Transfer of Care

The Portsmouth Local Involvement Network has been investigating the topic of Transfer From Care for over a year. During this period of time a Public Meeting has been conducted, a Report has been commissioned and published, and various visits to the discharge department of Queen Alexandra Hospital have been carried out.

These are just a small number of the initiatives which attempt to grapple with this complex and weighty problem.

The LINk has now decided to commission dedicated research into this area and is preparing for this undertaking by reviewing documentation and hearsay evidence gleaned at public meetings and the all important project scope.

If you have information which you would like to contribute to this project please email the LINk Support Officer (see “Contact Us” Page of the Blog).

Vascular Surgery Services

The issue surrounding the proposals for the provision of Vascular Surgery Services for the South Coast conurbations is poised to enter a new phase after Christmas with the development of plans for public consultation by the SHIP PCT Cluster.

While consultation was inevitable throughout the recent debates the context has recently changed firstly by the endorsement of the “Brighton option” by the West Sussex Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel and the West Sussex LINk, and secondly, by the development of proposals from Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust to create a vascular centre in Portsmouth capable of serving the population of Portsmouth, South East Hampshire and a small number of patients from Chichester.

As both engagement and consultation is of central importance to Local Involvement Networks this important consultation will play a part in the work of the LINk during the early months of 2012.

LINk AGM / Question Time Event

The Portsmouth LINk held an AGM and Question Time event on the evening of Thursday 24^th November at the John Pounds Centre, Portsea. Terry Carter, currently Acting Chair of the Steering Group, chaired the AGM and also acted as “question master” during the question time event.

All who attended felt that the AGM was well conducted with the adoption of the 2011 Chair’s Annual Report, The Financial Reports and the Minutes of the 2010 AGM. The Chair explained that the recently planned elections had not taken place due to there being an insufficient number of candidates. The LINk members who were present agreed, by a substantial majority, that the present Steering Group should meet to discuss the way forward, in the light of the LINk's Terms of Reference, and that they should then report back to the membership.

The Chair proposed a vote of thanks to the former LINk Chair, who had resigned and it was further agreed that a letter of thanks should be sent expressing the thanks of everyone, for the dedicated service that he had rendered. A vote of thanks was also proposed to the retiring Vice Chair and it was also agreed that a letter of thanks should be sent to her. Both of these proposals were carried unanimously.

Vascular Surgery was billed as the theme of the question time event and while this issue was raised it appeared that the audience also wanted to know about other subjects such as “appointments”, “wheelchair services”, “funding” and “end of life care” (to name a few).

The panel was made up of professionals from Portsmouth City Council (Adult Social Care), Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, Solent HealthCare Trust and the SHIP PCT Cluster.