As you will see, I’ve taken my time about writing on the most recent meeting of this Forum.
The last meeting took place on 30th April, all groups had been asked to comment on an “options” paper that had been put forward at a previous meeting in December 2012. These options were to be discussed internally and privately by the various groups represented on the Forum. It had been agreed these options were not yet ready for public discourse. What happened?
Only 2 groups made comments on the actual “options: East Lothian Health Network and Gullane GP practice and both came out in favour of options 3 or 4.
The Community Council decided to do a “survey” making no mention of the “options” – in fact their paper survey did not even say who was behind it and their survey closed on the day of the meeting. The town’s GPs concentrated on the future of the practice not the hospital. The staff at the Edington wanted a new hospital, the Friends failed to comment on the options and submitted a general document, one EL Councillor seemed to concentrate on parking spaces while another had asked an architect to look at the building to see what could be done. He produced plans indicating it would be possible to put a second floor on the existing hospital and on most of the GP Practice. However, this was not an “option” that had been put forward, it was far too specific and not what people were asked to consider.
The other group members basically re-defined the original task given to them in December – a task they’d agreed to! That task was not a formal “consultation”. A specific Health Network sub-group was set up to review the proposals and no feedback was given to the wider membership of the Health Network to enable us to adhere to the request.
There is no way forward. The chair of the meeting suggested this would be discussed at the CHP sub-committee meeting in June and would be the top priority item for the Shadow Health and Social Care partnership in the summer. But, I’ve no idea what he can put forward. He can only conclude that “options 3 and 4” are considered by this Board as only two groups fulfilled their remit.
I believe the entire process is now a farce. The Forum has no future, it is divided. It could possibly be recast as a forum to explore the future of health services in the town.
Update August 2013
Apparently I’ve upset a few people. You see as a member of the Health Network we’re supposed to complete “feedback forms” when we’ve represented the Health Network at a meeting. At our Health Network meeting in May 2013 it was too soon after the Edington meeting to submit a feedback form therefore, I gave a verbal report. When I submitted my feedback form I failed to refer to the minutes of the 7th May Health Network and because I suggested in that form that the Edington Forum should be done away with, some members of the CHP have picked up on this. Tough, the feedback form does indicate it represents the view of the person attending. At the Health Network meeting a couple of weeks ago, members backed my view and my right to express my opinion. You can find the forms and minutes on this page.
