Tag Archives: Calderdale CCG

Calderdale and Kirklees Councils drag their feet about whether NHS bosses’ plans are fit for purpose

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On 22nd September 2014, Calderdale and Kirklees Councils’ Joint Health Scrutiny Committee (JHSC) started scrutinising the local NHS commissioners’ proposals for chopping and changing hospital and community based health services. These proposals are known as Right Care Right Place Right Time.

The JHSC has decided that, should the options outlined in the Right Care Right Place Right Time Strategic Outline Case be developed into formal proposals, they would constitute a substantial development and variation to the health service.

The JHSC has a duty to scrutinise such substantial proposals and their impact on the people of Calderdale and Huddersfield, by requiring local NHS bodies to consult with them. Continue reading →

Rhubarb rhubarb for two hours as Calderdale NHS commissioners outwit Councillors’ scrutiny of shake-up plans

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A dismayed member of the public who attended the 17th September Scrutiny Panel meeting, where Councillors allowed themselves to be outwitted over Calderdale NHS commissioners’ plans to delay public consultation on the NHS shake-up, said,

“They might as well have been saying rhubarb rhubarb for two hours, for all the use that meeting was.”

There is an overview report of the meeting here.

For anyone who has the stomach for rhubarb, here is a more verbatim account. It covers

  • The CCG’s evasiveness about whether it will dump the hospitals Trust as the provider of existing community health services, and switch to buying them from private companies or 3rd sector/voluntary organisations.
  • The Scrutiny Panel’s failure to use its power to decide whether the CCG’s plan to re-specify and re-purchase existing community health services by the end of this year would significantly change existing NHS services in Calderdale and so require public consultation.
  • The timeframe for costing Phase 2 community health services, which will happen over the next 3 months. Phase 2 would involve taking services for frail elderly people with multiple illnesses out of hospital and into the community or people’s homes.

Continue reading →

Public will have no say in #Calderdale NHS and social care shake up, if NHS chiefs get their way

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In a dramatic move, Calderdale’s NHS Commissioners have decided to shelve public consultation on the proposed NHS shake up.

At a meeting on 14th August, they batted aside a letter from Councillor Malcolm James, Chair of Calderdale Council’s Adults Health and Social Care Scrutiny Panel, that asked Calderdale’s NHS Commissioners not to make any decisions about community health services that have not been subject to sufficient consultation with the public, or that lead to significant service variations and changes.

Now both Huddersfield and Calderdale NHS Commissioners intend to go ahead with all the community care service changes proposed in the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS  shake-up plans, without any public consultation. Continue reading →

Best laid plans – Commissioners haven’t yet looked at Trust’s business case for NHS shake up

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At Calderdale Council Adults Health and Scrutiny Panel meeting on 28th July,
Cllr Adam Wilkinson doggedly took the lead in questioning NHS chiefs about their confusing proposals for hospital bed cuts in both the 2014-16 Balanced Plan, and in the Strategic Outline Case.

If you don’t want to read a lot of detail about the scrutiny, you can could read the idiots’ guide to the Scrutiny Panel meeting instead.

The Balanced Plan, which the Scrutiny Panel only found out about through reports leaked in local media,  aims to make cuts and generate new income in order to cope with the Trust’s £20m funding shortfall this financial year and a £19m shortfall in 2015-16.

The Strategic Outline Case proposes to cut acute and emergency hospital care from 2016-17, and replace it with an as-yet unspecified system of care in the community. Continue reading →

Councillors’ Democratic Scrutiny 1, NHS Chiefs’ Smoke and Mirrors 3

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Calderdale Council Adult Health and Social Care Scrutiny Panel meeting on 28th July failed to effectively question hospitals Trust chiefs about their “Balanced Plan” for meeting a £20m funding shortfall this financial year, and a £19m shortfall in 2015-16.

By failing to provide clear straightforward information, equally the NHS chiefs failed in their duty of candour as public servants.

Chatting after the meeting, a group of Save Our Hospitals campaigners expressed deep scepticism about the conduct of the meeting as well as confusion about what had been said. Continue reading →

Calderdale and Huddersfield Hospitals Trust expects Wheelchair Services staff will transfer to the new contract holder

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Last week Calderdale CCG governing body approved the award of a new contract for wheelchair services to another organisation than CHFT, which currently provides these services.They have not yet named the successful bidder. [Update: Opcare is the company that has won the contract.] 

From September 2014, CHFT will no longer provide wheelchair services to the 3 Clinical Commissioning Groups – North Kirklees, Greater Huddersfield and Calderdale.

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHFT) has now provided information about their loss of the wheelchair services contract, but said,

“It is important to note that as at the time of this response, the Trust has not formally been notified of the CCG’s decision regarding the award of the tender therefore our response is subject to that formal notification. We have not yet been formally notified that we have not won the contract or who has been the successful bidder”

Continue reading →

The People’s Commission that isn’t – Calderdale Council shies away from public hearing on hospital cuts and closures

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On Monday 28th April, Calderdale Council Cabinet authorised the Chief Executive, in consultation with Party Leaders, to finalise the terms of reference for a People’s Commission on Health and Social Care, arrange for the Commission Panel to be established and arrange for the initial call for evidence.

The only thing is, what the Cabinet has set in motion doesn’t seem much like a People’s Commission.

A People’s Commission is a way for civil society to highlight unresolved violations of law, in a public hearing of evidence and testimony from anyone who’s affected. Continue reading →

Will you help to monitor Calderdale & Huddersfield drop in sessions on NHS shake-up?

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Plain Speaker is gathering info about how Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield Clinical Commissioning Groups carry out their “engagement” process for the Strategic Review/Right Care Right Time Right Place proposals.

This is to see if they are complying with their legal duties to involve the public in decisions about reconfiguring the NHS. If they’re not, there will be grounds for making a legal challenge to the proposed Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS shake up.

Members of the public, patients, staff and members of various NHS organisations have a valuable role to play, in monitoring public events, staff engagement, community groups engagement and NHS networks engagement. For details, see below. Continue reading →

Calderdale Councillors unite in call for NHS Trust to drop A&E downgrade proposals and listen to People’s Panel

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The public seats were full at a Special Council meeting on 16th April, where Councillors unanimously passed a motion calling on Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, Locala and the South West Yorkshire Foundation Partnership Trust to withdraw their Strategic Review/Strategic Outline Case for the future of health and social care in Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield.

The Strategic Review proposals include the preferred option of downgrading Calderdale Royal Hospital A&E and turning the hospital into a small planned care clinic. Continue reading →

Conservative Parliamentary Candidate encourages all party support for Council motion on Calderdale A&E

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Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Halifax Philip Allot is encouraging all Calderdale Councillors to support a motion that calls on Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHFT), Locala and South West Yorkshire Foundation Partnership Trust to:

  • withdraw the proposals set out in their Strategic Outline Case for the future of the NHS and social care in Calderdale and Huddersfield, and in particular the ‘preferred option’
  • enable the two local authorities and the two Clinical Commissioning Groups to lead an open consultation about future health and social care provision in Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield, through establishing a health and care commission to take evidence, lead consultation and produce proposals regarding future health and social care provision across the Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield health and social care “economy”
  • requests Cabinet to take all necessary steps to secure this outcome.

Continue reading →