Hebden Bridge Web

Hospital Cuts Consultation

Monday, 4 April 2016

There is a hospital cuts consultation drop in at Hebden Bridge Town Hall from 2pm-8pm on Tuesday 5th April.

Save our A&Es campaigners recommend that the public holds off on responding to the hospital cuts consultation survey until the Clinical Commissioning Groups behind the proposals fix the errors and omissions in their "Have Your Say" Consultation Document.

They argue that the consultation document doesn't allow the public to make an objective, fair judgement on the hospital cuts proposals, because key information is missing and it also contains misleading information. If the survey is completed now, without all the info needed, respondents won't be able to come back and fill it in again when they know more.

For example, the "Have Your Say" Consultation Document doesn't tell us:

• whether or how Yorkshire Ambulance Service will be able to cope with the extra 10,000 hours/year of ambulance journey time that would result from closing Huddersfield A&E
• what the risk assessment is of increased patient deaths resulting from the closure of Huddersfield A&E
• whether the capacity exists to provide safe Care Closer to Home, as an alternative to acute and emergency hospital services
• what the evidence is that Care Closer to Home would reduce the numbers of acute and emergency hospital admissions
• whether the proposed new hospital services model will deliver the required standard of care
• what is the Vanguard scheme affecting Hebden Bridge and Todmorden?
  

If you attend a consultation drop in, Save our A&Es campaigners are suggesting some or all of these questions are asked. They would be interested in know what answers are received and can be emailed here.

Campaigners also claim that the Consultation Document gives wrong information. For example, it claims that the Hospital Trust's higher than average Summary Hospital level Mortality Indicator for the year July 2014 - July 2015 is a justification for the proposed "reconfiguration" of the hospitals, but is not indicative of any such thing.

The most recent legal advice to Calderdale and Kirklees 999 Call for the NHS is that we should ask the CCGs for further, accurate information on all the misleading info/missing information, and for them to make all that information available to the public, on the Right Care Right Time Right Place website. They are now doing this.

At the moment, campaigners say they simply don't have the information needed to make objective, fair assessments of the proposals.

You can find more info about the campaign to Save both A&Es and stop the NHS cuts on these pages

Blog: Calderdale and Kirklees 999 Call for the NHS

Facebook: 999 Call for the NHS Calderdale & Kirklees

Twitter: @SaveCRH