|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Standing
Nursing and Midwifery Advisory Committee (SNMAC)
As this was their final meeting, in the light of Ministers' decision to abolish SNMAC, members aimed to conclude work on their advice to Ministers on :
It was agreed that revised drafts would be prepared drawing on comments at the meeting, or offered subsequently, and circulated to all members before submission to Ministers. Members also met the Chief Nursing Officer, England, Professor Christine
Beasley, to comment on how DH should continue to hear independent views
on nursing and midwifery in future following the decision to abolish SNMAC,
and received a message of thanks for their work from Mrs Rosemary Kennedy,
Chief Nursing Officer, Wales. A welcome was extended to new members of SNMAC, following the recent appointments round. Brief updates were given on developments since the last meeting, including what was known about progress with the current review of SNMAC. SNMAC also reviewed its compliance with the Race Relations (Amendment) Act, as it had agreed to do annually. Most of the meeting was spent working on possible advice to Ministers
on the care of people in mental health settings who are physically ill,
and those in acute hospitals who are mentally ill, on the basis of a draft
paper circulated before the meeting. It was hoped to complete the advice,
adding an executive summary, and submit it to Ministers by about the end
of August.
6 November 2003 meeting SNMAC then considered the implications of current policies on choice
for the work of the professions, with a view to producing brief advice
to Ministers quickly, while policies were still being developed SNMAC's advice to Ministers, and Vicky Bailey and Karen Parsley's meeting with John Hutton, had been well received. It was hoped to arrange for SNMAC representatives to meet Ministers annually in future. Drafts were being prepared for SNMAC responses to three of the current NMC consultations - other members would have the chance to comment on them. Agreement had been reached on how SNMAC would comply with the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. It performance in this respect would be reviewed each year. Members were advised that the next appointments round was to start shortly, for appointments to SNMAC take effect from April 2004. The majority of the meeting was spent further discussing/refining SNMAC's proposals for advice to Ministers on nurse education. It was hoped to complete the paper and put it forward before the next meeting. Plans were made for future meetings, and for new topics which might be considered then.
The Chair, Secretary and others updated members on progress and developments since SNMAC last met, including the completion and submission of SNMAC's advice to ministers on workforce skill-mix, and the joint SNMAC/SMAC advice on innovative ways of tackling workforce shortages. Members also discussed their proposals for complying with the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, which it was hoped to be able to finalise before the next meeting. Members started preparing
the advice they felt SNMAC should give to Ministers on the issue of how
to ensure that nurse education kept pace with changes in practice. Work
on this would continue between meetings, and at the next meeting.
The Chair, Secretary and others took the opportunity to update members on key developments since SNMAC last met in January 2002. These included :
Individual members agreed to :
SNMAC then spent time considering its working methods, including how to make the best use of members limited time to produce timely and relevant advice to ministers, and the selection of topics to focus on at forthcoming meetings.
(a) SNMAC meeting SNMAC held a short separate meeting in advance of the joint meeting with the Standing Medical Advisory Committee (SMAC) which would follow. It was confirmed that Vicky Bailey and Grethe Ridgway had been duly elected as SNMAC's Chair and Vice-Chair, respectively. New members were welcomed to their first SNMAC meeting. SNMAC members then prepared for the joint meeting with SMAC. That was to concentrate on workforce issues, which both committees had identified as a key theme. (b) Joint meeting with SMAC At the joint meeting members of SNMAC and SMAC discussed creative solutions to meeting clinical workforce shortfalls in the NHS, with a view to preparing joint advice to Ministers. Among the key concerns identified were managing public expectations, maintaining standards and quality of care, better targeting and use of resources to assist recruitment and retention, investing in training capacity and the recruitment of trainers, and co-ordination of the whole programme at DH level. Advice to Ministers was to be drafted, based on these discussions, and members were to be given the opportunity to comment on this.
The Secretary to SNMAC updated members on relevant legal and administrative matters. Agreement was reached on how SNMAC would :
SNMAC discussed the handling of the jointly meeting with the Standing Medical Advisory Committee on 10 July, and the topics which might be discussed. SNMAC reviewed a draft paper and recommendations to Ministers about nursing skills mix. The comments made would be used to refine the paper before it went forward to ministers. IT also considered paper discussing issues arising from the "patient journey". SNMAC's discussed a paper outlining the action taken in response to their 1999 report "Addressing Acute Concerns" and agreed to contact the Department of Health about those recommendations which had not yet been taken forward. Members would be asked to comment on what they saw as the potential blocks and barriers to nurses and nursing achieving the targets and aspirations of the NHS Plan, in preparation for decisions about the issues which SNMAC should prioritise for consideration next. Tony Bell advised that he would not be applying for re-appointment to SNMAC from 1 April. It was agreed that Vicky Bell (Vice-Chair) would then serve as Chair until elections could be held.
Tony Bell was re-elected as Chair of SNMAC. SNMAC considered reports from : SNMAC continued considering its future role and work programme, following
the quinquennial review of its work. The meeting agreed to seek to take
ahead pieces of work : The Chair would discuss also with the Chair of SMAC the prospects for joint work on other workforce issues such as substitution, medical workforce shortages. Time was also spent seeking to clarify the role of SNMAC's "scrutiny" subgroup, which was consulted about matters referred to SNMAC, eg via its Secretariat. The sub-group considering a review of the effectiveness of SNMAC's earlier guidance on mental health agreed to liaise with relevant DH leads to explore what relevant work was in progress and whether there was a contribution for SNMAC to make in this field.
SNMAC met for the first time following Ministers consideration of the outcome of the quinquennial review of SNMAC, and the appointment of 7 new members. The meeting was facilitated by Prof. Chris Ham - DOH Strategy Unit. Members considered the future role of the committee in the context of four dimensions - Policy, Practice, Patients & Users, and Research. Several new members commented on the quality of previous SNMAC reports and their value at Practice level. There was a strong commitment to maintaining a high standard of output in the future. Three sub-groups were set up. One would scope suggestions already made in preparation for further discussion at the next meeting. The other sub-groups would (a) act as the interface between SNMAC and other bodies, and (b) review the effectiveness of SNMAC's earlier guidance on mental health. Vicky Bailey was elected as the new Vice Chair of SNMAC. To provide continuity at this stage it was agreed to further extend Tony Bell's term as Chair, pending elections at the next meeting. Members were advised that a further round of appointments to SNMAC would start shortly, for appointments to take effect from April 2002. Most members whose current appointments ended then were eligible for consideration for reappointment
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
You
are here: 
31 January 2005