Introduction
Cllr McCabe welcomed all to the meeting, particularly Jim Dickie, the Council's Director of Social Work who leads the Health, Wellbeing and Care theme partnership and to Duncan Mackay and Sandra Mackay who contribute to this work. He also welcomed Pauline Gilroy from Communities Scotland who was representing Roger Popplewell.
Item 1: 'A Picture of Health'
D Pigott gave a presentation (see attached) on the future redesign of NHS Lanarkshire services. The document which had been circulated was to be seen as an approach to public engagement and not as a strategy. It sets out the case for change ultimately leading to improved and redesigned services leading to improved health outcomes.
He outlined the principles which would guide the change process and detailed the specific purpose of the current engagement. The current health of Lanarkshire provided a background to the need for change including the main causes of premature death, the growth in the elderly population and the fact that behaviours remained a clear barrier to positive improvements.
Through one part of the ongoing process, early indications of the issues people felt important were, amongst others, high care standards, continuity of service, hygienic and safe environments.
Having outlined the scope and scale of current services, David set out the basis for change and how services were likely to be affected. He emphasised that no solutions or conclusions had been reached about how services might look, but that partnership groups were being established to examine different core service areas and to come forward with options for consultation. A series of questions had been posed in the current process to which responses were sought be the end of January 2005.
The Chair thanked David and commented that there was a common perception that such a consultation was ultimately about service withdrawal or reduction. For example references about creating centres of excellence was seen as a euphemism for centralising certain services for cost reasons, and that access issues for people were disregarded. D Pigott responded that these needed to be decided on a service by service basis and that a balance had to be struck.
J Hunt noted that best value was a principle, which the public believed was the often the key driver.
L Gold accepted that Best Value needed to be applied as resources were always limited, but this was a genuine effort to engage on these difficult issues in an open manner. J Hunt felt it important to get this message across, as there was misunderstanding amongst local communities. Cllr McCabe felt that in these circumstances, the January timescale was tight.
M Castles enquired about dental services, as these were high levels of hospital admissions. These will be addressed separately.
D Mackay commented that in the redesign process NHS Lanarkshire should learn from other areas. Engagement with the elected members should be undertaken.
G Whitefield suggested that the Council's Area Committee's and forums might be included, although there could be problems with the cycle of meetings. The deadline was flexible up to a point. The Board noted the position.
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