Town hall chief says winter cash boost is ‘only a sticking plaster’

EXTRA government cash to help health services cope over the winter months is ‘only a sticking plaster’, a leading councillor has warned.

Rochdale has been handed an additional winter pressures grant of £1.1m ahead of an anticipated spike in demand.

The payment – which will also be available next year – comes from a £240m government pot which is distributed nationally.

Rochdale’s health and wellbeing chief, Coun Sara Rowbotham, has welcomed the boost to funding – but still harbours fears for the longer term.

“It doesn’t look too bad, but it’s a sticking plaster,” she said.

“The budget deficits are still there after the two years, so the next financial year after that, you will still have them. It’s taking away an awful lot of that financial pressure – but it’s what happens after that.

“It’s like one step forward and one back – you think ‘thank God for that’ but then can’t not think about those practitioners being unemployed in 18 months time.

“What happens then? It’s not going to magically go away, the pressures are still going to be there.”

However, Coun Rowbotham says she is confident in the borough’s plans to mitigate the impact of the winter period. Much of the cash is being used to ensure that – once well enough – patients can be discharged from hospital and cared for in the community, freeing beds for others that need them.