Sandwell Local Medical Council Public Meeting Minutes

Sandwell Local Medical Council – Public Meeting Minutes

Monday 8th August 2016, 7.30-9.30pm

The Medical Education Centre, Sandwell Hospital

PRESENT:

Dr Raymond Sullivan (RS) / Chair
Dr B Choudhary (BC) / Vice Chair
Dr B Andreou (BA) / Medical Secretary
Dr A Saini (AS) / Treasurer
Dr A Sakthivel (ASa) / LMC Member
Mrs Hayley Haworth / Lay Secretary

APOLOGIES:

Dr U Ahmed (UA) / GPC Regional Representative
Dr Mannivasagam / LMC Member
Item / Discussion / Action
1. /

INTRODUCTIONS /ANNOUNCEMENTS/ APOLOGIES

Apologies were acknowledged as above.
There were no announcements.
2. /

MINUTES OF THE previous MEETING

It was agreed that the minutes of the previous meeting were an accurate record of the meeting subject to the following amendment:
The nomination for Treasurer was seconded by NH.
Matters Arising
BA noted that if the minutes are to appear on the LMC website, then the public and private minutes should be separated.
Action: Minutes going forward to be separated and recorded as private and public minutes.
The meeting minutes are not currently on the website, however it was agreed that the members should be able to access the minutes. A number of possibilities were suggested which included sharing information via the LMC newsletter with meeting minutes available on the website, emailing one person in each practice, and emailing all members. The group could not reach a decision about the best way to communicate with practices.
Action: Table a list of options (including pros and cons) at the next meeting for the Group to decide how to communicate meeting minutes to the practice. / HH
RS
3. /

Election of members

The committee should consist of 14/15 elected members. Discussions took place about the likelihood of securing additional members. AS suggested that the only way to get people involved is to discuss items such as the community spirometry service, which AS suggested should come through the LMC..
It is unsure when member’s elections last took place. This should be done every three years.
Action: RS to check back through the minutes of the previous meeting to see if member elections are due.
The constitution states that there must be 14 days’ clear notice of an election. If the three years are up, the below action to be completed.
Action: Commence member’s election procedure.Letters to go out to member practices to include nomination form. / RS
RS / HH
4. / review of open meeting (27th July)
Chair thanked BA for securing Claire Parker as a speaker at this session.
It was noted that the session was enlightening in the sense that it was not previously known that there could be gains.
AS noted that took away some useful information from the session. Firstly, Whatever organisation you form and whether you horizontally or vertically integrate, will essentially provide the same services. Secondly, there is no guarantee that the GMS monies will be ring fenced. BA noted that the BMA have advised practices not to forgo their GMS contract. Money included in the GMS contract will not be the same as what practices are currently getting which will force practices to join with other practices. It was noted that practices do have the option of giving up GMS altogether however the practice would require a strong foundation for this.
5. / gpc / bma matters
Immediate Removal Procedure
A letter from Dr Bob Morley was included in the papers. This letter was sent by Bob in response to the fact that a letter had been sent to Birmingham practices about the immediate removal of patients without consulting Birmingham LMC.
BA advised that the issue had originated from his practice due to an issue with a violent patient earlier in the year.
Practices should write to NHSE asking for patient to be removed. BA stated that a crime number should be given to NHSE as noted / agreed by the BMA. RS disagreed with this and noted that having read the legislation a crime number is not required. AS checked guidance which stated the following - that there should have been an act of violence, which should be reported to the police ideally with a crime number.
Action: RS to write to Dr Bob Morley to support his email. / RS
6. /

CCG MATTERS

GP Strategy Consultation
Action: RS to contact the CCG to suggest that it comes to the LMC.
PCCC
Public agenda was shared in the papers.
PCCF (Inspection Process)
A document was finalised on the inspection process without a consultation process having taken place. AS noted that he was a pilot site and confirmed that the information required was not too onerous or difficult to complete andadditionally the process supports the practice for a CQC visit.
RS was concerned as it seems that there is a duplication of data being collected as this was already recently collected for the workforce survey.
RS discussed the following question in the document,‘can you demonstrate that you have not discriminated against patients during recruitment’. RS noted that it is unlikely that practices would have kept evidence of this as it is something that practices would do without thinking about. AS replied that some practices would do this for example by not taking patients from nursing homes.
Discussions took place about whether ID should be requested for new patients. It was agreed that practices can ask for ID however if patients do not have any ID then practices cannot refuse to accept patients as this would be discrimination.
RS highlighted that if practices are inspected and asked how many reports they have provided, the response should give notice that payment should be made within 30 days for reports from the collaborative funds.
AS noted that the worse thing about the form is that it has to be sent back in a word document which means that there is the possibility of it being changed. / RS
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Monday 12thSeptember 2016