CAMELFORD’S mayor has raised concerns over what he has described as ‘the biggest proposed change in health and social care in his lifetime’.
According to the outline plan, a reduction in the number of hospital beds and community hospital sites in Cornwall could be on the cards.
Now, the ‘Shaping Our Future Programme’ has published an engagement report based on feedback from the public between November 2016 and February 2017 — this report states ‘throughout the engagement period the most contentious issue was any potential closure of community hospitals’.
The report does not give any indication as to the future of community hospitals, but the Post has previously reported that the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has said there are ‘no plans’ to close Launceston’s hospital.
A spokesperson for Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust said: “On community hospitals yes we need to do more work and provide more detailed proposals at the next stage. Any big changes would be subject to formal public consultation.”
More than 5,000 people engaged with the ‘Shaping Our Future’ team.
Cornwall Council’s Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee last week raised ‘serious’ concerns over some aspects of the outline business case for Cornwall’s Sustainability and Transformation Plan and the way the engagement process has been carried out.
Members at the committee meeting on Wednesday, March 15 unanimously endorsed a strongly worded position statement that concluded the outline business case ‘was not fit for purpose as a public document although it met NHS England requirements’.
It continued: “The engagement process was poor and ill judged. In our view the process of engagement with the public was inadequate and seriously flawed. There was inconsistency of information provided dependent on the facilitator and this has to be rectified. The questionnaire contained closed questions, was ill conceived and was unprofessional. Members of the public were left feeling alienated, angry and frustrated.”
Camelford mayor Rob Rotchell, who is chair of the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee, said that the development of the Sustainability and Transformation Plan was the biggest proposed change in health and social care in his lifetime.
He said: “The role of scrutiny is to be a critical friend. We are acting in the interests of the people of Cornwall and so it is right that we have raised these concerns.
“Over the past few weeks the sub committee has taken evidence from more than 40 different organisations and have spoken to a wide range of people. All this information has been taken into account in the position statement we have produced.
“Our statement has not been swayed by political views — our single goal is to ensure a robust, sustainable health and social care system for Cornwall and we will continue to work with our partners to achieve this.
“We are clear that the Full Business Case must answer the concerns which have been raised and have solid, clear evidence for any proposals. It is vital that the Scrutiny Committee is involved at the start of the process to draft the Full Business Case — not at the end — and we have asked that interim reports, including reports on financial information, are brought to the committee at relevant intervals.”
The ‘Shaping Our Future’ team’s next steps include development of a full business case that it said will set out ‘clear options for service change’. The team will also be producing a monthly newsletter online to provide an update on progress.