Team PATA

Summary of the first Lesotho PATA meeting held in the MOH 26/6/09

Present

Teams from the following institutions had been invited and all attended the first Lesotho PATA meeting -

Everyone was welcomed and thanked for attending by Dr Prithi

The meeting was formally opened by a prayer and a welcome from Mrs Anna Makapa Kampong.

Dr Phiri, head of department of paediatrics, QEII, Lesotho then outlined the mission and aims of PATA.

Dr Prithi then introduced Dr Paul from East London, representing PATA.

Dr Paul summarised the aims of PATA which include improving Access and Care for children and mothers and families infected/affected by HIV/AIDS by supporting teams. He reminded all of the importance of having adequate time to build the team and for the team to learn and share. He also reminded us that PATA could help teams to set their own visions, targets and measures. He discussed the fact that much of the time we collect data fro outside agencies, frequently without feedback and the importance of teams also deciding what information they wanted to collect in order to optimise the management in their clinic.

Dr Paul outlined what the PATA network could provide –

• PATA website www.teampata.org
• PATA newsletter: shares the teams stories on activities and progress
• Reminded all about the Annual PATA forum where teams access the latest research and best practise. That it allows for leaning by discipline and by team and provides a forum for teams to select goals and tasks for following year.
• Funding for expert patients
• PATA team exchange visits
• Workshops on specific key areas
• National PATA workshops and action groups
• Mentorship
• Support from PATA office

Dr Paul then outlined PATA structure from the PATA steering group which is mad up of members from many countries down to the National Action Group for Lesotho.

The group then broke into their teams in order to discuss their own and the countries priorities in terms of -

• Prevention
• Treatment
• Care
• Support
• Mitigation

After morning tea each team's rapporter presented the discussions which had taken place among their team around the above themes. Many of the teams presented similar suggestions but many also had original ideas which the other teams then learned from. Some of the suggestions are outlined below

PREVENTION

TREATMENT

CARE

SUPPORT

MITIGATION

Workshop 2 – Training in how to improve our clinics

Dr Paul outlined the use of a logframe which teams may find helps them to address priorities in their clinics and to achieve their visions. How can we improve our practise in each of the following areas

Our clinics vision
Our Strategy to obtain our vision
Patient/ community
Financial and other resources
Internal processes and systems
Learning and growth

An example similar to the log frame presented is shown in appendix 1

Operational research

This was outlined as research which the clinic team decide they need to do in order to improve their service. For example if there is an excess number of defaulters at a certain time of the year what can the team do to find out why and having discovered the reason what can they do to mitigate against this.

After lunch the group was asked if they thought the concept was a good one and there was unanimous support for the building of a paediatric aids treatment for Africa in Lesotho or a PATA network in Lesotho.

A focal person for each team was then identified and is in table 1.

The terms of reference for the focal person is to

• Inform their line managers about PATA
• Organise a team meeting within one week to plan their clinic/team's objectives

Team members must assist their team leader

The focal persons from each team will form the National PATA action team

The National PATA action team will meet at 10 am Friday 10th July to plan the next National PATA meeting which will take place on 14th August at 10 am. The venue for both meetings will be the board room of the HIV directorate, room 320. The aim of the meeting of the National PATA Action Team will be to prioritise the training needs as expressed by the teams which may include training on

• Operational research
• Quality assurance
• Disclosure to children
• Further training on ART

Dr Prithi thanked everyone for their active participation, he thanked Dr Paul from PATA for facilitating ad he thanked the Lesotho-Wales-Link for providing morning tea and lunch.

Dr Phiri presented a Basotho Hat to Dr Paul

The meeting was formally closed by Mrs Anna Makapa Kampong who thanked everyone for their active participation, thanked the Medical Superintendent from Scott hospital for attending and Dr Prithi and the QEII team for organising the meeting.

The meeting ended with a prayer and a group photograph was taken.

Table 1 – PATA focal persons in Lesotho

Appendix 1 an example of a logframe to plan how to achieve goals in our clinics