Calderdale Food Network funding ended by NHS and Council

Calderdale Food Network, which aims to make affordable, good food a defining characteristic of Calderdale, is facing a total funding cut by March 2019.

Paul Butcher,the Calderdale Director of Public Health, told Calderdale Health and Wellbeing Board in June that Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group funding ended in June 2018. Calderdale Council Public Health can continue some funding until March 2019.

This will pay to support Calderdale schools and early years settings to serve high quality food throughout the school day, and to provide food education – including cooking, growing and creating links with local farms and food producers.

Paul Butcher pointed out that at £400m/year, the food economy in Calderdale is bigger than tourism etc. He wants  to do work about supporting the food economy through procurement policies etc.

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Does Calderdale Health & Wellbeing Board know what it’s doing with NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plans?

On 25 August, Calderdale Health and Wellbeing Board meeting discussed 3 documents about Sustainability and Transformation Plans, in order to decide whether to accept the following recommendations that the Health and Wellbeing Board had previously made at a private, un-minuted meeting with Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group on 11th August – that the Health and Wellbeing should:

  • “own” Calderdale’s contribution to the West Yorkshire Sustainability and Transformation Plan
  • agree a Calderdale Plan at a future meeting
  • establish a Calderdale Transformation Board to oversee the work on the development of a Calderdale Plan and report to the Health and Wellbeing Board.

Six weeks after the Health and Wellbeing Board meeting – and only two weeks before the 21st October deadline for submitting the final version of the Sustainability and Transformation Plan to NHS England – Cllr Tim Swift sent answers to 15 of the 38 questions about these three documents, that I had emailed to the Health and Wellbeing Board just before its meeting. Continue reading

A month on, still waiting for Calderdale Health & Wellbeing Board answers to Sustainability and Transformation Plan questions

There were 15 minutes for public questions at the 25th August Calderdale Health and Wellbeing Board meeting, which discussed recommendations about the Calderdale Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP), from a private meeting on 11th August between the Health and Wellbeing Board and Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group.

That meant only a handful of questions could be asked. The rest were meant to be answered in writing. A month on, no written answers have appeared. Continue reading

Protest secret plans to cut and further privatise NHS – Halifax Town Hall, Thursday 25 August, 9.30am.

A secret process to cut and further privatise NHS services is charging ahead across England. It goes under the name of Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs).

England has been divided into 44 Sustainability and Transformation Plan ‘footprints’ which must make huge spending and service cuts and increase NHS privatisation in order to access “transformation” funds.

STPs are being drawn up in conditions of secrecy imposed by NHS England. Their North Midlands Director of Commissioning Operations, Wendy Saviour, told a recent meeting of Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group:

“STPs are not meant to be published at all. They should not go to Board meetings. Some of them contain very radical things… These are highly political and highly contentious…
Once they’re washed off and the national messages are gathered together, they will be published.”

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Secret, outlaw NHS “Sustainability and Transformation Plans” underway in West Yorkshire

A secret process to cut NHS spending and services is galloping ahead across England.

If you think this is all a VERY BAD IDEA, please tell your MP and Councillors. And get in touch with Calderdale & Kirklees 999 Call for the NHS (CK999) or one of the other organisations in the CK999 network and help us campaign to stop and reverse NHS Cuts and sell offs.

Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) are the enforcement mechanism to make NHS commissioners, hospitals and GPs carry out, at speed, the NHS spending cuts and increased NHS privatisation that are required by NHS England’s Five Year Forward View, 2015- 2020. Continue reading

Calderdale Health and Wellbeing Board jittery over public consultation on NHS shake up

At Calderdale HWB Board  on 30 October 2014, Jen Mulcahy, the Commissioning Support Unit Programme Manager for Right Care Right Place Right Time, gave an update on the Right Care Right Place Right Time NHS shake up in Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield.

She said this was being carried out through taking forward:

  • plans for community care in Calderdale
  • plans for community care in Kirklees
  • plans for the Calderdale and Huddersfield hospitals.

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No evidence that new social care scheme will work, but Council still takes £4m from hard-pressed hospital

Calderdale Health and Wellbeing (HWB) Board met on 30th October.

It heard that there are no grounds for believing that the new social care scheme, known as Better Care, will keep patients out of hospital.  But it went ahead and approved the transfer of £4m this year from the hard-pressed hospital to Calderdale Council’s Adult Social Care directorate. And £15m next year.

The HWB Board also approved Calderdale Council’s and Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group’s joint plan for spending this money. Continue reading