‘Facility must be in the correct place’

I AGREE with councillor Jack Brereton that a South Stoke Care Hub should be appropriately sited and take account of good road access, car parking and bus services.

The strategic planning should also take account of the city’s population predicted growth trends which are mainly in the south – Blurton, Newstead and Trentham.

The choice of location should not be made on the current availability of poorly accessible undeveloped council-owned land such as Greendock Street, Longton, in the east of the city, but on future residential development.

May I suggest that the CCG and partners consider Blurton or Trentham Lakes in the south of the city, as either locality has good access by road and public transport?

Jack Brereton MP seems to be optimistic that capital funding would be available for the proposed south hub, which would be most certainly needed to expand city community services considering the proposed depletion of community hospital beds despite alleged ‘bed blocking’ at the RSUH.

I noted that Jack made mention of additional funding for the NHS.

I assume that the ‘increase’ will compensate the service for the devaluation of the pound since 2016?

The NHS is having to pay substantial additional costs for licensed drugs and medical equipment acquired from Germany and Switzerland – countries which have stable currencies.

I BRADLEY TRENTHAM