The NHS in Wiltshire revealed itself at its worst in Marlborough yesterday (Thursday) when a public consultation meeting was held at the Town Hall — to question and debate its future over the next five years.
But the NHS Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which has a budget of £520 million to care for 480,000 patients but will need another £60 million by 2021 to maintain its services, simply failed to tell local organisations and residents that it was happening.
Anyone arriving at the Town Hall for the 9.30am meeting found no notice outside the front entrance that the meeting was taking place – and no notice either outside the side entrance.
Only when you opened the side door could you see a scribbled notice declaring: ‘NHS upstairs’.
The dozen or so who made it to the meeting, among them five town councillors, including the Mayor, Marian Hannaford-Dobson, as well as Savernake Hospital activist Val Compton, complained bitterly at the pathetic organisation of the event.
Not only was it, they said, at the wrong time of day, but the CCG had failed to advertise the vital meeting. This led Mrs Compton to demand that any views expressed should be “struck from the record” as they failed to represent the town in any way.
She offered her “network guidance” on how to reach Marlborough organisations, but nevertheless protested: “I am very disappointed that I had just two days’ notice for this meeting.”
Stewart Dobson, a Tory town councillor and also a Wiltshire councillor, who described the situation as “chronic”, declared that such meetings needed to be held in the evening “to allow everyone in the town at least the opportunity to come along.”
The CCG’s Chief Officer Debbie Fielding, a former nurse, who failed to introduce herself to the audience, apologised profusely “if we have got it wrong”.
She pointed out that consultation meetings across the very large county of Wiltshire were being held at morning, afternoon and evening venues in an attempt to accommodate everybody who wished to express their views.
But she was caught out when told that the six-page Five Year Plan Questionnaire all those present were being invited to fill in had a response deadline of today (Friday), a deadline it was then agreed would be extended.
Mrs Fielding accepted an offer from former Savernake Parish Council chairman Joan Davies to distribute copies of the questionnaire. But then Councillor Peggy Dow intervened insisting it was the CCG’s responsibility to “get this out to the public, not Val’s job and it’s not a councillor’s job either.”
Councillor Guy Loosmore jumped in to denounce what was happening. He protested: “It is deeply concerning that we are sitting here this morning in a situation where you haven’t thought this through properly and our views are basically being steamrollered over.”
“And that is a very convenient way for you to get your policy through.”
Debbie Fielding pleaded with the objectors for patience and the opportunity to let her tell them the “really good news” in its proposals, promising that her team would “get this right the next time”.
She then outlined the CCG’s project to transform health services by “wrapping them round local, rural practices on a cluster basis of 20,000 people”, and had already introduced care co-ordinators working with GPs to cope with the rising number of frail old people.
Additional A&E consultants had also been appointed to hospitals at Swindon (GWH) and Bath (RUH). And she explained how, linked with Wiltshire Council’s social care support, they were going to provide an integrated, ring-fenced Better Care Plan for each area.
The Better Care Plan is the government’s scheme to bolster social services for the elderly and treat them at or close to home rather than in hospital. It relies on taking funding from the hospitals as fewer older people are admitted.
The plan gets underway this year, but, once signed off by the government, starts in earnest in April 2015.
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