Meeting documents

Apologies for absence were received from Jo Bromley, Mike Colston, Frances Finucane, Graham Box, Ryan Mellett, Anne Banks, Emma Parry and Christine Nicolay who was withdrawing from the group.

To agree the Minutes of the meeting of the Older People’s Champion’s Forum held on 4 September 2007 as a correct record.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Older People’s Champion’s Forum held on 4 September was agreed as a correct record.

Item 3, para 3 Marilyn Parks reported that an acute medical ward for older people would be opening at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. This would provide multi-disciplinary assessment from admission and early rehabilitation.  The Chairman suggested that the Champions could monitor this in a constructive way.

Item 3, para 4 The Chairman mentioned that she had now received the recording of the meeting that she and Kerry Stevens had attended with the Hospitals Trust on 4 December 2006 regarding the pathway analysis of care provided to a 94 year old lady.

Item 5, para 4  It was reported that Kerry Stevens had agreed to fund 6 more peer interviews with social care clients.

Sheila Davies, Health Promotion Co-ordinator

Sheila Davies gave a brief overview of the outcomes of the Older People’s conference held on 16 July 2007 entitled Speaking out – Making changes. There had been some discussion around use of the term "older people" and on the whole the preference was for an alternative designation. As a result the Bucks Older People’s Forum had been renamed the Bucks50plus Forum. The new website www.bucks50plus.org was working well and generating interest. The OPAGs could retain or change their names as they saw fit.

The keynote speaker at the conference was Matt Briggs from the Department of Work and Pensions. He talked about putting the customer at the heart of public services and viewing older people as an asset rather than a deficit to the community they live in. He explained the Japanese system of caring credits where people providing care services to others can accumulate credits which can be drawn upon when necessary, for instance, if they become unwell. The suggested that similar concepts such as time banks, based were catching on and being used in many countries around the world.

Dr Graham Box had led the Dignity in Care session and delegates had been asked to prioritise the ten dignity challenges issued by the Department of Health. Zero tolerance of all forms of abuse had emerged as a clear priority locally.

There were five workshops looked at user engagement /involvement around five topics:

1. Your Health
2.  Your Money
3. Your Community
4. Your Leisure
5. Supported Living

Actual responses, as well as a summary of issues, were included in the conference report. Core issues that had emerged included: Information and signposting to other services, improved communication and better understanding from professionals; access and transport and engagement and involvement. A summary paper would be produced in due course. The next step was to engage professionals in developing an action plan in response to conference outcomes. A meeting would be held on 21 November with key individuals. The Champions supported meeting with senior officers first.

Anne Banks, Buckinghamshire Hospitals Trust

Marilyn Parks reported that the outcomes had been shared with staff. Packs had been distributed for staff to read on both positive and negative aspects. This would be extended to the general medical wards as well. This had been a useful learning process and the Trust was moving forward. Marilyn indicated that every effort would be made to capture staff responses to the outcomes.

Action: Marilyn Parks

Anne Banks, Buckinghamshire Hospitals Trust

Marilyn Parks reported that Sarah Watson-Fisher, the new Director of Nursing at Buckinghamshire Hospitals Trust, had set up a patient experience group (PEG), to inform service improvements. It was noted that the PEG had requested a representative from the Bucks50plus Forum and it was suggested that the PEG might wish to have a representative on the Champion’s Forum.

Pam Bacon commented that the "In your shoes" events run by the acute trust provided an excellent model of capturing and understanding what service users had experienced and how they felt about the service. Matching 20 clients with 20 practitioners from a cross section of the organisation had been effective.  She highlighted the issue of a lack of English expertise amongst nursing staff and the resulting communication difficulties. Marilyn Parks indicated that this had been addressed by a change to the Job Description and Person Specification which now stipulated that a good command of written and verbal English was a requirement. English and Maths lessons were also available for existing staff.

In response to another issue of concern raised, Marilyn Parks reported that Liz Evans was working across the Trust in improve nutrition. In terms of discharge procedures, pharmacy was investigating issuing instructions for taking medications in bigger print. The Chairman had also raised with pharmacists, the issue of issuing these instructions in minority ethnic languages for those who could not speak English.

Teresa Smith, OPAG Co-ordinator

Teresa Smith informed the meeting about the new telephone based service for adults who might be experiencing difficulty in maintaining their independence, or for the carers who help them at home. The "In touch" service undertook telephone assessments and reviews and provided advice, information and signposting. The "In touch" team would follow up the initial contact and advice with a telephone call four times a year to maintain contact and see what further support might be required. By providing timely and relevant information and support, this service would help people to stay fit and well in their own homes. By the end of March 2008 it was anticipated that there would be 3,900 people using this service. Teresa emphasised that this was a preventative service and not set up to respond to crises. If people found themselves needing an urgent response then they should contact the social care duty team.

Members of the Forum were most interested in this innovative attempt to provide a one-stop access point for older people who needed signposting/referral to services but expressed reservations about the sustainability of the service in terms of increasing volume of work and on-going funding. Champions were also concerned that the contact number on the leaflet about the service was the central County Council call centre and that there was no system of direct access to the "In touch" team.

The Chairman undertook to write to Kerry Stevens to express the Champions’ concerns.

Action: Chris Stanners

David Furze, Wycombe DC or Chris Stanners, Chairman Champions Forum

David Furze explained to the meeting that the aim of the Bucks SHAPE (services having all people engaged) 50 plus Project was, initially, to improve transport and accessibility to services through active engagement and participation of older people.  The project would focus on growing community-led transport projects, with an emphasis on access to health and social care in the broadest sense. The project would develop a ‘tool-kit’ which could be applied to setting up transport-related initiatives within the county. It would be running until mid February 2008 and volunteers from the community, who would potentially use community-led transport, were being sought. Any members of the OPAGs potentially interested in participating should contact David Furze at Wycombe District Council.

Action: OPAGs

Paper from Graham Box

Champions received and considered the report from Graham Box on the Champion’s mission. The Chairman reported that she and Dr Box had met with Jane Taptiklis, the chairman of the Older People’s Partnership Board. Jane Taptiklis was currently recruiting for a joint commissioner for health and social services for older people. One of the successful candidates would be asked about providing a professional chair for the Champion’s Forum. Jane Taptiklis agreed that Champion’s had a role to play with respect to undiagnosed depression, bed management, accident and emergency services, priority setting and quality markers for the care of older people. Chris Stanners commented that there were additional areas in which the Champions could have a role to play that did not have a health focus.

It was also suggested that all Trusts could be requested to have recruitment and training sessions for Champions modelled on the training initiative being planned by the Acute Trust in Spring 2008. Marilyn Parks agreed that it might be possible to include a representative champion for other Trusts and Social Care Services in the training session. It was thought that a training event would be required every two years.

In response to a request, the clerk agreed to circulate the diagram detailing all of the OPPB sub-groups.

Action: Sheilah Moore

None

Draft OPPB agenda attached

Members considered the OPPB agenda for 7 November 2007.

2.30pm, 15 January 2008 in Mezzanine Room 1

15 January 2008 at 10.00am in Phoenix Room 3