Report for AGM Feb 2009
HSFSE Notes for SHCN AGM on 14th February 2009
Issues of concern include: MRSA Screening: NHSGGC will not firm up on measures to be taken until the Health Department guidance comes out, yet:
A) The ACADs (800,000 patients a year, with lots of Day Surgery, Endoscopies etc) are due to open in 5 months,
B) The Golden Jubilee Hospital (Clydebank) already routinely screens all inpatients before admission, and
C) The national MRSA screening programme will only start to roll out in April 2009, with final guidance maybe early 2010, and it seems to target inpatients only. Donor organs for research: a recent headline UK scientists hit by lack of brains highlighted the need for thousands more brains for research on Autism, Alzheimers, Motor Neurone Disease, Parkinsons etc, some of which are on the increase.
A donor card relates only to organs for transplant surgery, and there is said to be a huge shortage of both affected brains for research and unaffected brains to provide control groups.
While there is a national transplant organ system, no such network seems to exist for research purposes. The Forum has contacted Edinburgh University Pathology Department (the only relevant bank in Scotland - as empty as other banks) for advice on how to fill the gap and publicise the need. IT: The Forum is expecting to be addressed by NHSGGCs Director on 10th February, and among other concerns we hope to highlight:
a) The ACADs (between them expecting 800,000 patients a year) are to have paper-lite systems. NHSGGC apparently claim that a system will be in place before opening end June, yet a design contract will only be awarded in May or June.
b) G-Pass (used by 85% of Scottish GPs) seems to have an uncertain future, with the Cabinet Secretary quoted as saying that it will be kept and built up, and NHSGGC that it will be killed off. Single rooms: The new build at the Southern General will have all 1109 adults in single en-suite rooms, and in total there should be some 66% of patients in singles (the Health Department aims for 50%). Some 1350 toilets in all: thats a lot of Toilet Duck. Evening Visitor Transport: Launched two years ago, this free service was rolled out to cover Glasgow, Cambuslang, East Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire, but has not been adequately promoted and we now hear it is to end. NHSGGC spend on taxis: Press reports claim £2million spent (16% more than the previous year). This must be the equivalent of 50 to 100 cars working a full single shift, yet it is cost effective. There is no breakdown of where the £2m went.
E&OE/JSS-5/2/09
HSFSE-notes-for-SHCN-Feb09
HSFSE group report 11 Oct 2008
SHCN 11th October 2008 HSFSE Report (Glasgow)
IT systems in NHSGGC
We are assured that a paper-lite solution for the ACADs will be ready by the time they open (mid-2009), even though a supplier will only be appointed in May/June. Now theres a target!
Palliative Care
An Audit Scotland report shows that almost half the spend is from the voluntary sector, and that most hospital-based palliative care is provided by generalists. As the population gets older this bodes ill for the most vulnerable, unless the NHS can enhance the levels of a) expertise and b) night and weekend cover). The Scottish Government Action Plan is due out in October, and could be a suitable case for examination.
Day Surgery
The holy grail of day surgery has so far eluded NHSGGC, which is reported (again by Audit Scotland) to be well below target, although figures seem to be 10 years old. All hopes are pinned on the ACADs, but if there is pressure on them to make up the lost ground it must be matched by post-op care systems (see next item).
Discharge letters
Members have raised concerns over the delays in issuing these vital hand-over letters, with GPs sometimes not knowing the patient is out and in need of healthcare assistance until said centre of NHS services turns up at his surgery. An approach has been made to the Cabinet Secretary.
Stroke victims
Scotland seems to have lost its way, with the current guidelines (CT scan within 48 hours) over 10 years old - albeit under review for most of that time. Meantime in England a NICE draft in January recommends a brain scan within 3 hours. We hope to have a Consultants views at an early HSFSE meeting.
SHCN-HSFSE-11thOctober2008
HSF South (Glasgow)
SHCN 1st March 2008 HSFSE (Glasgow) report SHCN-HSFSE-mar08
New South Glasgow Hospital
(aka new Southern General, aka new Southern Campus, aka new South Acute Hospital - dont blame us, read Health News):The press have eagerly published half-understood snippets from Press Releases, including artists impressions of what it may look like. The design may or may not be final, but we have been told that the proposed 14-storey tower will require 30-metre piles through alluvial silt to bed rock. It is not clear that comprehensive test bores have been sunk to ensure no nasty (=expensive) surprises. Successive Press Releases have appeared to contradict each other, particularly on bed numbers, but the anticipated socio-economic benefits of £40m for Govan (£290m for Greater Glasgow) look good.
Financing of this £842M project is still to be determined, but the Outline Business Case apparently favours traditional procurement as opposed to PFI. This OBC was expected to gain Capital Investment Group approval by end February, with Cabinet approval within a month and FBC approval in Summer 2009.
Completion 2014, with close to 2000 beds on campus. We have urged the Cabinet Secretary to apply the same ISP review process as elsewhere, but despite a similar apparent lack of clear bases for decisions there seems to be little appetite for reviewing decisions already made.
Related issues include transport and access, with the prospect of hundreds of thousands of extra journeys (including those to the ACAD). We take little comfort from the prospect of a Fastlink service running through the campus linking Glasgow city centre (Royal Infirmary territory) to Braehead (Royal Alexandra territory), as most patients do not live anywhere near this axis. Much more work remains to be done.
Care on discharge from hospital - Further concern is rising over the transition of care as a patient is discharged from hospital into the community, and the question of GP responsibility for the elderly in care homes - if anecdotal reports are anything to go by, too many vulnerable people are left to orchestrate Primary Healthcare and Social Work cover for themselves at a time when they are least able.
Group Report for 19 Jan 2008
SHCN 19th January 2008 HSFSE (Glasgow) report SHCN-HSFSE-jan08
New Southern General Hospital: outline planning approval granted this week, with completion previously set for 2014 (press reports now suggest 2018).OBC (Outline Business Case) is due before the Board on 22nd January.
Financing remains a mystery, as the Scottish Futures plan to replace PPP has yet to congeal, but in any case the Board will be looking to the Scottish Government to cover it.NHSGGC are now tacitly admitting that it will have around 2000 beds on campus (including expanded Maternity, re-located Sick Children and the Mental Health Village), tended by 10,000 staff.
We question whether this is manageable.The Board will not rise to our queries about the extra traffic implications, but have now pledged to appoint a dedicated travel co-ordinator: as Glasgow City Planning Convenor puts it, he has a big job on his hands.
Victoria A&E closure: we are told to expect no change, despite the Lanarkshire turnaround - things are allegedly too far advanced. However, the arguments for closure remain suspect, and as the SGH project slips further back we are considering whether we can press for a review.
NHSGGC reckon that half of current A&E patients could be treated in a Minor Injuries Unit. Southern General A&E currently sees 40,000, but by 2014(?) the Board expect it to see 110,000 - a daunting average of one full A&E case every 5 minutes.
NHSGGC Board: we have (again) protested to the Cabinet Secretary about the lack of complete papers before meetings. The Agenda is too heavy for a half-day meeting: Decembers papers ran to 628 pages and by the time they were only half-way through the business of the day half of the members had left for other engagements. There has to be a better way to oversee an enterprise with a budget of £2,630,600,000.
Free Evening Visiting Transport is now up and running, and although it seems poorly promoted NHSGGC claim it is well received.
South Glasgow Monitoring Group is to continue, but with each meeting devoted to a key service - real monitoring at last? MSPs remain poor attenders.
Workforce Planning: It is very evident that there is little or no planning for the allied health workforce i.e. physiotherapists, podiatrists etc. A very high percentage of newly-qualified physios cannot find jobs. There is no joined up thinking concerning number of students and potential vacancies. The matter was looked into by the Health committee in the last Scottish Parliament but there has been change in policy.
Group Report for 29 September 2007
SHCN HSFSE (Glasgow) Report for 29 September 2007 A&E: While we are pleased that Inverclyde Royal A&E has been reprieved, we see little logic in closing the busy and efficient Victoria A&E, but the Cabinet Secretary tells us centralisation decisions already made will not be reversed.
NHSGGC insist that the disruption from closing IRH A&E would have been greater than closing Victoria, with patients facing traveling 20 miles to Paisley against 6 to the Southern General. Travelling time is in fact not that different, and our numbers are much greater - 40,000 from the Victoria against maybe 13,000 from IRH
(based on 41% of IRHs A&E total of 30,000).
NHSGGC at last have a figure for the number of A&E patients to be treated at the Minor Injuries Unit in the ACAD: 41%, against previous guesstimates ranging from 25% to 60%. This means around 30,000 a year and we will be told how to decide whether we are MIU or A&E material. ACAD: Work is ahead of schedule (give or take a couple of years), and a definitive list of services will appear at the beginning of 2009. Meantime we are delighted to have confirmation that the ACAD will have a full suite of scanners, and hope that NHSGGC will be able to come to a satisfactory agreement with clinicians on extended opening hours.
Suggestions that lessons might be learned from the Central Middlesex BECaD have so far fallen on deaf ears. Things like beds, night cover, A&E etc. New Southern General was due to open in 2011/12, but unconfirmed reports now talk of 2014, and we are pushing for confirmation that the Victoria will stay open till then. Fears are that services will slowly migrate and the fabric deteriorate as the Victoria is run down (as in Vale of Leven).
We estimate that increased traffic will result from over 500,000 extra journeys to/from SGH. SPT have told us the roads around the SGH are inadequate, and NHSGGC may be asked to provide £10 million for improvements. We have asked for a copy of SPTs transport study.
Bed numbers remain a mystery, with a definitive figure now expected in December. The OBC was said as recently as June to be going to the Board in July, but it is now to be a Christmas present. Ho, ho, ho. Beatson W of S Cancer Centre: the publicity given to the new centre seems justified, and for once we applaud the centre of excellence approach. South Glasgow Monitoring Group seems to be running out of steam, and MSPs and others appear to be losing interest (the September meeting saw only half of the core members attending, and no MSPs). Nice to see theyre all so busy.
29Sept2007 - HSFSE
HSF SE: May 06 Health Service Forum South East (Glasgow) notes
Hospital issues:
ACAD timetable no clearer (full opening âearly 2009â)
(Project Manager invited to HSFE 13th June)
No public meetings by NHSGGC to extol virtues â asked why.....
HSF SE: KEEPING THE SCOTTISH NHS LOCAL - UPDATE SPRING 2006
KEEPING THE SCOTTISH NHS LOCAL - UPDATE SPRING 2006
The preparation work for the new road and the utility services for the ACAD at the QPR site has started. This is an appropriate time for the Forum to make a statement of where we currently are and our thoughts for the future.
* We continue to have serious concerns re safety implications ....
HSF Feb 06 Report
We are attempting to clarify the owner ship of part of the land earmarked for the ACAD on the Queenâs Park Recreation Site. We understood there was am agreed price of £14m, £7m this year £7m 2007.
According to the Boardâs minutes of Feb this agreement is not yet finalised.....
HSF SE: Report from the Health Service Forum South East Dec 05
Congratulations Caithness, an excellent victory, it gives everyone heart to carry on our desperately important and justifiable struggle! There is no way I want to take any of the icing off the cake your victory was great, just don't ever take your eye off the ball
We have had a small victory in our neck of the woods. The ACAD which is due to replace the Victoria Infirmary...
HSF SE: Minutes of Health Forum South East Nov 05
Margaret Hinds welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced Jackie Burman, Health Development Officer of Citizens Advice Scotland.
Copies of âThe Citizens Advice and Support Service for Users of the NHSâ document and CAB Service Briefing Paper No 7 were made available to all present.
The demise of the Health Councils has removed the services of an informed body to support patients and carers in making a complaint against the NHS. M/s Burman told the meeting that the Health Dept asked CAS to develop a framework. The two essential components of the service to be provided by CAS will be ...
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