Post by SeanBroseley on Nov 24, 2021 1:19:34 GMT 1
Tremendous contribution.
Meow. LOL I hang on every one of yours.
I was trying to link to this but then thought "**** it" and went to bed.
From the Shropshire Defend Our NHS Facebook page:
Yes, there's MORE on the Bishop’s Castle Hospital closure! That meeting this morning of the Shropshire Council committee that 'scrutinises' NHS decision making. The Council’s video recording doesn’t seem to be available yet, so we’ll post a link to that when it is – probably tomorrow.
The NHS representation was led by Community Trust Chief Executive Patricia Davies.
Patricia Davies spoke for England - but didn’t always get around to answering questions! And there were some really good questions, particularly from the Councillors representing South West Shropshire.
We heard a lot about recruitment problems and heavy reliance on agency nurses – yes, those are real and serious issues, and apply across the NHS. There was a bit of a muddle from the NHS managers over whether the Bishop’s Castle scenario is exactly the same as everywhere else or much worse, but it’s definitely one of those things.
Oddly, there had been no Board-level discussion of recruitment problems affecting safety at Bishop’s Castle only a week before closure was announced. Just a financial decision by the Community Trust to meet their savings targets by cutting agency staff at community hospitals; this being followed – by a remarkable coincidence – by the Bishop’s Castle Hospital closure. But hey, today’s meeting was told that this didn’t mean what it appeared to mean and it was all about escalation areas. Confused? Yes, that’s probably the intention.
It was striking that Ms Davies was COMPLETELY unable to explain why the Community Trust had failed to engage with the local authority – the partner organisation that might have helped with, for example, key worker housing for nurses, or the local councillors who could have advised on the consequences of closure and on ways of avoiding closure.
Ms Davies also conspicuously failed to explain the lack of engagement with patients and the wider public, despite being asked very directly about this. There was no sudden emergency that required immediate closure. The account given to the meeting was of recruitment problems that gathered over several months.
Engagement with the local authority and with patients and the public is a STATUTORY DUTY for the NHS. This is not an optional extra.
The meeting was told that the Bishop’s Castle Hospital beds have been ‘re-provided’, with an extra 17 beds commissioned across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin. The NHS managers present weren’t completely sure where those beds are. Five are in unknown ‘designated settings’ - but not Bishop’s Castle. Two are probably in a nursing home in Much Wenlock. And ten are in Telford and Wrekin. That’s not much good to you if you live in or around Bishop’s Castle or Clun, you’re 85, you don’t drive and your husband or wife is dying alone in a far-distant hospital or nursing home that you cannot possibly get to. There’s a remarkable lack of understanding from senior Community Trust and CCG staff of rurality and the needs of rural communities for local and accessible care. Just shocking.
And is closure really ‘temporary’? Well, Patricia Davies opened the meeting by saying it was. A Healthwatch representative asked if ‘temporary could be a hell of a long temporary’ and wondered if it could turn into a permanent situation. Ms Davies replied that she couldn’t underplay the challenge. What is clear is that there is absolutely no timescale for re-opening.
Public questions sadly were not taken and will roll on to another Committee meeting in January. They’re attached here, for information.
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