Action notes - Ward Forum - Isle of Skye (Ward 11)

Meeting held on 22nd September 2008

Agenda

Attendees:

Councillor John Laing (Chair)
Councillor Hamish Fraser
Linda Kennedy, Scottish Ambulance Service
Chrisanne MacDonald, Skye & Lochalsh CVO
David Ashford, Lochalsh Youth Action Liaison Committee
M. A MacKenzie, Kilmuir Community Council
Colin Hutchings, Access Panel/ CAB
Steve McCabe, GP, Portree
Joan Turkington, Skye & Lochalsh Access Panel
Gordon Bushnell, Torrin Community Association
Kate Earnshaw, NHS
Charles Kennedy, Member of Parliament
Calina Macdonald, Minginish Community Council
R MacNeill, Waternish Community Council
Callum Campbell, Scottish Ambulance Service
Nora Warby, Way Forward Group and Access Panel
Catriona Leslie, Portree Community Council
David Taylor, Uig Community Council
Lachie Gillies
Ian MacLean, Lochalsh and Skye Housing Association
Les Downes, Staffin Community Council
Andrea Matheson, Skye and Wester Ross College
Duncan Maclean, Northern Constabulary
Nicola Rust Access Panel

Officials in Attendance:

Jan Laing, Ward Manager
Mark Crowe, Community Works Manager
Richard Cairns, Community Works Officer

Apologies:

Councillor Drew Millar
Councillor Ian Renwick

Listed below is the action required and the outcomes resulting from discussion at the Eilean a’ Cheò Ward Forum meeting on the 22nd September 2008 held at Tigh Na Sgire, Portree.

In the absence of the Chair Councillor Renwick, Councillor Laing welcomed everyone to the Ward Forum Meeting

2.0 Action Note
The action note from the meeting of 11th August was noted. No action necessary

Councillor Laing welcomed Ms Kate Earnshaw from the National Health Service and Mrs Linda Kennedy and Callum Campbell from the Patients Transport Service and the Scottish Ambulance Service to the Ward Forum.

3.0 National Health Service – Mrs Kate Earnshaw

Ms Earnshaw addressed the previously notified questions from the following Community Councils.

Raasay Community Council:

What is the latest position with regards to the new medical centre on Raasay?
The nurses house is not fit for purpose and a new building is required. Joint funding is being explored with other partners to with a view to achieving this.

Portree Community Council:

The Community Council are seeking assurances that the current ‘out of hours’ arrangements will not be changed and not downgraded.

The NHS are unable to give assurances as everything is subject to review and improvement subject to the recommendations of the Out of Hours Group.

Skye and Lochalsh Access Pannel
Kyle Court refurbishment
The timescale is suggested at ‘within two years’.

Sleat Medical Centre

New doors have been ordered and will be fitted in the near future.

Portree Medical Centre – DDA compliance

A report has been completed and sent to the practice. As the practice is independent it is now up to them what action is taken. This will need to be pursued separately by the Access Panel.

Portree Hospital

Improvements are underway and should be complete in the next two weeks.
In respect of a notified question from an individual Ms Earnshaw stated she could not comment on individual cases in an open forum. Ms Earnshaw stated she was aware of these issues and reiterated that they were being dealt with on a case by case basis.

Staffin Community Council

Is there a problem getting a broadband connection into the Staffin Surgery and why?

Ms Earnshaw was unable to answer this as the Estates Manager, who would normally deal with technical issues, has been on sick leave. Ms Earnshaw will follow up this issue.

Uig Surgery

Ms Earnshaw explained that the nurse’s house had been declared surplus to requirements and discussions are ongoing about its disposal. It is intended that the sale of this asset will provide the funding to upgrade the existing branch surgery

Dr McCabe expressed his concern regarding the state of the Uig Surgery, which in his opinion, not fit for purpose.

Ms Earnshaw asked Doctor McCabe to write to her setting out his concerns.

Mrs Turkington asked if representatives of the access panel could be involved in ensuring that the refurbishment took in account access issues.

Mrs Earnshaw confirmed that she would do this through the Chair of the Access Panel.

Mr David Taylor representing Uig Community Council expressed his concern that no consultation had taken place in the community regarding the sale of the nurse’s base.

In response to a question by Councillor Hamish Fraser, Ms Earnshaw stated that when assets are disposed of the money is not ring fenced for local spending.
Staffin Community Council suggested that senior NHS management and the Chair of the NHS, Gary Coutts be invited to a Ward Forum in the future.

4.0 Patient Transport Services and The Scottish Ambulance Service– Mr Calum campbelland Mrs Linda Kennedy

Question from the Chair: “Will the extra funding from the Government eliminate the single manning of ambulances on Skye?”

“No, the recent announcement of funding from the Scottish Government is welcomed but it will not completely eliminate single manning as there will always short notice call off by members of staff due to sickness, special leave, etc. but it will certainly eliminate rostered and planned single manning.”

In response to questions / issues raised by Forum members the following responses were noted:

The Highlands are to get an additional 20 staff.

There are currently no relief staff in Dunvegan and it is hoped this might be resolved with the increase in staffing levels

Ms Chrisanne Macdonald explained that a letter had been written to the Ambulance Service previously raising a number of issues but there had been no response. Mrs Kennedy responded by saying that she had replied back and had channelled this through to Alison Hudson but it appears this had not been communicated back.

Mrs Turkington raised a point about there being three ambulances in Skye with no paramedics and four technicians. Mr Campbell explained that this was probably because people have to go off the island and down to the Borders to do the 3 year paramedic training which requires them to be away for five week blocks of training.

It was noted that training is being sought which is more locally available.
In response to a question from the floor about single manning and on call allowance Mr Campbell explained that at present staff are willing to work overtime to cover absent shifts and get paid time and a half for doing this. However under A4C (Agenda for Change terms and conditions) they do not get standby payment for the time they would be on additional standby (previously they got paid aprox 90 pence an hour for this) so as a matter of principle they elect not to do the standby. It is this in most cases that that leaves the ambulance single manned but they do get paid time and a half for the time that they are called out during their rostered standby and would also get this payment if they elected to do the additional standby.

Mr Campbell also invited anyone who wanted to raised any issues to contact himself or Linda directly and asked that his contact details be circulated in the note of the meeting.

Contact details

CCampbell @scotamb.co.uk LKennedy@scotamb.co.uk
Tel: 01463 732000

5.0 Skye and Lochalsh Learning Centre Network – Andrea Matheson

In the course of the presentation the following main points were noted:

The Skye and Lochalsh Learning Network became the Skye and Wester Ross College at the beginning of August this year.

The college currently operates out of four centres:

Columba 1400
Portree High School
Sabhal Mor Ostaig
Auchtertyre

The college also do a lot of work with schools in respect of vocational training to cater for those that are not academically oriented.

There are plans to work more with disadvantaged groups including the unemployed, and people with special needs.

6.0 Community Council Matters

It was noted that the Training Needs Questionnaires have now been circulated to all Skye Community Councils some questionnaires have already been returned and at the moment the biggest demand is for written information.

The closing date for the return of the questionnaires is 31st October 2008

7.0 Ward Discretionary Budget Update

A paper detailing the recent Ward Discretionary Budget wards was circulated to the Forum for information

8.0 Issues/ Speakers for the next Ward Forum on the 3rd November 2008

Presentation on progress with the Leader Development Plan
Winter Maintenance Programme – Mark Crowe
Education and Enforcement Officer
Information relating to the empty buildings in Portree – a report to the Ward Forum.

9.0 Any other Business

9.1 Mr Bushnell raised an issue which had been raised at the previous Ward Forum regarding the Bank of Scotland closing on a Thursday in Broadford. Councillor Fraser apologised for this oversight and confirmed he would follow this up.

9.2 Cille Na Bhealach Cemetery – sheep are getting into the cemetery as the gate has become unsecured Mark Crowe explained that this matter had already been reported and was being dealt with. There will be a stock proof fence erected and the gate re-secured. It was explained that it would not be possible to install a cattle grid at this time.

9.3 Mrs Turkington raised the issue of dangerous parking in Kyle. It was explained that it was hoped there would be an improvement in this regard once the planned improvements in Kyle of Lochalsh got underway. The timescale for this is that work is due to start at the end of September for 3 months.

9.4 Mr David Ashford raised an issue about the Youth Worker hours in the Youth Cafe being reduced from 10 to 5 hours. This is to be looked into and reported back to a future Ward Forum meeting.

9.5 Colin Hutchings reported that the heaters in the Broadford Toilets had been replaced but there was no soap. Mark Crowe is to look into this matter.

9.6 An issue was raised regarding the misuse of disabled parking spaces. It was noted that Traffic Wardens are not able to take action on drivers in a Council Car Park. Mark Crowe explained that Council staff do put notices on cars where they are aware that able bodied drivers are parked in a disabled space. There is a particular issue with this at the new High School. Jan Laing will raise this with ECS.

It was suggested that information be made available identifying where the disabled spaces are for visitors. It was explained that the issue of signs in Portree was already being looked at and that this possibility would be taken into account.

9.7 Mr Charles Kennedy raised the issue of Ward Forums and how they were working. He made the point of stating that the Eilean a’ Cheò Ward Forum was one of the better ones he had attended. The general feeling of the Ward Forum members was that the forums are generally a good opportunity to raise issues but there was room for improvement. In particular the issue of travelling expenses to attend these forums had not been addressed. The recent review of Ward Forums was raised as the results have not yet been made public. Councillor Fraser explained that he has been involved in this process through the Political Governance Group and he understood that the results were not yet available for discussion. This will be raised with Bob Cameron, Corporate Manager.

10.0 Date of next meeting

Monday 3rd November 2008. 7.30pm inthe Community Centre, Portree