Latest Developments on Frenchay hospital
March 2005
1. Meeting on 14 March
At a recent meeting
of the four primary care trusts and the two hospital trusts, a vote
was taken that Southmead should be the major site for a new acute
hospital to serve North Bristol / South
Gloucestershire. The vote was carried by 4 to 1, with all Trusts
backing Southmead except our local South Glos. Primary Care Trust
(who backed Frenchay), and UBHT (who
abstained). Many of us who attended the meeting were
angry that the senior figures in the Trusts did not even attend
the morning workshop sessions to hear from the
public.
2. Developments since then
I have joined forces with the Kingswood MP, Roger Berry, to table a
motion in the House of Commons supporting
Frenchay, condemning the flawed decision-making process, and
calling on the Secretary of State not to give the go-ahead to any
local plans unless and until the concerns of
local people are properly addressed. The motion has no legal force,
but does allow us to place on public record our
dissatisfaction at the way in which the
issue has been handled so far. Other local MPs, including Don
Foster (Bath) and David
Drew (Stroud) have already added their names to the motion.
3. The Strategic Health Authority - IMPORTANT
I have also now had a meeting with the Chair and Chief Executive of the
Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Strategic
Health Authority (SHA) to discuss the next
steps. The SHA is the body that
oversees major health
plans such as the Bristol Health
Services Plan. They have a meeting on Wednesday 23rd March, starting at
2pm. The original venue they had planned for
the meeting would not have accommodated many
people, so it has now been moved to the The Bristol Room at the Memorial
Stadium, Filton Avenue, Horfield. The purpose
of the meeting is to receive a report on what is
now proposed by the Bristol Health Services Plan and then to tell
the Trusts what searching questions the SHA
wants answered (for example, about finance, effect on
social services, role of community developments etc.) by June,
before things can move ahead.
THIS IS WHERE WE COME IN.
A) If possible, please e-mail Janet Kells, Director of Health Policy at
the SHA to let her know:
- what questions would you like the health authority to be asking the
Bristol Health Services Plan to answer before the health authority give
the go-ahead for the next stage?
AND
- what you thought of the consultation process to date? (e.g.
when did you find out what was planned? Did you go to a consultation
meeting? How was it handled? Did other people
you know, know what was going on?); do you
think the BHSP people took account of the
public's views in drawing up its plans?
Please send your e-mail to:
mandy.stokes@agwsha.nhs.uk and copy it to
me.
If you prefer to write, the address is:
Janet Kells, Director of Health Policy and Strategy
Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Strategic Health Authority Jenner
House, Langley Park Estate Chippenham, Wiltshire SN15 1GG
As before, please feel free to forward this message to your friends and
neighbours.
B) Come along to the health authority meeting on Wednesday afternoon. We
will try to ensure that a small group
of us is prepared in advance to cover the key issues, but
anyone is welcome to come along and add anything that
has been missed out. The main point
that I have already made to the Health
Authority is that I want some rigorous and
independent work done in the next couple of months on what the different
site options will mean for access to
hospitals for people in South Gloucestershire and
Bristol. If people could come along and
reinforce that message, that would be helpful.
Thank you to the many hundreds of people who have responded to this
campaign by writing
letters, sending e-mails and coming along to meetings. We are
certainly making an impact!
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