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Home > LINk Minutes > Meeting of the Wandsworth LINk Interim Executive - 20th October 2008 > Questions raised by LINk Members/members of the Public (2)

Questions raised by LINk Members/members of the Public (2)

Below are questions raised and the responses at the LINk Interim Executive meeting on 20th October 2008.

Bruce Mackenzie

  • Advised that he had attended an event for local GPs and private health care in Wimbledon run by Wandsworth PCT, which was not open to the members of the public. Interim Executive members were asked if they had any further details on the event.

A letter has been sent to Wandsworth Primary Care Trust requesting clarity about the purpose of the event and the exclusion of members of the public and it is expected that a response will be available at the IE meeting in December 2008.

Jeremy Ambache

  • How will the Interim Executive ensure that questions/comments and suggestions from LINk members/members of the public which are raised under this agenda item are considered and responded to?

In the future questions and responses will be published as an attachment to the minutes and will be made accessible in the same manner as the meeting papers.

  • The Interim Executive has decided to work closely with all the existing service user and patient groups build on the work that these are doing. How is the Interim Executive planning to make personal links with all these groups in a comprehensive way so as to forge effective working links with all of them? Could LINk members who are not on the Interim Executive help with this?

Referred to Communications and Participation sub group for follow up. Also the Mapping Project which is underway will ensure LINk is aware of existing groups and networks in the Borough with whom LINk needs to make contact and where there are gaps.

  • Regarding item, 9 the ‘Enter and View policy‘ on today’s agenda – when this item discussed would the Interim Executive consider the following? a) page 7, item 2, should this paragraph include agreeing a ‘criteria’ (as well as the procedure) for selecting authorised representatives? b) could you include an additional paragraph on page 7 which says ‘agree a plan for which services to start visiting in 2009.

The Interim Executive agreed to incorporate both these points in the enter and view policy.

Barbara Bohanna

  • Reported having raised issues with Wandsworth PCT regarding identified gaps and queried what the current position was on poly clinics.

A letter has been sent to Wandsworth Primary Care Trust requesting clarity and it is expected that a response will be available at the Interim Executive meeting in December 2008.

Mike Squires

  • The Host organisation for the Wandsworth Link, the Wandsworth Care Alliance, gained the contract with Wandsworth Council with a tender submission of £849,753 over 3 years, about £280,000 per annum to administer the Wandsworth Link. Can we have a six monthly breakdown of the budget so far?

The approximate £280,000 p.a. is payment for the delivery of the entire contract, which is considerably more than simply to administer the Wandsworth LINk. The Interim Executive have appointed a financial monitor who has been given reasonable access to financial information – a resources report, including a summary of spend against budget so far, has been prepared by the Host for the November meeting of the Interim Executive (IE).

At their April meeting the Council’s Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee (Paper No 08-311) stated that

“during the tender process, questions have been raised about a potential conflict of interest in the WCA bid because their partners in the LINK tender were the MAC consultancy. The two lead directors of the MAC both hold non-executive positions on local NHS bodies, one director being a lay member of the Professional Executive Committee of the Wandsworth PCT and another being a non-executive member of St George’s NHS Trust. WCA were questioned closely about this issue at interview and confirmed then, and subsequently in writing, that the involvement of MAC was in the formulation of the tender and advice on LINK governance arrangements and that there was no commitment to there being any future work commissioned from MAC by the LINK, once it was in place. As part of the due diligence, WCA has been asked to prepare a written service agreement with MAC and this will be examined to ensure that the above conditions are complied with before any contract is signed”

  • (a)Has The LINk seen this ‘written service agreement’ referred to?
  • (b)Has the’ Moore, Craig, Adamson Consultancy (MAC) being commissioned for any LINK work, and if so how much has the LINK been charged?

a) A written service agreement exists and was approved by the Council and the contract would not have been awarded if the SLA had not satisfied the due diligence of the Council as commissioner and contract performance manager.

b) The quick answer is yes and nothing yet – but it will be in the minutes of either or both Communications & Participation sub group and IE of exactly what the LINk has commissioned to do. The MAC partnership have been commissioned by the Host to undertake a considerable amount of work since the contract was awarded with payment both from the Host budget and the Disbursement budget. However since the IE was appointed, MAC services have only been commissioned and paid for from the LINk Disbursement budget with the explicit approval of the IE.

  • Given that the LINK Interim Executive will no longer exist after January 2009, what is the point of having a ‘training day’ just for interim executive members. Why not have a training day to which all LINk members are invited?

The IE is the incumbent elected and is thus the appropriate group to open strategic dialogue with the key stakeholder for commissioning and providing health and social care. Larger meetings could be arranged for LINk members in the future if required.

  • Given that LINks are supposed to be democratic and transparent organisations with the aim of maximising member participation-would it be a good idea for those LINK members who are willing to be able to share their contact details in order to discuss issues of health and social care.

Wandsworth LINk has a privacy policy for its members and neither the LINk nor the Host will be willing to contradict this policy. The Wandsworth LINk website has a facility to discuss issues www.wandsworthlink.org/discuss, this is certainly an alternative to email discussion that does not require the sharing of personal contact details.

  • Have LINk members been alerted to Wandsworth Primary Care Trust’s decision to ‘put out to tender’ new GP facilities Executives to be located somewhere near Clapham Junction.

Referred to Primary Health & Social Care sub group for follow up. Noted that it is a legal requirement that all PCT contracts for commissioned work are put out to tender.