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Public Notice
Camden LINk Meeting in Public
The next meeting of the Steering Group for Camden LINk will be a
meeting in public on Monday 18th May 2009 from 2:00pm to
4:30pm at The Charlie Ratchford Centre, Belmont Street, Chalk
Farm.
You are most welcome to attend.
Premises accessible for disabled people and transport can be
provided where appropriate on request. For further information
or for an agenda please contact us on 020 7483 2249 or email us
on:
camden.link@shaw-trust.org.uk
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What does the Camden LINk cover:
Ambulance & Transport
Chronic & Continuing Care
Community Based Services
Hospital & Specialist Services
Mental Health
Public Health services
Community
Social Services
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Doctor,
Doctor: Sore eyes
From The
Times
14/02/ 2009
With so many of us spending our working day in front of
computers, there is an epidemic of dry, sore eyes, says the
ophthalmic optician Charles Babumba
People come to my
clinic with a range of problems, but when I examine them I find
that about 80 per cent have dry-eye syndrome. Their eyes feel
uncomfortable and gritty because they are not producing enough
tears or their tears are drying up too rapidly. On examination
you can see that their eyes are red and inflamed.
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The homeless and health
Initiatives to wrestle with the health consequences of
homelessness are deprived of a coherent national strategy, say
campaigners. Mark Gould hears the growing calls for the NHS to
take the lead
The life expectancy of people in England is now in the late 70s
for men and early 80s for women. Unless, that is, you are
homeless. A homeless person in England has an average life
expectancy of just over 40, according to shocking research by
the homeless charity St Mungo's."It's the sort of life span you
would have had in the Middle Ages," says the charity's director
of programmes Peter Cockersell. Amid the freezing temperatures
of early 2009, St Mungo's opened two emergency shelters,
concerned by reports of rising cases of frostbite among its
clients.
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Today
in Parliament 09.02.08
The home secretary has severely criticised a senior
government drugs advisor who suggested that taking the drug
ecstasy was no more dangerous than riding a horse.
Jacqui Smith said she had told Professor David Nutt, chairman of
the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, that she was
"surprised and profoundly disappointed" by his comments, made in
a scientific journal.
In the Commons, Ms Smith said she believed his comments went
beyond the scientific advice she expected of him as chair of the
Council.
She added: "He apologised to me for his comments and I've asked
him to apologise to the families of the victims of ecstasy."
A Liberal Democrat MP, Evan Harris, defended Professor Nutt,
saying he did not have the chance to "answer back".
Dr Harris, who is also the party's science spokesman, told the
Speaker Michael Martin: "He is a distinguished scientist and an
independent advisor to the government, established in statute,
and he writes and airs his expertise in academic journals."
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UK drug
rehabilitation service is 'collapsing'
01.02. 09
Private clinics struggle to get funding as government policy
favours less effective – but cheaper – methadone clinics.
Britain's rehab services are facing collapse. No fewer than 15
of the UK's 100 rehab centres have closed in the past 15 months,
despite an increase in the number of people seeking help for
addictions. Because of changes in government health policy,
private rehab centres are finding fewer and fewer health
authorities are willing...... .
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34 PCTs to spearhead surge in
talking therapies
13.06.2008
Department of Health Minister Ivan
Lewis announces the 34 sites who will begin to roll-out talking
therapies around the country.
(see
concerns for Camden by clicking the
button below)
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Conservatives’ Statement re LINks.
Labour have failed to provide a voice for patients: Community
Health Councils (CH Cs) – which had originally been established
in 974 – were abolished on December 2003, after almost 30 years’
existence. The expertise they built up in helping patients was
simply lost.
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The Department of Health estimates that 2.1% of NHS and
foundation trusts will fail financially every year.
By
slashing the amount of time that financially
challenged trusts are allowed to remain in deficit by three
years, the Department estimates it could save £200m a year. The
savings would be achieved by
reconfiguring services more rapidly, and sacking the failing
trusts' boards, leaving them to be taken over by more successful
neighbours. The failure regime would be
triggered for trusts deemed to be challenged which had not
improved after a year. A 'special trust administrator' would
draft a report on the failing organisation's future, followed by
a thirty day consultation. The Health Secretary would make a
final decision about the organisation's future in 35 days.
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The
payment by results system for reimbursing hospitals
for work done was intended to reduce costs with a common
price for elective overnight and day case activities.
However acute trusts have found a loophole which allows
them to 'make a quick buck' by rebadging outpatients
activities as day cases and claiming the full tariff.
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Ministers
and Civil servants on the PFI
gravy train
Alan
Milburn, Health Secretary from
1998 to 2003
Alan Milburn is listed in
his declaration of members’ interests at the House of
Commons as a director of Covidien, which describes
itself as “a $10bn global healthcare products leader”.
He is also a member of ......
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New Continuing Care webpage
click here
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Camden Community Mental Health
SUMMARY OF REPORT:
This report summarises research carried
out in April and May 2008 in response to
concerns from Councillors that some
people with mental health conditions
living independently in the Council’s
housing estates were not being provided
with adequate support from statutory
services, and that nuisance to
neighbours can occur as a result.
click here
At a meeting of HOUSING AND ADULT SOCIAL CARE
SCRUTINY COMMITTEE held on TUESDAY 27th MAY 2008 at
7.00 p.m. in Committee Room 4, Town Hall, Judd
Street, London WC1H 9JE.
COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT SERVICES - EVIDENCE
The Committee considered the report of the Director
of Housing and Adult Social Care introduced by
Rebecca Harrington, Assistant Director, Strategic
Planning and Joint Commissioning. Also present for
this item were Councillor Martin Davies, Executive
Member for Adult Social Care and Health, Councillor
Kirsty Roberts, Mental Health and Substance Misuse
Champion, Colin Plant, Camden Mental Health Trust
and Shirley Scott-Norton, Camden Mental Health
Consortium.
click here |
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New blow for NHS
e-record system Health
correspondent, BBC News
The
programme will revolutionise the way
patient records are stored
Plans to computerise the NHS in England
could face further delays after a
contract with a key supplier was
terminated, the BBC has learned.
The IT
programme, which is already four years
late, will create a single electronic
records system for patients. But
negotiations have broken down with
Fujitsu, who had been due to implement
the plan in the south of England. The
Department of Health said an agreement
over Fujitsu's contract could not be
reached. The estimated final overall
cost of computerising the
NHS in England is currently £12.7bn.
RFH went live 16/06/2008 resulting in
long outpatient queues to register at
clinics and computer crashes. Everything
at the moment is having to be written
down as well. This is quite normal
for change over of computer systems and
should 'bed down' over the next few
weeks.
click
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click here
Legislation:
Local involvement networks: referrals of social care matters (1)
Subsections (2) to (5) apply where a local involvement network
refers a matter relating to social care services to an overview
and scrutiny committee of a local authority.
(2) The committee must—
(a) acknowledge receipt of the referral; and
(b) keep the referrer informed of the
committee’s actions in relation to the matter.
(3) The committee must decide whether or not any of its powers
is exercisable in relation to the matter referred.
(4) If the committee concludes that any of those powers is
exercisable in relation to the matter,
the committee must decide whether or not to exercise that power
in relation to the matter.
(5) The committee, in exercising any of those powers in relation
to the matter, must take into account any relevant information
provided by a local involvement network.
(6) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision as
respects determining the time by which a duty under subsection
(2)(a) is to be performed.
It is interesting to note that the Act only
talks about referrals of social care provision but not
healthcare. We have taken advice on this and have been told that
there is nothing to stop the LINk referring healthcare provision
concerns to the HSC.
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LINk involvement
in local authority commissioning.
Email to Camden Council PPI Lead
18/02/2008,
Can you please advise what
arrangements the Council are putting in place to involve the
Interim LINk in commissioning decisions from the 1st of April.
regards,
Neil Woodnick
“LINks will also be able to focus on
LINk-wide commissioning issues at a primary care trust (PCT) and
local authority level.” - Getting ready for LINks - Planning
your Local Involvement Network
Response:
Dear Neil,
Thank you for your enquiry.
There are various work streams going
on towards the organisation of
transitional arrangements and the
interim host support to LINk
activity between April and September
08. Once we have clarity about the
interim host we anticipate there
will be discussions about what
activity the interim LINk wishes to
prioritise and how that might
happen. The arrangements for
involving the interim LINk in
commissioning decisions at a PCT and
LA level will be part of that.
As you know we have a current audit
of user/carer and VCS engagement in
joint community health and social
care
commissioning. We also have the
summaries of key points for the
Direction of Travel for community
commissioning intentions 2008-09 and
will be able to provide details of
the range of commissioning group
work taking place. Along with
internal work going on with
colleagues to prepare for the LINk
we see these as part of key
preparation work.
There is a communications process in
place for keeping people (public,
patients, users and
carers and VCS) as well as Council
and NHS staff informed of progress.
We are planning a series of
communications so will be in touch
soon to update you and others on
progress.
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Visiting health
and social care premises.
The role of LINks to to review & monitor a range of the services
by both Health & Social Care Providers (Public/Private & joint
funded) the area of inspection is the preserve of the
Inspectorates HC/CSCI/Ofsted/MHCA.
Of course such visits to children residential services are
excluded ( Social Care).
cLINk will need to engage with
the local authority to develop a template in order to carry out
its function. After 01/04/2008 cLINk should present its
Constitution/Governance arrangements to the council's Adult
Community Care Committee.
But before all that it will require name badges ( issued by the
Local Authority), and CRB checks as required by the LINks
regulations; therefore there is still plenty to do before cLINk
will be able to monitor and review services commissioned for
adults by both Health &
Social Care
Commissioners.
The LINk can visit care homes whether public or private, these
arrangements are for the Local Authority to inform the private &
independent providers of care homes in the area, so visiting
teams will need to check that this has occurred. One concern
would be that pre-notification of a visit could greatly change
what is viewable or show the premises as a more favourable
environment than residents normally enjoy. Therefore it is
necessary to discuss with the Council if it would be possible to
write in an 'emergency inspection' procedure into the viewing
arrangements. It should be anticipated that the Council may
respond that these situations are better dealt with by the
statutory inspectorates.
Viewing social care premises is going to prove far more
challenging to set up than PPI Forums inspecting NHS premises.
Legislation for
viewing
Arrangements for authorised representatives for the purposes of
entering and viewing
3.—(1) The requirements referred to in regulation 2(1)(e) are
that a local involvement network must—
(a) have and publish a procedure for the making of decisions by
the local involvement network about who may be an authorised
representative;
(b) if any amendments are made to the
procedure referred to in sub-paragraph (a), as soon as
practicable publish the procedure as amended;
(c) comply with the procedure referred to in sub-paragraph (a)
as may be amended from time to time;
(d) maintain and publish a list of individuals authorised by
that local involvement network as authorised representatives;
(e) provide each authorised representative with written evidence
of that individual’s authorisation; and
(f) ensure that only an individual to whom paragraph (2) applies
may be an authorised representative.
(2) This paragraph applies to an individual if–
(a) a criminal records certificate under section 113A of the
Police Act 1997(10) has been obtained in respect of that
individual;
(b) a person nominated by the local involvement network
(“nominated person”) has considered that certificate; and
(c) the nominated person is satisfied that the individual to
whom that certificate refers is a suitable person for the
purposes of entering and viewing, and observing the carrying-on
of activities on, premises owned or controlled by a
services-provider.
(3) For the purposes of paragraph (2), the nominated person must
not be the individual to whom the certificate refers.
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THE MAIN ROLE OF PCT's
click here
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IS THE PUBLIC INVOLVED IN THE
ACCOUNTABILITY OF PCTs?
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Apportionment of the grant to
Camden Council for the LINk
From: neil woodnick
Sent: 29 June 2008 15:55
To: Stokes, Dean
Subject: RE: LINk budget allocation meeting 20/06/2008
Thank you Dean for your co-operation in defining the apportioning of the
grant in respect of the cLINk.
I think it was a necessary exercise at this early stage of the LINks’
development in order to ensure that there is no confusion in the future.
Could you please consider forwarding this email to those organisations
who are Tendering for the HOST so that they are fully aware of our
understanding in this matter.
regards,
Neil
p.s. do you have any objection to this email going on to my website ?
From: Stokes, Dean
Sent: 29 June 2008 15:40
To: neil woodnick
Subject: RE: LINk budget allocation meeting 20/06/2008
Dear Neil,
Belatedly thanks for coming to the Town Hall on 20 June.
Your points 1) and 2) are in line with our discussion.
I would just add on point 3) that the four categories identified below
seemed to usefully capture the distinct aspects of LINk funding; in
particular the point that a proportion of the funding will be spent by
the LINk, as opposed to the host. We noted the fact that VAC as
transitional LINk host have broken down the budget in this way and that
the approach VAC has taken in this respect is working well.
I hope this is helpful.
Regards,
Dean
From: neil woodnick
Sent: 20 June 2008 17:29
To: Stokes, Dean
Subject: LINks budget allocation meeting 20/06/2008
Dear Dean,
Could you please confirm that you are in agreement with the points I
have detailed below as a result of our meeting this morning.
1. that Camden Council (LA) recognises the value of public and
patient/carers involvement (PPI) in health and social care in the
Borough and fully supports the mandate of the Camden LINk to monitor
these services and work with Providers/Commissioners in order to
guarantee the highest possible service level delivery to residents
within a context of ensuring value for money.
2. That the LA will endeavour to ensure that grant money recommended to
be used for PPI by the DoH over the next 2.5 years will be maintained
for this purpose.
3. that the HOST will have the grant money allocated into 4 different
categories:
a. LA – to pay for the monitoring of the Contract by the LA
b. CORE – items such as salaries, office rental etc that the HOST incurs
in its role of administrator of the LINk
c. DISCRETIONARY- monies that will be spent with the approval of the
LINk Steering Committee i.e. advertising, public meetings, education etc
d. CONTINGENCY - the balance of the money after a),b) and c) are
allocated in order to provide extra support to the LINk e.g. hold
additional public meeting , employ a specialist community engagement
company to advise on recruiting from ‘hard to reach’ groups etc
Thank you for addressing our concerns regarding the allocation of the
grant.
regards,
Neil/Arthur
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From The Sunday
Times 26/04/ 2009
Social service robots crush life and love out of
caring
Jenni Russell
There are some news stories that are so staggering
that, when you hear them, you immediately assume
some important details must be wrong. That’s how it
feels in the case of Betty Figg. She is an
86-year-old Coventry woman who was unhappy about
living in the care home she entered last summer. At
one point she was admitted to hospital with
dehydration. At another time her daughter Rosalind
found her with a mouth caked in blood, complaining
of hunger. So last autumn Rosalind decided to
give up her pottery business and convert a
downstairs room into a bedroom and bathroom so her
mother could be cared for at home.
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From national guidelines to local
protocols
Many times in the past when the PPI Forum queried a
specific
policy with Camden PCT we were told
that they follow national guidelines.However this is not the full story since once
a national guideline has been published and
disseminated, local healthcare groups are
expected to produce a plan and identify resources
for implementation, along with appropriate
timetables.
Subsequently, a
multidisciplinary group involving commissioners of
healthcare, primary care and specialist mental
health professionals if appropriate, service users
and carers should undertake the translation of the
implementation plan into local protocols ;
taking into account both the recommendations set out
in this guideline and the priorities set in the
National Service Framework document and related
documentation. The nature and pace of the local plan
will reflect local healthcare needs and the nature
of existing services; full implementation may take
a considerable time, especially where substantial
training needs are identified.
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Small GP practices
'offer same service as polyclinics', study suggests
Current average-sized GP
practices provide a similar volume and range of extra services
as those provided by so-called super surgeries or 'polyclinics',
new evidence suggests.
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Access to health care
difficult for people with disabilities 20.02. 09
People with disabilities make up
more than 10% of the world's population. In this episode we find
out the challenges they face while trying to get health care
services.
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Dentist fined for grabbing
patient's dentures
A German court Friday found a dentist guilty
of assault for forcibly extracting the
dentures from a patient who did not pay a
700-euro (623-pound) bill.
Chirin Kolb, a reporter for the Suedwest
Presse newspaper, said the dentist, 57,
apologised to the municipal court in Neu-Ulm
after he was fined 6,000 euros for going to
the woman's home and taking the false teeth
from her mouth.
"His lawyer read a statement expressing
remorse and he apologised, saying he just
blew a fuse because he was under a lot of
professional and personal stress," Kolb told
Reuters. He was trying to collect 700 euros
not covered by her insurance.
The woman appeared in court with no teeth
and said she did not want to wear dentures
again because of the distress the incident
had caused.
I'm not surprised. Hope she's not too
'down in the mouth' about it.
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From
The Sunday TimesFebruary
15, 2009
Hospitals curb
caesarean
births
NHS
trusts have for the first time barred women from routinely
having elective caesareans because they cost too much.
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Cerner books U.K.
contract extension
Health care information company
Cerner Corp. on Wednesday announced a two-year extension of a
contract it has in the United Kingdom with its overseas partner
Atos Healthcare. The contract covers Choose and Book, an
electronic appointment system used for referrals from
primary-care physicians. The original contract was signed in
December 2003.North Kansas City-based Cerner (Nasdaq: CERN) has
not disclosed the value of the initial contract or the
extension.
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NHS GP Blog Doctor
I have recently seen a case of
measles. The last time I saw a case of measles was over twenty
years ago when I was doing hospital paediatrics. The child I saw
recently was ill. He did not need admission and, thank God, has
fully recovered. The next child might not be so lucky. I am on
the front line of medicine. I am not a research scientist. I do
not have the scientific expertise of some of the Holford Watch
team. But I see the children and, more frustratingly, I see the
parents who are reluctant to allow their children to have the
MMR. Are these parents mad? Well, frankly, a few of them are.
They are “allergic to dairy and wheat”, they dose themselves up
on St John’s Wart, they have intestinal thrush, a kitchen full
of Gingko Biloba and a shelf-full of avidly read books by the
likes of Gillian McKeith and Patrick Holford. They are beyond
rational discussion and there is little point in trying. I feel
so sorry for their children.
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New Camden PCT logo. Now in
addition to 70% of the local populace not knowing what the PCT
is/does, 100% won't know what this means.
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Watch
Health Scrutiny Committee inquiry into
PolyClinics in Camden. 27/11/2008
See Councillors
Bryant and Abrahams failing to get PCT CEO Rob
Larkman to agree to having a debate on APMS
contracts in Camden , which allows
private sector companies to bid for NHS
contracts.
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Carers Liaison Committee Meeting 22/10/2008
cLINk rep Cilla
Freud
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This is not the time to be flogging off the
family silver 04.12.08
Home ownership is now restricting social
mobility, argues Robert Latham, Legal Aid Lawyer
of the Year and former Camden Labour councillor.
WHEN I was a ward councillor for Regent’s Park
between 1982 and 1990, council housing was still
an alternative form of tenure of choice .......
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 In
the NHS, as the number of managers has gone up,
the number of hospital beds has decreased.
In
1997 there were around 12 hospital beds per
manager - now there are less than five. Yet the
NHS spends about £600m a year (£15,000 per
manager) on management consultants to tell these
managers how to do their jobs. Meanwhile, over
34,000 people a year die unnecessarily in our
NHS hospitals and another 25,000 are
unnecessarily permanently disabled.
David Craig is the author of
Squandered: How
Gordon Brown is wasting over one trillion pounds
of our money
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United HealthCare Contract questions in
the Commons
Mike Penning:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health
(1) what discussions (a) he and
(b) his officials had with Camden
Primary Care Trust on the tendering
process on the alternative provider
medical services contract to run Camden
Road, King’s Cross and Brunswick Centre
GP practices ;
if he will call for a report from Camden
Primary Care Trust on (a) the
bids that were submitted, (b) the
criteria used to select the successful
bid, (c) the tendering process
and timescale, (d) the bidder
weighted score in each category and the
overall total weighted score for each
bid submitted and (e) the per
patient cost estimates in each of the
bids submitted, in respect of the
alternative provider medical service
contract to run Camden Road, King’s
Cross and Brunswick Centre GP practices.
Mr. Bradshaw:
In March this year, I had a short
conversation with the Chairman of Camden
Primary Care Trust (PCT) in preparation
for a local political meeting. During
the conversation the Chairman briefly
touched on the PCT’s decision to award
to United Healthcare Europe an
Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS)
contract, for the management of the
three GP practices. I understand that
the PCT publicly announced this decision
in January 2008. The Department has not
had any discussions with Camden Primary
Care Trust (PCT) regarding the tendering
process for the contract to run Camden
Road, King’s Cross and Brunswick Centre
general practitioner (GP) practices. The
Department does not collect information
on locally managed procurements outwith
the current procurements of new GP
practices and health centres. Therefore
we have no plans to call for a report
from Camden PCT. It is for PCTs in
conjunction with their strategic health
authorities (SHAs) and other
stakeholders to plan and commission
services to meet the needs of their
local populations. The hon. Member may
therefore wish to raise his concerns
with the chief executive of Camden PCT.
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Health Inequalities
Between 1981 and 2006 the proportion of social
housing tenants of working age in full-time jobs
fell from 67 per cent to 34 per cent. A
Centre for Social Justice report, published this
week, might have been talking about Dewsbury
Moor (Karen Matthew's estate) when it presented
a stark assessment of the decline of
working-class social estates during the past 50
years.
It spoke of a “cycle of destructive behaviour”,
of a housing system that has “ghettoised
poverty, creating broken estates where
worklessness, dependency, family breakdown and
addiction are endemic”.
Another report, from the charity Barnardo’s,
showed – perhaps unsurprisingly – that the
children most prey to criminal and antisocial
behaviour, inadequate education, poor health and
substance misuse were those from the poorest
communities.
Martin Narey, the Barnardo’s chief executive,
was speculating about the future of Baby P, had
the boy lived, when he spoke of childhood
deprivation creating a teenage “parasite . . .
helping to infest our streets”. He could have
been talking about the likely fate of Karen
Matthews’s children.
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Will the Camden LINk produce £176,000 of
improvements in health and social care services
in the Borough ?
Next
year £176,000 of taxpayers money will be spent
in maintaining a Local Involvement Network in
the Borough. This will mean that
volunteers will be supported in sitting on
health and social care Provider committees in
order to act as Advocates for the local
community, trying to influence the PCT /Council
in regard to the commissioning of services and
closing identified gaps in health/social care.
In addition these volunteers will be able to
'view' the premises of NHS Trusts, private
sector providers to the NHS and selective care
homes.
In my
opinion supporting the LINk comes at an
outrageous cost in order to facilitate
approximately 12 volunteers to carry out their
duties at a cost of £14,000 per volunteer.
This
scenario is being repeated across the country
with £100,000,000 being spent by the DoH over 3
years starting from April this year. Public &
Patient Involvement (PPI) comes at a very high
price and I very much doubt that Camden
residents are going to see Value For Money in
regard to improvements achieved in services as a
result of the LINks intervention. I think the
only way this can be accomplished is by people
who want to contribute their time and effort to
PPI forming Social Enterprise Companies which
are commissioned directly by the Dept. of
Health. This will result in better outcomes with
a 50% cost saving to the taxpayer by
reducing overheads and a four fold increase of
funds at the LINk's disposal.
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Mental Health Liaison Meeting
13/11/2008
Service User
Jason Roberts stated that Councillor Kirsty Roberts
who is the local 'champion' for mental health patients was an
employee of the Camden & Islington Mental Health Foundation
Trust (MHFT). Councillor Roberts denied that she worked for the
MHFT stating that she received a small payment from the Trust to
support her mental health work. It is alleged that the small
grant amounts to £8,000 per year.
Councillor Roberts register of interests
(click here)
At a recent meeting of the
Housing & Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee Councillor
Roberts represented patients by questioning Colin Plant MHFT
Borough Director regarding the proposed changes for Highgate Day
Centre.
Jason Roberts stated that the
Highgate Day Centre consultation was flawed because service
users were not offered the option of 'no change'
which was the preferred option of most patients at the unit.
The subject of patients
personally controlling their support grants was presented.
The money is paid directly in the patients separate bank account
and they are responsible for paying the Provider. A service user
described how he chose to spend the money booking recording
studio time and paying musicians to play his music. This therapy
has considerably helped the patient recover from his Mental
Health problems.
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Sweeping changes are to be made to the
regulation of Britain's 13,900 care homes, including
a new complaints system and tougher inspections for large
private operators, The Times has learnt. Elderly people and
their families, who pay for care, will soon be able to take
grievances to the Local Government Ombudsman, whose office
currently investigates complaints against local authorities over
school admissions, housing and social services. So-called
self-funders, who make up almost half of the 440,000 care home
residents in Britain, have been clamouring for a new complaints
system to be set up after ministers made clear that the current
regulator, the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI),
could not take on this role. This has left self-funders with
nowhere to turn when disputes arise with care home managers, who
can ask residents to leave when families pursue complaints.
Experts say that this loophole must be closed if standards of
care are to rise when the new “super-regulator” begins
scrutinising 2.8 million staff in the NHS, local authorities and
the private sector next year. The Care Quality Commission (CQC)
will absorb the CSCI into the Healthcare Commission, and the
Mental Health Act Commission, which regulate health and
psychiatric care, in April. Baroness Young of Old Scone, the
chairman of the new watchdog, told The Times that large private
companies that run many hundreds of homes will have to be
registered as a group so that the most senior company managers
can be held to account. The CQC is also promising a tougher
inspection regime for homes and hospitals and penalties
including fines or deregistration for those providers that fail
to provide expected standards of care. Inspectors say that often
the same problems crop up in a number of homes owned by the same
private provider, and there is currently no mechanism to force
the company to take action. All homes are currently registered
individually.
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SUMMARY OF REPORT
This briefing sets out Camden’s Adult Social Care Service’s
response to the developing agenda around “personalisation” in
public services, the key drivers nationally and locally, with
specific reference to the development of Self Directed Support
in Adult Social Care. It also sets out the progress already made
in putting in place the foundations for a more personalised and
responsive Adult Social Care service.
click
here
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PCT Spending: Some Facts
Ealing PCT spends just 47 per
head on cancer treatment while Knowsley PCT spends 118. West
Kent PCT spends 98 per head on mental health while CamdenPCT
spends 297.
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CARERS AND PRIMARY CARE SERVICES IN CAMDEN
At a meeting of the CARERS
LIAISON GROUP held on Tuesday 26th February 2008 at 11.30am
at The Salvation Army Chalk Farm Centre, 10-16 Haverstock Hill,
London, NW3 2BL.
There was a joint presentation by Karen Timperley and Claire
Wheeler.
The meeting was informed that there were approximately 15,000
adult carers in Camden, who provided care and support to adults
or children who were frail or had physical or learning
disabilities, mental ill health or alcohol or drug dependency.
The care that carers in Camden provided had been estimated to
be equivalent to £207.7 million a year but there were often
implications for the health and wellbeing of the carers
themselves.
Camden Carers Centre had received funding from the Neighbourhood
Renewal Fund (NRF) since 2004 for a post that would look at
carers health needs, increase awareness of carers needs
generally and carry out development work with GPs. While they
were successful in supporting carers own health needs, they were
less successful in their development work with GPs. NRF funding
for the post expired in August 2007 but Camden PCT had agreed to
fund the post on a permanent basis from April 2008
The PCT also decided to divert some of the funding to create the
post of Training Services Co-ordinator who would address the
training needs for carers. As part of this the worker will be
developing a network of organisations that can provide training
and courses for carers..
The Camden Carers Strategy was approved by the Councils
Executive on 12th December 2007. This was a multi-agency
strategy including inter alia all Council departments, Camden
PCT, and the Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care
Trust. The strategy sought to build on an earlier initiative and
respond to the expressed wishes of carers:-
· to be respected and
treated as an integral part of the caring process,
· to increase their
profile and
· to increase overall
awareness of carers needs.
It was acknowledged that carers in Camden working 20 hours a
week or more were most likely to experience health problems,
particularly emotional distress which often continued long after
their requirement to carry out caring duties had ceased. Many
others complained of back pain and depression.
Attention was drawn to sheets of paper, which had been left on
the tables around the room. Carers were invited to write down
their top three wishes that they wanted from Primary Care. The
information would then be taken, evaluated and rolled out across
Camden.
At this stage, the following questions were asked, responses
given and points made:-
Q. Carers wanted to flag up the point made earlier that carers
attending hospital had limited time due to their caring
responsibilities. This should be officially recognised by
hospital authorities and provision should be made accordingly.
Q One carer reported problems with Care Line. He had dialled the
number on the Carers Emergency Card but had received no
response. Also, the respite care system was not working as well
as it should.
A. Problems with Care Line were already being addressed.
Emails had been exchanged with Care Line management and a
meeting with Care Line management had been arranged to discuss
the various problems being experienced. The Carers Emergency
Card was being reprinted for promotion across London in April
but this would not take place until it was guaranteed that the
system was working properly. In the meantime, carers were
assured that Karen Timperley had this in hand.
Action By:- Karen Timperley
Q. One carer stated that she did not know about the Carers
Emergency Card.
A. Previously the Local Authority and the PCT relied on GPs to
inform carers of primary care and other services available for
them. Information for carers was currently a big issue, which
was being addressed. PCTs were more aware of the needs of carers
and more projects were being looked at during the commissioning
process with carers in mind.
Q. Would specialist district nurses be appointed?
A. If carers wanted them, they should put this on their wish
list and officers would take this forward.
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From The Times June 27, 2008
Mentally ill are 'jollied along' rather than treated by
psychiatrists
People suffering from mental illness are frequently being
misdiagnosed or receiving inadequate treatment, according to a
group of leading psychiatrists.
The doctors say that patients with serious problems are often
referred to psychologists and social workers rather than
clinicians and do not receive the medical therapies they need.
“Treatment is often little more than jollying people along,”
said Professor Nick Craddock, of the Medical School at Cardiff
University, one of 36 signatories of a letter published today in
the British Journal of Psychiatry.
“If a GP suspected a patient had cancer, he wouldn't dream of
referring him to anybody other than a cancer specialist. A
cancer patient might need jollying along, but what he really
needs is the correct diagnosis and treatment. That's what he
gets from a specialist. But patients with mental illness are not
automatically referred to psychiatrists. If they only see a
social worker, there's every chance that mental illness, or
underlying physical illness, will be missed. Patients are
getting a bum deal.”
Describing their letter as a “wake-up call” to British
psychiatry, the psychiatrists say that the desire not to
stigmatise people has also done damage by implying that there is
no such thing as mental illness. Patients are now known as
“service users” rather than patients — even though, when asked,
67 per cent preferred the word patient and only 9 per cent
service user. Treatments are provided at “mental health”
centres, not mental illness clinics.
Psychiatry, the group says, is the only medical speciality to
adopt an approach that so distorts its original purpose. “For
those with severe mental illness, to avoid medicalisation is at
best confusing and at worst damaging or even life-threatening
... these individuals are being let down by the current state of
affairs.”
The changes came about under a scheme, New Ways of Working,
established in 2005. GPs now refer patients with symptoms of
mental illness to a team of up to eight people, which will
include psychologists, nurses, social workers and a
psychiatrist.
There is no guarantee that the patient will be seen by the
psychiatrist, the only doctor on the team. The psychiatrist, a
clinician with a medical qualification as well as higher
training in psychiatry, is the only member of the team able to
diagnose mental or physical illness with any certainty. The
result, says Professor Craddock, is that patients may be
prescribed “psychosocial support” rather than medical treatment,
only to find in six months' time that they have a treatable
mental illness for which they could have been prescribed drugs
or behavioural therapy.
Physical illnesses that may underlie a mental condition include
thyroid disorder or, less commonly, cancer of the brain.
Professor Craddock and his co-signatories are not claiming that
psychosocial treatments do not have a place, but they claim it
is vital that patients are seen by a psychiatrist first.
“Psychiatrists may not be the best people to deliver treatments,
but they are the best to make assessments,” Professor Craddock
said.
Professor Sue Bailey, registrar of the Royal College of
Psychiatrists, said: “We are in the process of finalising the
development of a questionnaire for our members that will tease
out key issues, and tell us where New Ways of Working is working
well and where there are challenges.”
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: “The
introduction of New Ways of Working has been widely welcomed by
service users, carers and psychiatrists. Working with
multidisciplinary teams has allowed the needs of people who use
mental health services to be better met and frees up
psychiatrists' time to work with more complex clinical cases.”
Extent of the problem
— 14,863 deaths were caused by mental health disorders in
Britain in 2006
— 25 per cent of people experience mental health problems each
year
— 29 per cent of women have been treated for mental health
problems, compared with 17 per cent of men
— 10 per cent of children under 15 have a mental health disorder
— 20 per cent of older people suffer from depression
— 400 people in every 100,000 in Britain self-harm
Source: www.mentalhealth.org.uk
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"Public & Patient
Involvement is promoted as a means of improving and modernising
the NHS in the interests of patients - but it seems to be
motivated more by political considerations about connecting with
a disenfranchised electorate"
Public and patient involvement (PPI) is a
relatively new aspect of healthcare. On the surface it seems to
be progressive - enabling people who use the NHS to have a say
in the way that it is planned and delivered, and supporting
professionals to achieve this aim. When you scratch beneath,
however, the picture is more complicated. In fact, the PPI
agenda seems to have created more problems than it has solved -
and does not benefit patients, the public or healthcare
professionals.
It sets out to address what the government
perceived to be the major problem with the NHS - a lack of
openness, with patients kept at arm's length by over-powerful
professionals (particularly doctors) - as well as to respond to
growing public expectations of the service. This is said to
reflect a radical change in the way that the government attempts
to engage with people on the issue of health, improving
healthcare by the creation of a dynamic, consumer-driven health
service, with patients at its heart and choice and personalised
care the order of the day.
PPI is promoted as a means of improving and
modernising the NHS in the interests of patients - but it seems
to be motivated more by political considerations about
connecting with a disenfranchised electorate than it is by
health priorities or public demand for change. The consequences
are likely to be a further undermining of trust between health
professionals and patients, and an added strain upon the
relationships between health professionals, who will find
themselves pitched against each other.
Extract from an article by a London PCT PPI Lead written in 2004
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Local organisations and partnerships who work with the cLINk
 .
click here
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YOUTH VIOLENT
CRIME DEBATE
Consideration was
given to oral evidence on youth issues affecting the Somali
Community from Abdulkadir Ahmed, a Youth Worker from the Somali
Youth Development Resource Centre, and Mohammad Hassan, Director
of the Somali Development Trust.
click here
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Care, Support and
Independence: national debate on the
case for change to the care and support
system to meet the needs of a changing
society
The Chair noted that the issues
surrounding charging and changes to the
care and support system had been raised
at the last Liaison Group. He also noted
that it was important to look at the
changes within a national context, and
introduced Niam McAleer (Senior
Development Officer, User and Community
Involvement, Housing and Adult Social
Care) to discuss the changes.
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Aids to Daily Living at Home:
developing Camdens Community Equipment
Service
The Chair introduced Jean-Paul Dunin
(Commissioning Projects Officer, Housing
and Adult Social Care) who explained
that it was likely that there were going
to be changes in Camdens Community
Equipment Service.
Jean-Paul introduced Lisa Cavanagh who
worked as an Occupational Therapist for
the London Borough of Camden, and was
the lead officer for the modernisation
of Occupational Therapy at Camden.
Jean-Paul gave a presentation on the
Community Equipment Service (attached at
APPENDIX C). He explained that the
Service was integrated between the
Council (Housing and Adult Social Care)
and the Camden NHS Primary Care Trust
(PCT)
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Extract from “Engaging Camden’s
Neighbourhoods” seminar 11/03/2008
The
discussion returned to the issue of
getting beyond the usual suspects. It
was felt to be particularly important in
health as the people who they most need
to engage are hardest to reach. One of
the roles of
the Working Group could be to identify
and share good practice about these
groups. It was pointed at that a recent
Minority Outreach Project Report covered
much of this ground – a major finding
was that personal contact is crucial to
engaging hard to reach groups
which can be very expensive. The
Camden Central Partnership experience
reflected this – it put a lot of time
and resources into building long-term
relationships with communities,
employing 6 people for a number of
years.
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The cancer of isolation.
I am a
Support Worker- I work with people who
have drug & alcohol and mental health
issues. This week, A client of mine died
alone in his flat, he was 'lucky' enough
to be found weeks after his death by
friends/ acquaintances who had not seen
him in a while... This happens often. In
the past, I have been the sole mourner-
no next of kin or friends- and me, a
paid worker with a brief snapshot of the
person but nevertheless the only one
present with a genuine memory of the
person. It breaks my heart every time
and reminds me why I do my job.
It never fails to amaze me how an
individual can succeed in pushing people
away (a symptom of illness- an act of
self destruction?) only to have their
worst fears realised- that they are,
finally and totally alone. If we are not
brought up with the skills to nurture
close relationships what then? I hope
that the ones who have gone have found
peace and those who remain find
happiness.
Thank you for this article. it is tender
and REAL
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Failings in end of life care waste £100m
every year 26/11/2008
Failings in the commissioning and provision of end of life care services are
costing the NHS more than £100m every year. A damning National Audit Office
report has found massive service variations, with a difference of more than
£1,500 per death between the highest and lowest spending primary care trusts.
NAO director of health studies Karen Taylor said the NHS faced a "real
challenge" to achieve the recommendations of the Department of Health's end of
life care strategy, published in July.
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People are frightened of dementia. For all sorts of
reasons. For some, the prospect of loss
of intellectual control is more
horrifying than cancer. The biggest fear
is of being so ill that you become
dependent on round the clock nursing
care for all your bodily functions. For
Ronald Reagan and Terry Pratchett the
money was/will be there to fund the
nursing. For you and me, it will not.
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REPORT
TITLE:
Camden Children, Schools
and Families Commissioning
Intentions for 2009/10 |
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REPORT
OF
:
Director,
Children Schools and Families
Camden
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This report sets out plans for
commissioning services in 2009/2010 in
the context of the development of the
Children’s Trust, the Council’s Medium
Term Financial Strategy, Children
Schools and Families (CSF) Directorate’s
anticipated budget 2009/2010, grants
available in 2009/10, the priorities in
the Children and Young Peoples Plan (CYPP)
and the statutory duties and
responsibilities of the Council.
(can take up to 10 seconds to download)
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NHS in recession: when good times turn
bad
New hospitals on
hold, health workers striking and severe
underfunding were all effects of previous
recessions. Andy Cowper ask what the latest crisis
may mean for the NHS. As the recession deepens and
chancellor Alistair Darling puts together a £21bn
package of tax cuts and spending increases that
seems to only deepen the sense of national
uncertainty, health service watchers will be
scanning the history books for lessons of slumps
gone by.
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