Tag Archives: Greater Huddersfield CCG

Mysterious disappearing Consultation Document to appear on 12th Feb

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Terry Hallworth reports on the Greater Huddersfield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Governing Body meeting on 10th February

Update to Terry’s report

On 11th February Richard Dunne, Kirklees Scrutiny Officer, emailed that the draft Consultation Document and Questionaire will be publicly available on the Kirklees Council’s Joint Health Scrutiny Committee Webpage on 12th February (not the 15th as Greater Huddersfield CCG reported), along with the Agenda.

If you want to address the JHSC, tell Richard Dunne and he will put your name of the list of deputations. Further info from Richard Dunne is that the consultation will not proceed until this meeting has taken place.

Consultation Document to be released 12th Feb, with Scrutiny on 22nd

The CCGs will be releasing the final draft of the Consultation Document on 12th February.

The CCGs and Joint Health Scrutiny Committee will have a public Scrutiny meeting on the 22 Feb, in the Council Chamber at Halifax Town Hall at 3.45pm

The Governing BodyChair, Dr Ollerton, and Carol McKenna, the CCG’s Chief Officer, will then sign off the document. That seems to presume no alterations will be necessary.

Consultation will then start on 27th Feb and will be for 14 weeks Continue reading →

Care Closer to Home – “Patients Will Suffer”

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Kirklees and Calderdale people are very upset about the proposed hospital cuts and changes and A&E closure – but related  proposals to move hospital services into the “community” are equally devastating. Continue reading →

NHS Commissioners’ meeting “like North Korea”

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At the 20th January Greater Huddersfield and Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Groups meeting, the governing bodies’ unanimous decision to go ahead with a public consultation on plans to cut hospital and close hospital services was immediately denounced by a member of the public, who said:

“This is like North Korea”.

Amid general outcry, someone called out, to a round of applause.

“Shame on all of you”,

While another calmly said,

“You’re a cabal preparing for privatisation. That new hospital will be wrapped up in a pink ribbon and sold off.”

Continue reading →

Monitor has hospital in stranglehold – hospital cuts and changes consultation on hold

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As expected, both Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield NHS commissioners today agreed to postpone the public consultation on proposed hospital cuts and changes. The consultation had been scheduled to start this month.

One burning issue for the public is what NHS bosses want to do to our A&Es. A slide presented at the meeting showed we could end up without a full A&E at either hospital. The slide said that one emergency centre or specialist emergency centre is planned – but draft specifications from NHS England say that only specialist emergency centres provide full A&E care.

The delay to the public consultation is because the Clinical Commissioning Groups don’t know if the hospitals Trust will be financially viable in five years time and are waiting for it to produce a Five Year Financial Plan.

The Trust – along with half the Foundation Trusts in the country – is in deficit. It is under special measures from Monitor, the NHS competition enforcer and financial regulator. Monitor is telling it to make big spending cuts, since Foundation Trusts are not allowed to operate at a loss. Continue reading →

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 →

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 Clinical Commissioning Group appears committed to closing an A&E department and reducing hospital beds

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Despite Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group’s public statements that it has not yet made any decision about the closure of either Calderdale or Huddersfield A&E department, and won’t do so until after a public consultation in the summer of 2014, this claim appears downright shaky. Think about these facts:

  • Most of the proposed division between the two hospitals into an unplanned/routine care hospital and an acute care hospital has already happened, with unplanned care in Calderdale Royal Hospital and acute care in Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.
  • The hospitals Trust has set up a joint venture property development company with Henry Boot Development and this company is already expanding Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.
  • Calderdale Council and Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group are ready to set up the low-cost community care system that’s designed to reduce A&E visits and hospital admissions. They will do this through implementing their Better Care Fund plan this year.
  • Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group’s 5 Year Strategic Plan states that it is the CCG’s contribution to delivering the Strategic Review. This is the document that outlines the preferred option for closing Calderdale A&E, moving acute care and A&E to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and cutting 100 hospital beds.

Continue reading →