Agenda and minutes

ATTENDANCE: Cllr Brian Oldham (BO, Chair), Michael Macleod (NBC), Jamie Wells (NBC), Michael Rogers (Northants Police), Norman Sharp (NS, Individual), Christiana Owusu-Akuffo (COA, Individual), Brian Nichols (BN, Individual), Tony Mallard (TM, Veterans Club), Ann Timson (AT, Individual).

APOLOGIES: Roger Rumsey.

Correction for previous minutes, people with cars and garages were allowed fobs, people without aren’t allowed a fob.

NS – Update on planning – item 5.

AT – Ranger will not hand out numbers but can organise a call back.

Flyer to be sent out.

Michael Rogers.

If we can let the police know the breakdowns of what the forum wants, this can be arranged for the next meeting. Specific statistics take a while to come together.

Q: There has been a spike in burglaries

A: Dedicated burglary team has been set up by the chief constable. Dedicated team to now focus on dwelling burglaries. Investigators and pro-active team to do enforcement. It’s something we are taking seriously and this team are looking to reduce these incidents.

Town centre shops have been getting broke into lately. This falls into neighbourhood team, Michael and a PCSO. Have been doing follow up visits to the shops. House burglaries always get visits but shops do not always. Found patterns and since then there has been 3 arrest and commercial burglaries in the town have dropped dramatically.

Q: Is it taken seriously, as a major event still, do people still get visits?

A: Since the new chief constable has come into force, this has been treated as an important issue. Targeting the main nominals will hopefully reduce incidents.

Q: BO am I right in saying that you said there’s only one officer and one PCSO on the town?

A: Yes, it is just us, it has reduced the neighbourhood team’s right down to the minimum but the new constable is looking to change this.

BO this seems inadequate.

MR I understand that it does, it’s hard to be effective dealing with issues. If I am on a rest day or annual leave, there is no unfortunately no cover which makes covering the area very difficult and we need a police presence in the town centre.

Q: Is this just a daytime patrol?

A: 8am until midnight, one officer is on during daytime, and one is on during night-time.

Q: Is there more on Friday and Saturday nights?

A: Yes there is, this doesn’t count as neighbourhood.

AT: When we asked about apprenticeships, I did ask about those who do not meet the standards, as that is money wasted. Noticing that there isn’t as much presence at residents meetings but it’s because of the lack of resources.

BO yes that is reflected in our surgeries too.

NS: Why do we have so many cameras, if we had less cameras and spent that money on officers things would more likely be solved.

TM: I’m surprised about the amount of police covering the town centre. Cuckooing and drug dealing is an issue.

MR: Yes this is a multi-agency approach to identify and also prevent this from happening.

BO: The 101 system, the waiting time is sometimes horrendous.

MR: Yes I’ve had to report off duty and call the number and I also agree, it can be a long wait and quite frustrating.

There is a facility to report online for those who have access with it.

MR: BO you mentioned travellers, we moved some from Delapre Rec this morning. They made their way around the town, they have been served their notices  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Working for NENE CCG – work within medicines management team.

We make recommendations to doctors and work closely with hospitals. Implement national guidelines, we also deal with over the counter medicines.

TM: have issues when collecting prescriptions from the chemist. If people live far away and are on a repeat prescription, this is a very time consuming for both the patient and the surgery.

JN: This relates to the changes, the basis is other CCG’s around the country, they changed the way that people get their prescriptions. Implemented through the surgery rather than the pharmacy. This was put in place so the patients could review the medication they’ve got at home. It also helps to specify what the person needs, rather than just all items again, yes or no. Each practice does operate a bit different, but there is an option to look at an exemption for certain cases.

BO: Yes, mine is very local but one size doesn’t fit all.

BO: Is it that a repeat prescription is not now automatic and that is now done on request.

JN: Yes that is happening around the county.

TM: What is the policy for diabetes prescription? I still have to use and pay for test strips and other medication even though I am technically not diabetic as I am not allowed them on prescription to manage the condition.

BN: On set prescriptions, there is a note to say that there is a review, I’ve never been contacted by the practice for this review, are they obligated to contact me to remind me?

JN: May say you can have 6 or 12 prescriptions of that before review or certain medication you may not need a review as they can keep track through visits etc.

NS: Sign came up saying that we will not prescribe items you can buy, does this apply to pensioners.

JN: We don’t make any exemptions on age, it is purely based on if this a long or short term condition, no matter the age. It just depends if you use this regularly over a long time, rather than just a short term issue.

AT: Had friend who needed medication but chemist said she was over the age limit, told to visit the doctor who said it would be cheaper to buy from the chemist than prescribe?

Looked at 35 conditions, anticipated where people would get their medicines from a pharmacy rather than see a doctor or nurse. The main focus on this was to reduce demand on doctor’s surgeries, it would encourage them to see the pharmacist instead.

If the ailment is short term, the intent of the guidance is to reduce unnecessary appointments.

COA: medication I used to have caused me pain, so I was prescribed something else, after using it I saw that it shouldn’t be used over 70 and I am over 80.

JN: There is support for the GP’s where there are notifications and steps in place to help this succeed. Obviously in this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

AT: Was at cabinet last night, why do I have to bring something to NBC when it is an NPH matter? New bins in community gardens, reporting to NPH for 3 months, that one bin was completely overflowing for months. Asked for dog waste bins because there is a dog play area, the exact same happened here, completely overflowing and not emptied at all.

Who is responsible for emptying these and how often? What do we do and where do go with it?

BO: It may be an environmental warden issue. It’s a question of where it is on the map and who’s got ownership of it.

AT: It may be that it’s not even on the map. It’s been going on for ages.

JW: Best way to get this looked at would be to call the contact centre and ask for environmental health (Ruth Austen).

TM: Fly tipping in Eastfield is still happening. Veterans club, June 20^th Armed Forces event happening. New Mayor and deputy attending.

BO: New Mayor is Cllr Naz Choudary and Cllr Sargeant is deputy.

BN: Uno bus is £1 before 9:30am but on stagecoach it is still full price.

NS: Can we talk about the new plans for Northampton. Saying they’re going to make the Drapery bus free. It doesn’t seem like anyone knows how they are going to do this though.

BO: There have been some thought on bus stops going to Mercers Row but this hasn’t been mentioned in a long time.

NPH saying it will be cheaper to demolish some building and then rebuild than to renovate the buildings already standing. They plan to add more dwellings on the rebuild too, are they just saying this so they can add more dwellings?

BO: Many garages are being demolished too and new living spaces are being created.

AT: What about parking?

BO: It seems that they are often not fit for purpose or being used by people out of area or being used for other reasons so the new living space will have parking on the property.

AT: This doesn’t work for flats though.

BO: The need for houses is astronomical.

AT: Yes they need to provide bus services for these areas that are being built.

TM: NPH Tenants panel has been changed to a resident’s forum, this will then be resident’s problems, not just NPH tenant’s issues.

BO: So surely this is for NPH matters.

BO: I advise you go to the meeting next Tuesday and then report back.

AT: Can I put NHS back on the agenda? They are saying that returning and maintaining crutches etc. is not as cost effective of getting new ones.

I’ve been in, sharing a Zimmer frame with 6 other people, this isn’t disinfected in between.

A lot of wasted money nationally and there a figures I would like to see about Northampton.

JW: I would need specific questions to forward on.

MM explained how members can access the Northampton Forward survey.

Michael Rogers for the next meeting.

Dean from Fire for the next meeting.

Jeanette Pidgen.