BrainIAC visit to Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee (PPC) – 9th September 2008

16 members of BrainIAC (including 2 of our witnesses) and a few other friends took the train or bus across to Edinburgh Waverley where most of us had arranged to meet – we made our way to the Parliament Building at the east end of Canongate, had something from the café for lunch, collected our passes/tickets for the hearing, and were in good time for the PPC session that started in Committee Room 2 at 2pm. There were 2 petitions the PPC had to deal with before evidence was heard on our BrainIAC petition – but this gave us the chance to see how the Committee operates.

HelenM, the petitioner, and as someone who has an ABI, started off our BrainIAC evidence very well with her brief (3min) statement, summarising our petition and our case; then MSP Paul Martin, who has previously lent his support to BrainIAC, gave his perspective, and thereafter there was a Question & Answer session that involved both our other witnesses:

• Christine Flannery (not a BrainIAC member) – but as she is involved with the MCN in recording provision of brain injury services in the 14 Scottish Health Board areas, she was well able to provide facts and figures, and respond to queries the PPC asked;


• Mark Ziervogel – one of our BrainIAC Carers who also expertly explained his perspective of problems with services including the postcode lottery and age-related issues.
  

You can watch the Committee proceedings on 9th September on Video by CLICKING HERE (The BrainIAC section starts about 1hr 13mins into, and lasts for about 25mins of, the 3-hr session!)

Summary of Committee’s Opinion and Proposed Actions:

• The PPC seemed impressed by the fact that there is a need for action on this issue, and they felt they could do something about it;


• They would write to the Health Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and ask her to respond;


• They would seek more info from Directors of Social Work, Headway, Momentum, Health Boards, Princess Royal Trust for Carers, Scottish Acquired Brain Injury Managed Clinical Network, Scottish Head Injury Forum, and other interested parties.

Click LINK HERE to see the Committee's Summary of its intended actions.

Conclusion

With our petition having got off to a very encouraging start, you can appreciate that our group (most of whom appear in the pics) were feeling very positive as we made our ways back to the bus and train.

Well done! - specially to Helen, Christine, & Mark,

& also everyone who came along to support them and the cause.

But we can’t afford to relax -

we will have to maintain the pressure that we have built up over the last several months.

Alan Agar (Secretary) 16th September 2008

Meeting of BrainIAC - Fri 29th August 2008 1pm at Headway Glasgow Offices, Renfield Centre, Bath Street, Glasgow

Introduction
The meeting had 8 attending for business dominated by preparations for the visit of our three BrainIAC witnesses before the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee on Tues 9th September , and the return visit of Christine Flannery (Managed Clinical Network for Brain Injury) to report on the progress of her work in getting standards agreed for “Traumatic Brain Injury in Adults”.

Election of Vice-Chairperson
Following on from the July meeting, when DavidT was not present, the meeting moved to the election of a Vice-Chairperson for BrainIAC as specified in the Constitution. Only this position remained to be filled, and individuals proposed(p) and seconded(s) other member(s) of the group as follows:

• Vice-Chairperson: David Thomson with HelenM(p) & AlanA(s)
  

and David Thomson was considered elected.

Funding - bank account
The BrainIAC bank account (with attributes as detailed at the previous meeting) had indeed been applied for and was now set up since that last meeting. Noted that the Treasurer, NeillS, could now progress the paying-in of the sum of £274= (in cash & cheques).
SamC had brought along application forms for small grants – for the Secretary to peruse, with a view to filing an application in the not-too-distant future.

Public Petition to the Scottish Parliament - Update
It was reported that a batch of A4 sheets containing approaching 700 signatures had been despatched to the Scottish Parliament by Recorded Delivery immediately before the closure (on 12th August) of the ‘collecting signatures’ phase of the petition. These were to be added to the 201 signatures collected online – an overall total of 900 signatures is recorded as having been received on the Public Petitions website.
(http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/petitions/docs/PE1179.htm )

With regard to the appearance before the Public Petitions Committee (PPC) of HelenM and two others, as witnesses on Tuesday 9th September -
A list with some 11 names of parties wishing to attend the PPC as observers was raised, to be notified to Parliament for booked seats in the observers’ section of seating by AlanA;
HelenM elaborated on the roles of our three witnesses who would be seen by the PPC:

HelenM – as someone who has an ABI– would be making a brief (3 mins) statement, summarising our petition and our case, to open proceedings;
Christine Flannery – as she is involved in recording provision of brain injury services in the 14 Scottish Health Board areas, she is in a good position to provide facts and figures, and respond to technical/factual queries the PPC may ask;
Mark Ziervogel – a BrainIAC Carer who would be well able to field questions from the perspective of problems with services including council boundary crossing and age-related issues.

HelenM then read out the current draft of her intended statement, after which there was a general discussion on its content; it was agreed that given the very limited time slot given, almost all the points included seemed to merit inclusion. However, there were a few other issues pointed out, including:

• Retired neurosurgeon Sam Galbraith had tried to designate ABI as a separate category for Community Care back around 1997/8 when he was the Minister responsible for Health in the Scottish Office, but nothing had apparently been followed through on this. (see http://www.scotland.gov.uk:80/library/swsg/index-f/c206.htm )
• It was also considered important to finish off her statement with a strong summary of what BrainIAC essentially wants.

HelenM mentioned that there was a possibility of setting up a public stall at the Scottish Parliament Building for a short period in 2009 to highlight ABI (details unknown for the moment).

Managed Clinical Network for Brain Injury - Update
Chris Flannery, the manager of the MCN, spoke on her group’s draft standards that had been published recently. Copies of this draft standards document were passed out. There was considerable discussion among those present. Essentially the document is out for consultation until 31st October; thereafter her group would do any revisions, and intend to publish the Standards in final form around the start of 2009. She encouraged BrainIAC and other interested groups to submit comments on the draft.

Other business
SimonG will pass over the names/addresses of individuals who have occasionally attended BrainIAC meetings; AlanA would circulate everyone, asking if they were still interested in continuing contact with BrainIAC.

HelenM intimated that she would be doing a sponsored abseil down the Forth Rail Bridge on Sunday 5th October – in aid of Momentum and BrainIAC funds. HelenM will be doing this challenge down onto the beach at South Queensferry – her start time is 11.15am. BrainIAC members and other friends are encouraged to lend her their support by

• sponsoring her beforehand - email HelenM here,
• and also on the day - please make sure you get there on time.
  

Date of Next Meeting: Agreed as Fri 3rd October at 1pm in Momentum’s offices in the Savoy Tower, Glasgow.

Alan Agar (Secretary) 15th September 2008