The Secretary of Calderdale NHS 38 Degrees Campaign Group reports on the first meeting of Calderdale Commission on health and social care on Tuesday 29th July, where she and two other members of the group handed over a paper copy of the 38 degrees submission. This says that local hospital services are excellent and must stay in place.
There were three members of Calderdale NHS 38 Degrees and about 3 other members of the public at the meeting. It was a terrible turnout. Continue reading
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
The American Kaiser Permanente model of healthcare is the acknowledged template for the controversial NHS and social care changes that are hitting Calderdale and Huddersfield, as well as the rest of England.
In this American model, so-called Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) provide relatively low-cost health services that are based on short hospital stays and cherry-picking patients with health care needs that are not too costly.
In 1971, when the Nixon administration was looking for ways to cut the costs of healthcare, White House domestic affairs adviser John Ehrlichman explained to President Nixon why he should promote the Kaiser Permanente system of healthcare:
“All the incentives are toward less medical care, because the less care they give them, the more money they make.”
This was enough to persuade Nixon that HMOs were the future for American healthcare.
Continue readingAt a packed meeting on 1st July, Calderdale Council Adults Health and Scrutiny Panel accepted a petition signed by 118 people, asking the Scrutiny Panel to use its powers to call in the NHS bosses to explain their proposed hospital cuts and service changes.
The Council recently asked the hospitals Trust to withdraw their proposals to shake up health services by cutting acute and emergency hospital services and replacing them with care in the community. But the Trust has gone ahead regardless.
A leaked Trust document, discussed at a 5th June meeting of the Trust’s Executive Board, shows that the Trust is secretly planning to start making the cuts this month, even though the public consultation on the proposals hasn’t yet happened. Continue reading
A secret Hospitals Trust plan shows how the Trust is making government-imposed savings of £20m this year.
In April, the hospitals Trust agreed plans for £13.45m cuts this financial year.
Now it has come up with schemes to generate the extra £6.55m needed to make savings of £20m.
These schemes include raising an unspecified amount of new income from private patients and overseas visitors to the Trust. Continue reading
Calderdale Trades Council, Calderdale 38 Degrees NHS Campaign Group and members of the public are calling on Calderdale Council’s Adult Health and Scrutiny Panel to hold a formal inquiry into the hospital trust’s Strategic Outline Case proposals for shaking up NHS and social care.
They will be lobbying the Scrutiny Panel members at 5.30pm, before their 6.00pm meeting at Halifax Town Hall on Tuesday 1st July. Everyone is welcome to take part. Expect/bring ukeleles!
Please consider signing this petition to Scrutiny Panel members, which will be presented to the Scrutiny Panel on 1st July. Continue reading
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
Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Body meeting, which is open to the public and press, is at 2-5pm, Thursday 10th April, in Shibden Meeting Room, F Mill, Dean Clough, Halifax.
Agenda and meeting documents are online here.
Upper Calder Valley Plain Speaker has emailed these questions for the Governing Body to answer at the meeting: Continue reading
On 13th March, Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Body gave the nod to proceed to the next stage of Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust’s Strategic Outline Case (SOC). This is about Transforming Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield’s NHS and social care services.
The SOC describes in outline what the future of the NHS and social care might look like in Calderdale and Huddersfield. It’s based on the Strategic Review’s proposals that came out towards the end of February.
The next stage for the Strategic Outline Case is public and staff “engagement.” Continue reading
UCV Plain Speaker is shortly to run a new article about the Strategic Outline Case for transforming Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield NHS and social care.
If you are involved in social care in Calderdale in any way at all, the UCV Plain Speaker article would like to report your views about what the Strategic Outline Case proposes for the future of social care. There is an online survey further down this page, where you can say what you think.
The Strategic Outline Case (SOC) proposes to completely transform social care as well as the NHS in Calderdale and Greater Huddersfield. Continue reading