Local Involvement Network
Improve your Health and Social Care Services
r e t t e l News Issue 10
May 2011
Inside This Issue: Children’s Heart Surgery HealthWatch Student Mental Health Forum GP Consortia
and much more...
Make a difference to your Health & Social Care Services Make a difference to your Health & Social Care Services
Leicestershire LINk Newsletter 2
The Challenge of Balance The challenge Task Groups, Board members and Host staff face is to continue the work of the LINk in its final year and to prepare for its successor- HealthWatch. The Task Groups continue to work on neurological issues, dementia, mental health issues, support for carers, improvements for ambulance users, the transforming of community services and adult day care services. In addition, a lot of effort has gone into the preservation of Paediatric Cardiac Care in Glenfield and to campaign for Option A from the government proposals. As to the future, this of course is centred on the new Health & Social Care Bill which is before parliament. Your LINk set up a Task Group early in the day and made several comments during the first consultation phase, including the need to be independent and well funded. Since then we have been working with Leicestershire County Council on current and future funding. We have also held a meeting with Stephen Dorrell, the Chair of the Health Select Committee, to air our views. The outcome so far is that the LINk Board has agreed to seek Pathfinder status for HealthWatch, a move which has Leicestershire County Council approval. In addition, we are to meet with the two newly formed GP Consortia.
At present we are preparing our position for the shadow Leicestershire Health and Wellbeing Board where we will become inaugural members. HealthWatch will be a much bigger task than LINks and we will be contacting members very soon to seek additional help in preparing for the future.
In the meantime, its business as usual! John Baker - Leicestershire LINk Chair
YOUR FINANCIAL EXPERTISE IS NEEDED! Leicestershire LINk has a Finance Subgroup, which is responsible for how the money is spent, and to make sure it is spent sensibly. This can be on activities such as; events, conferences, training, task groups and publicity. The Finance Subgroup also has to set the budget and write the business plan. If you have any financial expertise (doesn’t need to be accountancy level) we need your help. The Subgroup meets about every two months, usually at the Host office. If you are interested and would like to know more, please contact Gill Wollerton on 0116 229 3028 or email
gill@communitiesinpartnership.org.uk
Leicestershire LINk Newsletter 3
Children’s Heart Surgery ~ Future Explained... Huge concern was raised at two joint Leicester City and Leicestershire LINk meetings concerning the future of Children’s Heart Surgery at Glenfield Hospital. There are currently 11 Children’s Heart Surgery Units in England and some of them are small. Following a review undertaken by a national team, called the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts, it has been decided that each Unit should carry out a minimum of 400 surgeries per year and have a minimum of four surgeons. Because of these new standards, some of the units in England will have to be closed. The Government is therefore keen to ask people’s views about these changes. In the national review document it states that Glenfield Hospital carries out 225 operations and has three surgeons. The document outlines four options, and only one of these options will be chosen, which would mean two or three children’s heart surgery units would close. Each option includes a combination of six or seven hospitals. Glenfield Hospital is only in one of the four options, which is very worrying for patients and parents in the East Midlands.
The LINk events explained the national document and went through the questions. Attendees voted on the proposals and an overwhelming 98% said they wanted to keep Children’s Heart Services at Glenfield. The opinions of everyone will be included in the LINks response to the national consultation. The Task Group met with Liz Kendal MP who presented the results of the LINk event at a meeting in May. Discussions with MPs and organisations throughout the East Midlands who receive the service are also being sought.
Eric Charlesworth, Chair of the Task Group said: “Our aim was to give
people the opportunity to ask questions and understand the consultation document. We will be including everyone’s views to make sure all the arguments are fully addressed in our response to the consultation”.
Over 120 people came to the LINk events to express their concerns and show their support. People from Lincolnshire, Derby, Peterborough, Merseyside and of course Leicester and Leicestershire, came together to hear what speakers from University Hospitals of Leicester, the East Midlands Commissioning Group and Heart Link had to say about the services at Glenfield Hospital.
The national consultation runs until 1st July and can be completed online at www.ipsos-mori.com/safeandsustainable or to request a paper copy call 0116 229 3029 Make a difference to your Health & Social Care Services
Leicestershire LINk Newsletter 4
Carers Say It As It Is! One of the priorities of Leicestershire LINk’s Carers Task Group is for carers to understand Personalisation and how it can help them. So, in order to try and de-mystify the confusion, the LINk organised an event in March. Heather Pick, Service Manager from Leicestershire County Council started the event by talking through the stages of applying for a personal budget, the benefits and how it can give someone more choice and control about the services they use. This was followed by two carers who gave their account of the Personalisation process and the difficulties they felt. One of the carers startled the audience by throwing her papers up in the air to demonstrate her frustration and the volume of paperwork that she had to deal with. However, her overall message was ‘it’s worth it in the end’ because the cared for person can access a wide range of services at a time that suits them; such as going to the cinema or accessing a leisure centre. A role play, presented by the Task Group went down really well, and although it was good fun, the under-lying serious message was that although the administrative side can be problematic and bureaucratic, perseverance pays off. Key words, phrases and their
CHANGES TO SERVICES...
The carers task group role play, where they demonstrated the process can be difficult.
meaning were highlighted such as “care plan”, “personal budgets”, “personalisation” and “HART” (Home Care Assessment Reablement Team) which all come up during the process. Carers who were already well on in the process or were in receipt of a Personal Budget, were able to provide some good advice for those who were just thinking about it. The process of applying was explained in full and can be found in the Carers Personalisation Event Report, which is available on our website or to request a paper copy call 0116 229 3029.
Leicestershire County Council’s Cabinet have now made their decision over the changes to Day Services and the closure to the Council’s in house employment services. Decisions
working with Oadby and Wigston Borough Council and other organisations to see how the project may operate as a social enterprise. A social enterprise is effectively a business which reinvests any profits made back into the organisation or into the local community.
made include the closure of the following services: The Buffet Cart in Coalville, Four West in
So what is happening with the Day Services Strategy?
These will end by September 2011. People who use these services will be supported by the Council to access alternatives in the community. Some of the Breaking the Barriers Projects will be closed in September 2012. During this time, the Council will be looking to explore other avenues to ensure support can be maintained.
The Day Services Strategy will now be called Community Life Choices and the general principles have been approved. We told the Council what you thought after hearing the views of over 100 services users, voluntary sector organisations, councillors and Leicestershire County Council employees at our event on 15th February. We followed this up by formally submitting a response to the Council’s consultation.
Loughborough and Charnwood Recycling Project.
Will any of the employment services continue? Yes, the Greenhouse Project in Wigston will continue for a further 12 months. Leicestershire County Council will be
A copy of our response can be found on our website, paper copies are available on request.
Leicestershire LINk Newsletter 5
First Students Mental Health Forum for Our Three Universities
The Leicestershire LINk Student Mental Health Task Group has been working with Leicester, De Montfort and Loughborough Universities and Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust to fully understand and identify the mental health issues facing our students in higher education. This joint working has resulted in us forming the first Student Mental Health Forum, which will take on responsibility to improve services for those students who need them.
The first meeting of the Student Mental Health Forum was held at Leicester Tigers Ground on 3rd March 2011. Here we were able to share information and identify areas where services could be adapted to meet the different needs of students. The Forum agreed to raise the profile of mental health for all students by supporting a mental health awareness day, which will encourage openness, provide information about services and support, create opportunities to meet professional workers and promote positive messages to tackle the stigma surrounding mental health. We were delighted that the first meeting of the forum attracted such an influential and knowledgeable group of people who have gone on to make up membership of the Forum. This includes local GPs, Mental Health Workers, all three Universities, representatives of mental health services, both city and county local authorities, charities and service providers. The success of the first meeting will now be built on to continue to improve the mental health and well being for students in higher education.
Mike McHugh, Consultant in Public Health said: “This event presented a valuable opportunity for those who work in the field of student mental health to come together, exchange ideas, network and work to develop improved ways of working. The mental health needs of students pose specific challenges that can only be met by effective collaboration across the wide range of stakeholders that participated.� For more information about the Student Mental Health Forum, please contact Ian Clowes on 0116 229 3050 or email ian@communitiesinpartnership.org.uk
NEW CHAIR FOR THE MENTAL HEALTH TASK GROUP Andy Murtha is now the Chair of the LINk Mental Health Task Group and jumped right into his role at his first meeting in April. Andy has a broad range of experience, which he brings to this role including a good understanding of mental health, the services available and sadly those not. Andy will be leading the LINk Mental Health Group in fighting stigma and injustice around mental health. Andy suffers from a type of Bipolar Disorder and has studied his illness and now knows about treatments, medication and support. For the last eighteen months, Andy has been working closely with the Leicestershire Partnership Trust Board, clearly an advantage when it comes to influence and he is passionate about getting the best possible services for local people.
Make a difference to your Health & Social Care Services
Leicestershire LINk Newsletter 6
HealthWatch Leicestershire While Parliament has been discussing the Health and Social Care Bill a small group of highly motivated volunteers have been working out the impact that the transformation from LINk to HealthWatch will have on our LINk and the people we serve. These volunteers form our Leicestershire LINk/ Local HealthWatch (LHW) Transformation Task Group.
“This is a great opportunity and our strengthened role as Local HealthWatch will mean that patients, carers and the public will certainly have more of say in the way health and social care services are commissioned and provided.” The Health and Social Care Bill implements the Government’s complex proposals for changing the NHS. Following discussion in the House of Commons there are now further consultations before the House of Lords considers it and it eventually becomes law. One of the key proposals is to establish a ‘consumer voice for health and social care’ at national level (HealthWatch England) and locally – HealthWatch Leicestershire, which will evolve from our LINk.
What has the LINk/ LHW Transformation Task Group been up to and what plans do they have for the future? The group have been busily working on the following: • Lobbying Local MPs to explain our concerns • Making the initial contact with GP Consortia • Understanding what the Department of Health is planning • Considering how Local HealthWatch will work • Learning about the PCT PALS, GP Patient Participation Groups and Independent Complaints Advocacy Services (ICAS) • Making our views known at meetings with the Department of Health • Meeting Stephen Dorrell, a Local MP who is also Chair for the Health Select Committee.
What do we know is going to happen? We know LINks will become Local HealthWatch organisations and will most certainly have a greater say and influence in the way services will be provided and commissioned for the people of Leicestershire and that we do not have long to develop it.
What is the difference between HealthWatch and LINks? Local HealthWatch will be commissioned by, funded by and accountable to Local Authorities – locally one for Leicestershire County, one for Rutland and one for Leicester City which isn’t very different to what the current structure is. However, unlike LINks, Local HealthWatch will be corporate bodies, which basically means they will be able to own property, employ staff etc.
Leicestershire LINk Newsletter 7
e is On Its Way...
Local HealthWatch will continue the role of LINk and do a lot more... some examples include: • Being the Consumer Champion for Health and Social Care • Having voting rights on a newly formed influential Health and Wellbeing Board • Providing information and advice on health and social care, to support individual people in making decisions about their care, including what the PALS service provided by the PCT does now • Providing local intelligence and evidence about what local people need and want to the two GP Consortia • Being the access point for advocacy services for NHS Complaints.
What next? We are working with the County Council so that they take account of our ideas. We are part of a joint bid with the County Council to become a Pathfinder HealthWatch this year which will mean that we can develop, with other Pathfinders, the ways in which HealthWatch can be effective, visible, independent and really locally accessible for all the people of the county.
When will HealthWatch Leicestershire come into being? On 1st July 2012 – so we have an exciting and challenging year ahead!
Watch this space! We’ll keep you informed, and we want your ideas and suggestions.
“This is a very influential time for LINks and is certainly a great opportunity for anyone who wants to get involved and shape the future of health and social care.” What can you do? Now that the Government has decided to listen to public concerns about the Health and Social Care Bill your MP will be interested in your views – we’ve provided a tear-off on the back page that you can fill in and use! Make a difference to your Health & Social Care Services
Leicestershire LINk Newsletter 8
WAG’s DAY...
Women and Girls (WAGs) were encouraged to attend Health Awareness Days in Blaby District in March. The events were organised in partnership with Health and Recreation staff at Blaby District Council to raise awareness of health issues and how health can be improved by exercising. Activities at the events included hula hooping, boxercise and street dance. However, the key
messages were about eating healthily, cancer awareness, available physical activities in Blaby and of course information about Leicestershire LINk. Victoria Smith, Blaby District Council said:
“International Women’s day was the perfect day to celebrate and promote women’s health. WAG’s day was a fun, free event that focused on raising awareness surrounding healthy lifestyle choices.” Look out for more local events coming soon....
What Is the Care Quality Commission (CQC)? The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. The CQC aims to make sure better care is provided for everyone - in hospitals, care homes and people’s own homes. The CQC also protect the interests of people whose rights are restricted under the Mental Health Act. All providers of health and social care are in the process of becoming registered with CQC under one system. This means that, for the first time, everyone who uses health and social care anywhere in England, will be able to expect services to meet a common set of standards.
CQC and Local Involvement Networks CQC actively seeks the views and experience of people who use services and the public to help make judgements about whether services are meeting essential commons standards. The Health and Social Care Act 2008 says that the CQC must listen to and work with LINks. CQC want LINks to: • Know who CQC are and what they do • Help develop how we regulate Health & Social Care Services • Have contact with local CQC staff to share information • Know what CQC have done with any information they give us • Work closely with CQC as they monitor services
In order to work with LINks CQC has: • Set up a section on their website for LINks to provide information www.cqc.org.uk/your views • Run meetings between local CQC staff and each LINk – made sure that each LINk has a lead local contact within CQC • Established a CQC LINks Advisory Group to help guide our work nationally
Working together to improve services The Compliance Team in Leicestershire and Rutland have worked together with the local LINks to develop a questionnaire in order to provide useful information about adult social care providers. This has enabled inspectors to focus their inspections on issues identified by LINk members. Information provided by LINk members in respect of the NHS services in Leicestershire has been particularly useful in recent planned inspections of the three main hospital sites in Leicestershire. Information provided by LINk members is directly reported in reports and is an extremely useful source of information from local people about registered services.
Find out more at www.cqc.org.uk To find out about national work to involve people, including the LINks advisory group, contact
involvement.edhr@cqc.org.uk
Leicestershire LINk Newsletter 9
West Leicestershire GP Commissioning Consortia
What Is It?
The West Leicestershire GP Commissioning Consortium (WL GPCC) has been established to give GPs in the area the opportunity to have much more input into the way the local NHS works. It is hoped that working with patients and other stakeholders GPs will be able to identify where the service can be improved. Good patient care should actually cost less because the patient gets seen by the right person in the right place at the right time and gets everything done in one go rather than having to attend lots of times. Our GPs are grouped into four localities and each locality will come up with local plans on how to improve local services. These plans will be drawn together to produce a Consortium plan that will then link in with the plans of the other two local consortia. The Consortium will also have a role in ensuring that local General Practice continuously improves the quality of the services it offers patients. For the next 1-2 years the Consortium will be a subcommittee of the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Primary Care Trust Cluster. The Cluster will delegate powers, personnel and budgets to the Consortium as it develops and the Consortium will then become a separate legal NHS Body.
proposition that should be able to achieve the goals expected of it. It also means that we have the opportunity to take part in regional training events and share learning with other consortia. At these events we will be able to influence government policy on the development and roles of consortia as these develop.
How will GPs be involved? The Consortium will have two Joint Chairs, Chris Trzcinski and Nick Pulman, who will work half time each for the Consortium and half time as GPs. Each locality will have two GPs who will work one day a week for the Consortium. The practice of each GP is paid an allowance for the time the doctor is away from the practice. They use this allowance to employ another doctor to cover that time. That way there is no reduction in the service available from the practice to its patients. All practices will send a GP and/or practice manager to a locality meeting for two hours a month. Practices will also undertake work within the practice to achieve the aims and aspirations of the Consortium.
Working with Stakeholders
It will be important for the Consortium to involve Stakeholders in its decision making processes. One way we intend to do this is to work with LINk to identify a representative to sit Pathfinder Status on the Consortia Board. We would also hope Our Consortium has achieved Pathfinder Status that each locality will identify ways of working with the Department of Health. This means that with their local councils and involving Patient Participation Groups (PPGs). it is recognised as a viable long term
JOINT STRATEGIC NEEDS ASSESSMENT (JSNA) The JSNA allows the Council and its partners to identify the local needs of Leicestershire. The information collated is used to identify the major issues affecting the local population; this information should then be used to map out the PCT and Council’s future priorities and will help them plan their future services. The JSNA is very important and allows the LINk to influence commissioning and to ensure the way services are provided reflect local need. Developing the evidence base around voice is a valuable opportunity for LINks to get involved to ensure that the
services that are developed in the future reflect the views of our service users and their carers. The voluntary organisation and disability website www.vodg.org.uk - has an section on the JSNA. For more information on the JSNA in Leicestershire please contact Janine Dellar - janine.dellar@lcr.nhs.uk or Carin Davies - Carin.Davies@leics.gov.uk Leicestershire LINk is represented by John Baker on the JSNA Steering Board.
Make a difference to your Health & Social Care Services
Leicestershire LINk Newsletter 10
Leicestershire Shadow Health & Wellbeing Board and LINk Involvement
Margaret Moore
Leicestershire LINk Board has just appointed Margaret Moore and Geoff Smith as our temporary Representatives on the Health & Wellbeing Board. Margaret and Geoff both come with a wide knowledge and experience of health and social care and will be bringing the voice of the public to the Board’s decisions. The Board first met in April, so it was important for the LINk to be represented. However, in the next few weeks, we will be writing to all our LINk members (1,600+ members) to invite nominations from people who can bring a wide range of expertise to the work of the Board – so, please look out for this. The Health and Social Care Bill introduced the establishment of a Health & Wellbeing Board, which is part of the wide range of proposals to modernise the NHS. The Board’s role will be to bring senior decision-makers in the NHS, social care, public health and other services closer
Geoff Smith
together, so that services can be much more integrated, duplications avoided and efficient – the overall aim is to improve the health and well being of everyone living in England. Leicestershire’s Health & Wellbeing Board will be in shadow form until it assumes its statutory responsibilities, probably by April 2013. Until then it will act as an advisory body to the County Council’s Cabinet, NHS Leicestershire County & Rutland’s Trust Board (Primary Care Trust) and the two GP Consortia. As you will have seen in the article about HealthWatch on page 6 this will be the vehicle to provide the patients’ voice on the Health & Wellbeing Board but until then, the Leicestershire LINk will be undertaking that role. The LINk provides lots of different ways for you to let us know what you think about your health and social care services, so as we face these major changes to our services, it becomes even more important for you to be involved.
NEW LEICESTERSHIRE LINk WEBSITE LAUNCH... The new site www.leicestershirelink.org.uk has been given a fresh design with improved usability and navigation. Users will be able to find latest news, events, details on the work of the LINk, information on our LINk activities and much more... New features have also been added such as the poll, LINk Blog and improved feedback forms. In our first poll, “Do you like to new website?” 88.5% of users voted Yes! John Baker, Leicestershire LINk Chair said: “I am delighted with the new website. The website is designed to be more interactive and we hope that visitors find the website useful, interesting and are able to find the information that they need. We look forward to our members views”.
In February we launched the new Leicestershire LINk website.
We’d love to hear what you think of the new look website. Please send any comments and feedback to info@leicestershirelink.org.uk
Leicestershire LINk Newsletter 11
Could you be a LINk Media Monitor? Do you receive a local paper? Have you seen the LINk mentioned? Have you seen a picture published from one of our events? Have you seen a LINk poster in your area? One of the ways in which you can become involved in the LINk is to become a ‘Media Monitor’. We are asking all our members to let us know if they see anything about the LINk in any local papers, publications, GP Surgeries or anywhere else in the County. You are the eyes and ears of the LINk and we need you to let us know what is out there! This will help us to ensure that we are reaching all corners of the County. Please email or post anything you see to the LINk office. (Contact details on the back page).
CUT HERE
LINk Survey on Local Services... Last year, we sent a survey to 10,000 random household in the County to ask residents to tell us their views on local Health & Social Care Services. We received over 900 responses and the findings have been collated into a report. Respondents were asked to identify their location by using the first part of their postcode. Respondents were asked what services they had used in the last 12 months, to rate their experiences of the services and were asked to comment on: GP Services, Hospital inpatient, Hospital outpatient, Dentists and Adult Social Care services. The findings will help us to identify local issues and we will pick up on the actions with the Health & Social Care Service providers.
To………………………………MP, House of Commons London SW1A 0AA Like other members of the Leicestershire Local Involvement Network (LINk) I am keen to see HealthWatch succeed. However the Health and Social Care Bill fails to secure this for three main reasons: 1. Local HealthWatch is not independent of the Council that both provides social care and commissions and funds Local HealthWatch. Unless it is seen to be independent it cannot be the consumer champion for health and social care. 2. While the Government provides local authorities with the money for Local HealthWatch it is not ‘ring fenced’. Recent experience of reductions in funding for LINks gives us no confidence that local authorities will fund Local HealthWatch so that it can deliver the challenging work expected of it. 3. GP consortia will carry out many of the functions of the PCTs, including commissioning. PCTs are public bodies with lay members whose meetings and papers open to the public and the press as part of their accountability to the public. The LINk considers that to make GP Consortia accountable and their decisions transparent they should be required to have lay representatives on their Boards and to meet in public. I hope that during the current period of reflection on the Bill you will do all you can to bring my concerns to the attention of the Secretary of State for Health. Name...................................................................................Address ...................................................... ................................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................ ..............................................................................................Postcode...................................................
Make a difference to your Health & Social Care Services
CONTACT US... FREEPOST RSCK-LBKH-UBGL, Leicestershire LINk, Leicester, LE4 1HB
info@leicestershirelink.org.uk
0116 229 3103 www.leicestershirelink.org.uk Back issues online - http://issuu.com/leicestershirelink
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Affix Stamp Here
..................................MP House of Commons, London. SW1A 0AA