Confirmed minutes of 9^th October 2003

PRESCRIPTION PRICING AUTHORITY

Minutes of the public meeting held on Thursday 9 October 2003
in the Boardroom, Bridge House, Newcastle upon Tyne

PRESENT

Apologies for absence were received from Mr A McDonald, Mr K Murphy, Mr J Norman, Dr S Purdy and Mr N Scholte.

2 CHAIRMAN'S INTRODUCTIONS

The Chairman welcomed those members of the public present and outlined the format of the meeting. The PPA is required to hold a public meeting each year to present its Annual Report by the end of October. On this occasion it has been decided that the Annual Report would be presented as part of the normal monthly agenda and that members of the public who attend are welcome to stay and observe the remainder of the proceedings.

3 MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 11 September 2003 were received and confirmed.

4 MATTERS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MEETING

Minute 1876 : Key Performance Indicators
The note relating to Appendix B had been amended and subsequent reports would be correctly annotated.

Minute 1882 : Agenda for Change
A meeting has been arranged with Mr Norman on 31 October in order to discuss the wider issues relating to Agenda for Change. The Management Board would be discussing the proposed project structure on 13 October.

Mr Siswick also advised that the DH had written to Chief Executive's of Special Health Authorities (SpHAs) formally asking if they wished to join the group of SpHAs or link to their Strategic Health Authority in order to implement Agenda for Change in their organisations. To date 17 of the 21 SpHAs had replied to join the SpHA group. It was expected that Mr Siswick's name would be published in documentation relating to Agenda for Change as the representative for SpHAs. Additional funding of £70,000 was expected to be provided to enable additional staff to be recruited to deal with the extra workload.

Minute 1888 : Date of Next/Future Meetings of the Authority
It was confirmed that in light of Easter holidays falling at the beginning of April 2004 that the meeting would be held on Thursday 15 April 2004.

5 ANNUAL REPORT 2002-2003 AND PRESENTATION

Mr King presented the Annual Report 2002-2003 and identified the key issues relating to:

• growth and capacity
• achievements

A summary was also presented that outlined the services provided by the PPA during the year to our stakeholders as a whole and what the outcomes were in relation to the following main stakeholder groups:

• primary care
• patients
• people
• NHS bodies
• Government

In conclusion Mr King reported on how the PPA is continuing to refine and deliver effective services within the NHS and how it is communicating with stakeholders to identify and pursue changing priorities in the health service environment.

The Chairman welcomed the summary presented by Mr King which was a good reminder of all the achievements and successes throughout the year often under stringent timeframes and difficult circumstances. Members echoed the comments of the Chairman especially in relation to the work associated with the Electronic Transmission of Prescriptions pilots, the transfer of the Compliance Unit and the work associated with the health exemption schemes.

A copy of the presentation would be attached to the minutes and also published on the PPA web sites.

6 CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S REPORT

Due to the absence of the Chief Executive it was confirmed that Members were content for individual officers to report the specific items contained with the report.

1. Electronic Transmission of Prescriptions (ETP) and Gateway Review
   
   Mr Ball reported that the National Programme had moved ETP into Phase 2 of the ICRS National Service Provider Contract scheduled for December 2004. Officers had attended an ETP "Options" Workshop with the National Programme to discuss a number of issues surrounding ETP such as exemption arrangements.
   
   The PPA were due to hold an ETP Workshop with Tim Donohoe, the ETP Programme Manager for the National Programme, on 14 October to discuss the synergy between ETP and the PPA's Capacity Improvement Programme (CIP).
   
   Officers further clarified their perspective on the progress of ETP under the control of the National Programme and Members considered options whereby any concerns could be expressed to senior officers within the NHS. Members discussed the most appropriate route to express any concerns. However, it was noted that the opportunity of holding discussions at the ETP Workshop with Tim Donohoe would be the preferred option in the first instance. In addition discussions at the review meeting with the Department of Health to be held on 17 October may provide clarification. The decision whether to take any further action would be considered in more detail at the meeting in November.
   
   Mr Ball confirmed that the ETP pilot had finished at the end of September 2003 as determined by the DH. Members expressed their thanks to all the staff for the work that had been put into making it a success and hoped that the National Programme would take on board the important lessons that had emerged from the pilot.
   
   The Chairman concluded that the latest information received relating to ETP further re-enforces the decision taken to support the CIP programme had been the correct strategy for the organisation to progress.
   
   
2. United Kingdom Clinical Products Reference Source (UKCPRS) Gateway Review and Programme Board
   
   Mrs Dalton reported that the Programme Board had been held on 2 October and discussions had concentrated on communications with stakeholders and implementation issues, and whether these responsibilities rest with the Board or the National Programme. This would be followed up by the Programme Board.
   
   A number of staff had attended interviews as part of the Gateway Review process and the issues that appeared to have been identified were with regard to the relationship between the PPA, National Programme and the Information Authority, communications and implementation. The Gateway process would be completed on 10 October and a report would be produced.
   
   
3. Northern Ireland Health and Personal Social Services (NI HPSS)
   
   Mr Alexander informed Members of the approach made by the NI HPSS relating to "indicative order of magnitude costs" for the provision of the Family Practitioner Services Payments. The PPA has declared an interest and completed their request for information.
   
   
4. Shipman Inquiry
   
   Members acknowledge that Mr Siswick had given evidence at the Inquiry and thanked all involved in gathering together the information in order to provide appropriate responses.
   
   
5. Management Board Matters
   
   Officers reported on discussions at the Management Board relating to the Staff Opinion Survey and the decision to bring the Pre-Payment Certificate Telephone Sales "in house".

7 KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Mr King presented the most recent indicators and highlighted the unit costs that had been adjusted to reflect pay awards. Mr Smith highlighted the fluctuation in Overheads (Graph 4) and assured Members that work was being undertaken to address this issue which had arisen due to the reduction in other unit costs.

Dr Stockwell enquired whether Agenda for Change would impact on Data Capture Costs (Graph 1). Mr Smith responded that there were some funds in reserve and that there would be little impact on Grade 1 staff but recognised that there could be some impact in relation to Grade 2 and 4 staff.

8 FINANCE REPORT

Mr Smith advised that the funding for CIP had been discussed at the Management Board and that the PPA would be seeking to gather funds through internal cost savings for the programme this year and in 2004/5 without having to seek money from the DH. This would form part of the finance mid term review. However due to the procurement timeframe it may be necessary to utilise brokerage facilities. The strategy associated with this course of action would be discussed with the DH at the review meeting. The Chairman confirmed that the Chief Executive had already commenced discussions with the DH on this strategy at the Annual Review meeting held in July 2003.

Dr Stockwell enquired whether the underspend on the capital programme was expected and Mr Smith clarified that expenditure would occur in relation to accommodation works in the next couple of months that would reduce the underspend.

9 STAKEHOLDER RELATIONS

Mr King outlined the activities undertaken to interact with stakeholders through exhibitions, conferences and the stakeholders forums.

Since the launch of the Stakeholder Forums at the Conference in February two events have been held the first of which was aimed at prescribers and the second at the patient and public. Further forums would be held as follows:

• Dispensers Forum: 20 November 2003 Brighton
• GP/Prescriber Forum: 27 November 2003 Oxford
• Patient/Public Forum: 8 December 2003 London

Where appropriate Members would communicate information about the events within their community. Members also indicated that they would welcome opportunities to attend appropriate events.

In addition to the work outlined above other activities such as work with prescribing advisors and with the PSNC were taking place in relation to specific business issues.

10 PEOPLE ISSUES

Mr Siswick described the activities of Human Resources and the initiatives activated in order to the support directorates, develop staff and deliver business objectives. In particular Mr Siswick informed Members that a joint agreement had been reached with the Staff Side in respect of Job Evaluation and a joint statement issued.

Outlined within the report was the programme of work to be undertaken in the next quarter. The Chairman enquired whether it was thought that the research into stress would have a major impact on the organisation. However Mr Siswick understood that this was unlikely due to the fact that the PPA had systems to deal with stress and had a suitable employee assistance programme in place through our occupational health provider Personal Effectiveness Centre.

Members reviewed the management information presented and expressed surprise that 14% of staff do not disclose their ethnic origin. The Chairman suggested that perhaps Dr Ali and herself could assist to reduce this figures by jointly signing a letter to staff explaining the importance of providing the information. Mr Siswick would take forward and discuss outside the meeting.

In response to an enquiry from Dr Ali it was confirmed that all staff would be in receipt of the Equality and Diversity training delivered by an external trainer once arrangements had been established.

11 CONFIRMED MINUTES OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE : 10 JULY 2003

Members noted the confirmed minutes.

12 REGISTER OF MEMBERS' INTERESTS

Members noted the Register of Interests.

13 FUTURE BUSINESS OF THE AUTHORITY

Member noted the future business.

14 DATE OF NEXT/FUTURE MEETINGS OF THE AUTHORITY

The next meeting of the Authority would be a public meeting and take place on Thursday 14 November 2003 in the Walsingham Suite, Aldwark Manor, Aldwark, Nr Alne, York, YO61 1UF at 11.00am.

Future meetings would be held as follows:

1. The Chairman thanked everyone for their work in arranging the public meeting. In light of the attendance at the meeting it was requested that the Management Board and Members consider whether this is the appropriate format for future public meetings.
2. Dr Stockwell enquired whether it was the intention to make all of Authority meetings public as has been done with other national public bodies. The Chairman advised that under Freedom of Information we are now obliged to publish minutes of the meetings on our web site and in light of other activities we undertake involving stakeholders it is probably unnecessary.