Progress on NHS shake-up ‘must be improved’
PROGRESS ON controversial plans to address an estimated £420m funding gap for NHS services caring for more than a million people in Yorkshire has been rated amongst the worst in the country.
All 44 Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) which have been produced at regional levels across the country to change the way care is delivered and meet a £22bn financial black hole facing the NHS by 2021 have been publicly rated by NHS England for the first time on a socalled ‘Progress Dashboard’.
The STP for the Humber, Coast and Vale region is one of five national plans to be placed in the lowest category of “needs most improvement”. The plans were assessed in relation to how regional NHS partnerships are working together in key areas like hospital performance and general practice.
The Humber, Coast and Vale area stretches along the east coast of England from Scarborough to Cleethorpes, incorporating Hull and York and large rural areas, with a total population of around 1.4m people.
Its proposals are a result of a collaboration between 28 health and social care organisations in the region. Key aims of the STP include “reducing dependence on hospitals” and supporting people to “manage their own care better”.
A spokesman for the STP, which covers proposals for places like Scarborough, the Vale of York and Hull and East Riding, said: “We know that we have much still to do and there are many challenges to overcome. Some of the challenges within our local health economy have been with us for many years and we are now working together in a new way to tackle them.
“The ratings for STP areas published by NHS England today reflect the scale of the challenge that we face as a partnership and underline the need for us to work together in order to continue making further improvements.”
But STP plans for other parts of the region fared better in the NHS England review, with the progress on the South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw proposals described as “outstanding”.
The same rating was given to the Durham, Darlington, Teesside, Hambleton, Richmondshire & Whitby STP, while the West Yorkshire proposals were placed in the “making progress” category. THE HEALTH secretary will be asked to review controversial changes to hospital services in Calderdale and Huddersfield.
A council watchdog decided to refer the plans to Jeremy Hunt over safety fears at a meeting yesterday.
The shake-up by Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield Clinical Commissioning Groups would see Huddersfield Royal Infirmary knocked down and replaced with a smaller site.
An expanded Calderdale Royal Hospital would become the main A&E centre for the two towns – a plan which has raised safety fears over longer travel times to hospital.
NHS campaigners were furious to learn that Huddersfield’s new hospital would have just 64 beds after first being told it would have 120.
They staged a noisy protest as Calderdale and Huddersfield joint health scrutiny committee discussed the proposals.
Speaking outside Huddersfield Town Hall Frazer Soar, 48, said: “Reducing the hospital to 64 beds is ridiculous. It will be never be enough.
“We deserve a full A&E department.”
Calderdale NHS campaigner Helen Kingston told the meeting: “I have an almost three-year-old son and I expect him to be a regular visitor to A&E, falling out of trees and off his bike.
“Its easy to forget that behind all the jargon and counting there are real-life people.”
Dewsbury MP Paula Sherriff said the whole of Kirklees would be left without a full A&E after similar plans were approved at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust.
Dewsbury’s A&E will be downgraded to an urgent care centre.
Ms Sherriff said: “One of the main factors was that Huddersfield would have a full A&E and many patients would travel there to ease the burden on Pinderfields Hospital.”
There was applause at the meeting when councillors voted to refer the proposals to Mr Hunt after grilling NHS bosses.
Speaking after the meeting, Huddersfield NHS campaigner Karl Deitch said: “It’s what we wanted and what we’ve been aiming for. Hopefully Jeremy Hunt will look at it in depth. We think he should quash it.”
In a statement the clinical commissioning groups insisted the hospital plan would be safe. They said: “We passionately believe the changes that we have proposed are the best way to save more lives and improve results for patients.”