News story

7th October 2005

Health Reforms Threaten Developments at Yate and Thornbury

Northavon MP Steve Webb has warned that plans to merge South Gloucestershire's Primary Care Trust with similar Trusts in Bristol and North Somerset could undermine plans for new community health facilities.

Under a cost-saving plan drawn up by the Government, primary care trusts across England are to be merged to form fewer, larger trusts covering much larger areas. The blueprint submitted yesterday by the Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Health Authority proposes that the three counties would have just three PCTs - one to cover the old Avon area (but excluding B&NES), one to cover Gloucestershire, and one to cover Wiltshire plus B&NES.

With South Gloucestershire forming a small part of a much larger Trust, the particular health needs of South Gloucestershire residents could well take second place to the needs of urban Bristol, calling into question the funding of key projects such as a new community health centre at Yate and investment at Thornbury Hospital.

Steve Webb said:

"South Gloucestershire is not simply a suburb of Bristol. It has a large and distinct population whose health needs are also important. When it came to choosing hospital sites we have already seen that the needs of Bristol are put first, with Southmead being chosen over Frenchay. If our primary care needs are also lumped in with those of Bristol, the same thing could easily happen again. The much promised improvements in community health facilities at Yate and Thornbury could easily be the first casualty".

The MP said that the existing arrangement, where South Gloucestershire PCT and South Gloucestershire Council social services share the same boundaries and work together was already beginning to work well and break down divisions between health and social care. There was a real danger that if the health trusts were merged to form larger units such partnership working would be undermined.


Note to editors:

This proposal will be subject to scrutiny by the Department of Health and, following their comments, will be the basis for major consultation with patients and the public between December 2005 and March 2006.