report following a visit might be reluctant to make a candid and honest report in case the business owner makes a claim for defamation against them personally.

The answer is no – it is up to the local authority – Wandsworth in our case. If you feel that you might need such a policy, you can see the advice on the LINks Exchange website and take it up with the LINks office.