BPV representatives attended the Brent CCG Governing Body budget pre-meeting question time for the public on 6th April 2016. We are allowed to submit questions relating to agenda items 48 hours before the meeting. There are usually about 2 to 3 working days to study the papers before we put questions in. This task is not everyone’s idea of fun, but we think someone should do it.
The pre-meeting was attended by the CCG chair Doctor Ethie Kong, Chief Operating Officer Sarah Mansuralli and their Communications Officer, Niall Smith
We did not learn too much in the oral answers to our 3 questions: on the reasons for the very modest increase in the mental health budget, the CCG promise to identify their patient engagement budget or their management of conflicts of interest in a situation where a significant part of the budget is represented by contracts with local GP networks. Written answers with more information have since been supplied and can be shared on request
Doctor Kong volunteered that she is not planning to stand for re-election as CCG chair next year. Niall Smith told us that the former communications chief for Brent, Harrow and Hillingdon CCGs, Ian Adams, has left. As we understand it he was the mastermind of the recent A&E advertising campaign which was condemned by the Advertising Standards Authority.
Robin Sharp BPV Interim Chair