London Ambulance Service Patients Forum News

Last week, hot off the train from the Green Party conference in Sheffield, I arrived at the monthly public meeting of the LAS Patients Forum in the London Ambulance Service HQ in Waterloo. We had a very interesting presentation from Jason Killens of the LAS on how the LAS has responded to the recommendations of the 7/7 Inquest on the London bombings. We also had a presentation from Steve West of the Association of Chief Executives of Ambulance Services on proposals to change the prioritisation of calls to ambulance services. We are responding to this as a Forum.

At the AGM which followed the meeting I was re-elected Chair of the Forum for another year, so am now entering my second year as Chair of the Forum. This month is a very busy time for the Forum with the AGM of the London Ambulance Service in Guy's Hospital next Tuesday afternoon and also another meeting of the LAS Trust Board on the same morning. Unfortunately I am going to miss both as I am going away on holiday from next Monday for 3 weeks and will be out of the country.

On the subject of the LAS Trust Board, there was good news at last month's Board meeting that the Trust has a new Non-Executive Director, Murziline Parchment, who is a well known black lawyer and activist who used to work for Ken Livingstone's administration and is now also an adviser to Lutfur Rahman, the Mayor of Tower Hamlets. The Patients Forum has welcomed Ms Parchment's appointment and is very happy to see a representative of London's black and minority ethnic community on the Board of the LAS. The Forum hopes to meet Ms Parchment at some stage in the near future.

The AGM of the LAS is a public meeting and is always interesting to find out what the LAS has been doing over the last year - always an interesting account for probably the world's largest ambulance service.

Here is the agenda for the AGM and I hope that turnout is good - many Forum members will be there. I am also going to miss next month's Patients Forum meeting on October 10th which will be on the subject of mental health - a very important issue in London for the ambulance service.

LONDON AMBULANCE SERVICE NHS TRUST

THE FIFTEENTH ANNUAL PUBLIC MEETING OF THE

TRUST

2.00pm on Tuesday, 27th September 2011 Robens Suite, 29th Floor, Guys Tower, Guys Hospital,
London SE1 9RT

AGENDA

1. Apologies for absence.

2. Minutes of the Annual Public Meeting held on 28th

September 2010

3. Welcome from Richard Hunt CBE, Chairman of the

London Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

4. The 2010/11 Annual Report will be presented by

Peter Bradley, Chief Executive of the London

Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

5. Presentation of the 2010/11 Annual Accounts by

Michael Dinan, Director of Finance of the London

Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

6. Presentation of the 2010/11 Quality Account by

Steve Lennox, Director of Health Promotion & Quality

of the London Ambulance Service.

7. Questions from members of the public.

The meeting will formally close at 3.30 pm

Executive Office

Headquarters

220 Waterloo Road

London

SE1 8SD

September 2011

We are writing to invite you to our Annual Public Meeting at 2.00pm on Tuesday, 27th September 2011, in the Robens Suite, 29th Floor, Guys Tower, Guys Hospital, London SE1 9RT.

At the Annual Public meeting, members of the Trust Board will provide an overview of the year and present the accounts and there will be an opportunity for those attending to ask questions of, and share their views with, the Trust Board. The 2010/11 Annual Report is available at:

http://www.londonambulance.nhs.uk/about_us/publications.aspx ..

Light refreshments (tea, coffee and biscuits) will be served from 1.30pm and the Annual Public Meeting will commence at 2.00pm and is expected to finish by 3.30pm. A map is attached for your convenience. The nearest British Rail and underground station is London Bridge.

We do hope you will be able to join us.

Yours sincerely

Richard Hunt

Chairman