Wednesday, February 28, 2007

NHS closures approach challenged
By Nick Triggle
BBC News, health reporter

Questions are being raised about the NHS's ability to push ahead with plans to close services.
Many local councils are using their powers to object and asking the health secretary to intervene.

In the last two years, 23 have referred NHS plans to the government, with ministers fully supporting the health service in only eight of these cases.

It comes as the government publishes a report calling on the NHS to improve its approach to reconfiguration.

Department of Health official Sir Ian Carruthers, who was acting chief executive of the NHS before David Nicholson took up the post in September, has been touring the country in the last few months talking to staff involved in reconfiguration.

His report is expected to call on NHS managers to engage better with doctors and spend more time consulting with local residents.
Up to 60 NHS trusts are in the process of drawing up plans to strip some hospitals of key services, such as A&E and maternity services, and centralising them at super hospitals, while reshaping community services.

The proposals that have been put forward to date have prompted unprecedented opposition, with marches being organised up and down the country.

The dissatisfaction with the way the NHS has approached the issue can also be seen over the number of councils which have used their powers to try to influence decisions.

Where NHS bosses want to make significant changes to services, they need to consult councils.

And if local authorities are unhappy with the way consultations have been carried out or believe the plans are not in the interests of the health service, they can ask Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt to intervene.

The BBC has learned that in the last two years, 23 referrals have been made by councils to Ms Hewitt - 16 in the past 12 months alone.

She has fully supported the NHS on eight occasions and five cases have not yet been decided.

In the remaining 10 cases, the heath secretary has asked the health service to rethink its plans, sided with the council's protests or the local NHS has withdrawn the plans.

LETS HOPE THE OVERVIEW & SCRUTINY COMMITTEE LOOK AT THE CONSULTATION
PROPOSALS IN THE BROADEST SENSE AND MEANING.
THE DOCUMENT IS A STITCH UP FOR HINCHINGBROOKE AND I HAVE FOUND THAT
HINCHINGBROOKE ARE ASKING THE BOARD FOR SUPPORT FOR A £29M LOAN TO COVER THE DEBT, IT IS SAD THAT THE LOAN IS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, THE VERY SAME DEPARTMENT WHO PUT THE TRUST INTO IT'S CURRENT FINANCIAL POSITION DUE TO UNDERFUNDING AND THEM NOT PAYING BACK TO THE TRUST £11M OVERPAYMENT...............IT SUCKS............AND IF THE TRUST GET SOLD OFF TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER IN 2008/09 AS IN THE CONSULTATION DOCUMENT, WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WANTS TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR SUCH A LOAN AS THERE WILL BE 23 YEARS YET TO RUN........................
WHEN THE HUNTS POST BIGGED UP THE CONSULTATION THEY DIDN'T TELL THE PEOPLE ABOUT THE LOAN, THE SELL OFF, THE JOB LOSSES AND THE FACT YOU WON'T GET TREATED BECAUSE THE PCT IS CUTTING 38,000 PROCEEDURE AT HINCHINGBROOKE AND NOT FUNDING THOSE IN THE COMMUNITY AS A SUBSTITUTE..................IT'S JUST CUTS................ONE WONDERS IF THE PCT WILL GET A LOAN FOR THEIR £52.4M LOAN TO COVER THEIR DEBT..................YOU BET THEY WILL..........AND IT ALL LOOKS GOOD FOR THE MANAGERS AND THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, THE HISTORIC DEBT IS WIPED OUT BUT ANOTHER DEBT IS CREATED...............MMMMM DUBIOUS PRACTICE AND MASSAGING THE FIGURES......