HOSPITAL SERVICES YOUR MAIN CONCERN
SURVEY REVEALS MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES AHEAD OF ELECTION
PROTECTING A&E and maternity services is the biggest local issue for voters in Nuneaton and North Warwickshire ahead of next month’s General Election.
Residents have been asked for their views ahead of the June 8 vote and the NHS is a key issue amid uncertainty over the future of services in the area.
It comes as plans are ongoing to bridge a £250million funding gap in the healthcare budget in Coventry and Warwickshire.
The first draft of the Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP), which outlines the proposals to make savings across Coventry and Warwickshire, was released in December. It was criticised for being “vague” and not giving details on how savings will be made.
The plans confirm a review of the “sustainability” of underpressure emergency care at George Eliot Hospital and University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire, while also highlighting the potential need for capital to “right size” the A&E department in Coventry due to “GEH and UHCW collaboration activity”.
STP chief, Professor Andy Hardy, has insisted no decision has been made over the future of A&E and maternity services at George Eliot as part of the process.
Asked if the protection of A&E and maternity services in Coventry and Warwickshire should become an election issue, 65.3 per cent of voters in Coventry and Warwickshire who took part in an exclusive Telegraph Google survey said yes.
Only 12.8 per cent of those who responded said no and 21.9 per cent said they did not know.
Protection of local hospital ser- vices also came out as the top issue that would influence how people would vote, with 39.9 per cent listing it as a key issue.
The jargon-filled 62-page STP report was slammed as “opaque,” “incomprehensible” and “secretive” and one of the bosses at the head of the plan even admitted it needed to be made easier to understand.
Andrea Green, chief officer for Warwickshire North Clinical Commissioning Group, said at that time she could not say what it would mean in reality for patients across the region, and agreed that the documents needed to be made easier for the public to understand.
She said: “We need clarity as to what that means locally.
“We haven’t done that in detail, so I agree we do need to do that clarity, and we will do that before we have the period of engagement to take it to consultation.”
It is being approached theme by theme, and the first draft addressed stroke care but didn’t go into great detail about A&E and maternity services.
Nuneaton and North Warwickshire will go to the polls in just under three weeks time. In Nuneaton, voters will be able to choose between four candidates standing for the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green and Ukip parties. In North Warwickshire, there are four candidates standing for the same parties minus Ukip.
According to the Google Survey, the Conservative candidates are set to win back their seats in both constituencies.
34.2 per cent of participants said they plan to vote Tory in Nuneaton and the figure was 35.3 per cent in North Warwickshire.
In Nuneaton, more people said they didn’t know how they plan to vote (29.9 per cent) than said they are planning to vote Labour (23.9 per cent).