Showing posts with label barnstaple. Show all posts

Tuesday, 2 October 2018

County Council rejects calls to investigate Devon NHS cuts

Over the past couple of weeks, there has been a flurry of campaigning activity:
Health campaigners urge MPs to listen to their pleas | News | Holsworthy Post
SOHS campaigners visit House of Commons | Barnstaple, Bideford and Ilfracombe News - North Devon Gazette | North Devon Gazette
Members of Defend Dorset NHS will attend a meeting at the House of Commons | Dorset Echo

The County Council has looked at what it can do over the provision of health services - but even at local government level this is not without political intrigue:
Futures Forum: County Council to consider "taking a strong position on protecting our community hospitals and a strong position on resisting any future plans to sell off the buildings"

The blog of Cllr Claire Wright looks at that intrigue:

Secretary of State for Health visits Ottery Hospital but leaves at speed, James Bond style!
Wednesday, 26 September 2018 6 Comments
Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care sped out of Ottery Hospital car park, in his ministerial car, with blue lights activated this morning, in an apparently desperate attempt to avoid speaking to me and around a dozen hospital supporters.

Just before he left in a hurry, officials asked me and around a dozen residents to leave the car park where we were peacefully waiting for him to exit. We didn’t have placards and there was no chanting.

Secretary of State for Health visits Ottery Hospital but leaves at speed, James Bond style!

Why did ITV delete the film of the Secretary of State’s car speeding through Ottery Hosp car park
Friday, 28 September 2018 1 Comment
ITV’s short clip of Matt Hancock, Health Secretary’s ministerial blue-lighted car travelling at speed through Ottery Hospital’s car park, was deleted yesterday afternoon, less than 24 hours after it was posted.
Given that the video, which was in the process of going viral, must have dismayed both Mr Swire and Mr Hancock, my suspicions are directed firmly at these two. I will be interested to hear from the two politicians whether they played a role in removing the embarrassing footage.
The tweet in question from political correspondent, Nick Smith, also confirmed that Mr Hancock’s black jaguar, using its security alert blue lights, appeared to be fleeing the apparently terrifying prospect of talking to me and around a dozen peaceable looking residents.

Why did ITV delete the film of the Secretary of State’s car speeding through Ottery Hosp car park

Minister’s visit does not dispel fears over Ottery hospital’s future - Ottery Herald coverage
Friday, 28 September 2018
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care says he is ‘optimistic’ for the future of Ottery hospital, but would not ‘categorically’ state that it was safe from being sold off.
For full story see - http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/health-minister-matt-hancock-visits-ottery-hospital-1-5713195

Minister’s visit does not dispel fears over Ottery hospital’s future - Ottery Herald coverage - Claire Wright

Heated debate as Devon Health Scrutiny chair rejects my proposal for review into health cuts
Sunday, 30 September 2018
I had yet another clash with Conservative Health Scrutiny chair, Sara Randall Johnson at the most recent Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee meeting, as she blocked my efforts to investigate the hundreds of millions of pounds worth of Devon NHS cuts that are ongoing.

Heated debate as Devon Health Scrutiny chair rejects my proposal for review into health cuts
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Thursday, 20 September 2018

Devon caravan park > local business, the local community and traffic issues > planning application to expand unanimously rejected by councillors

In East Devon, there are various planning applications waiting to be dealt with for a large holiday park near Otterton:
Futures Forum: Ladram Bay caravan park > local business, the local community and traffic issues > three planning applications awaiting determination

A caravan park in North Devon has just been told it cannot expand - with parallels to the Otterton case - due to the adverse impact on the landscape, the scale of the development was too great and it would have a negative impact on amenity of local residents:

Holiday park extension refused

Wednesday, September 19th, 2018 2:20pm

By Daniel Clark

Credit: Google

Councillors said it would have an adverse effect on the landscape

Tarka Holiday Park’s owners on Braunton Road, Barnstaple, wanted to convert a former fruit farm into the entertainment complex and have 116 new caravans.

The plan was to demolish the existing farmhouse by the entrance to Tarka Holiday Park and replace it with the new entertainments and pool complex.

The entrance to the park was set to be changed with a new roundabout provided on the A361.

But when Ashford residents said the plans would ‘triple the size of the village’ the number of caravans proposed was previously reduced from 150 to 116.

Councillors on North Devon Council’s planning committee were recommended to approve the application, but they voted unanimously to reject the scheme.

A report to the committee said: “It is accepted that a proposal to expand the existing Tarka Holiday Park can only be accommodated in a countryside location and this proposal would facilitate further economic development and job creation. Community benefits could include public access to the proposed nature area, as well as any proposal for future community use of the proposed swimming pool.”

Applicants Park Holidays UK said: “This is an important and substantial investment in the local tourism market aimed at setting high modern standards and providing a sustainable future for this holiday park that contributes positively to the local economy.

“This proposal provides a direct economic benefit to the Park and its local area through the provision of improved and upgraded facilities for holidaymakers. The best way to deal with our relatively short tourism season is to encourage the industry to create more all-weather packages, so the sector becomes truly resilient to poor weather throughout the entire year.”

Around 70 new jobs would have been created if the plans were approved, while 300 jobs would have been created during the construction phase, the applicants said.

The proposed entertainment complex included a clubhouse, reception, shop, arcade and entertainment room.

The swimming pool complex would have housed a large 1.2m deep swimming pool, with a separate 0.4m deep ‘Kids Pool’ and a flume.

Recommending approval, officers had said: “The contribution that the provision of improved facilities that will diversify the range and improve the quality of existing tourism accommodation and the associated economic benefits to the local economy through jobs, during both the construction and operational stage, and the tourist spend this will bring carries substantial weight in favour of the proposal.

“The expansion of the holiday park will change the appearance and character of part of the wider landscape setting of the Conservation Area and will therefore have an effect on appreciation of the historic context, but having carefully considered all the material considerations in this case it is concluded, on balance, that the benefits significantly and demonstrably outweigh the adverse impacts.”

However, the committee unanimously refused the plans due to the adverse impact on the landscape, the scale of the development was too great and it would have a negative impact on amenity of local residents.

Holiday park extension refused - Radio Exe
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Monday, 20 August 2018

Brexit: and Totnes' MP calling for a peoples' vote

Here's a little list of what to expect in the event of a no-deal Brexit:
36 things that will happen if Britain crashes out of Europe with no deal | Prospect Magazine

Which is alarming more and more in the county:
Poll: How would you vote in a second EU referendum? | Barnstaple, Bideford and Ilfracombe News - North Devon Gazette | North Devon Gazette
Most South West voters want second Brexit referendum - Devon Live

It has alarmed the MP for Totnes, who has written in the Times today, comparing Brexit with 'major surgery':
Informed consent is essential before Brexit surgery | Comment | The Times

Talk Radio picks up the story:

Sarah Wollaston calls for people's vote on final Brexit deal and compares it to surgery

By James Hingle

Monday, August 20, 2018

A Conservative MP has backed the call for a People’s Vote on the final Brexit deal, as she likens it to having surgery. Sarah Wollaston, MP for Totnes in Devon, has written an article in The Times that calls for the government to allow the people of Britain the chance to vote on the final deal.

In her article, she compares Brexit to surgery, explaining that before surgery you’re informed about all the risks and benefits of it before going through with it. She said: “If you were about to undergo surgery, you would expect to know what the operation involved and to be informed about all the risks and benefits. It’s called informed consent and no decent surgeon would go ahead without it.

Read more: Our Future, Our Choice: 'Undemocratic' to deny UK a second referendum

“Brexit certainly is major surgery with far-reaching consequences and the government is about to proceed without informed consent.

“At the time of the referendum the choice was simply to leave or to remain. The type of Brexit was not on the ballot paper, which is like a surgeon asking their patient to consent to an amputation in two years’ time without either of them knowing whether this would involve a few toes or their whole leg.

“Voters were assured that this would be the easiest deal in history and that the world, including the EU, would be queuing at our door to trade on our terms. There would be cake and we would be eating it, alongside every fish that swam in our waters.”

'Compelling case for a People's Vote'

Negotiations with the EU are still ongoing, but some have argued that a no-deal Brexit could be the end result.

“In the real world, instead of a bespoke deal we are all being marched briskly to the edge of the cliff. No deal and no transition look increasingly likely to be the outcome, and is the preferred option of those MPs who have deliberately and fatally undermined the Chequers plan," wrote Wollaston.

“The surgery looks set to be far more radical than anything set out in the referendum and the side-effects and complications of a hard, walk-away, no-deal Brexit with no transition are very different from the promised targeted surgical excision of just the parts of the EU that the Brexiteers didn’t like. Shouldn’t people have an opportunity to weigh up the risks and benefits before proceeding?

“Once we know the final terms there is not just an opportunity but a duty to set out the unintended consequences as well as the potential benefits. There is a compelling case for that to be followed by a people’s vote: we have to make it clear to government that it should not embark on potentially ruinous surgery without the informed consent of the British people.”

Campaign group The People’s Vote has been pushing for a second referendum on the final Brexit deal. This was boosted on Monday with a record £1million donation made to the group from Superdry co-founder Julian Dunkerton.

Sarah Wollaston calls for people's vote on final Brexit deal and compares it to surgery | talkRADIO

And Devon Live reports:

Why I changed my mind over Brexit - Sarah Wollaston

Voters were conned, says Totnes MP

10 COMMENTS

Keith Rossiter
20 AUG 2018

Voters were misled by deliberate untruths during the EU referendum and must be given a say on the final deal, Devon MP Sarah Wollaston says.

Dr Wollaston, who famously changed her mind during the 2016 campaign, has now become a leading campaigner opposing a “hard” Brexit.

“I was what you might call a soft Eurosceptic,” the Totnes MP said. “A lot of that was about the way the EU treated former Prime Minister David Cameron when he asked for fairly modest changes that would have been in the interests of the EU as well as the UK.

“During the campaign it became clear to me that there would be such huge unintended consequences as a result of us leaving.”

Totnes MP Sarah Wollaston

Dr Wollaston chairs the influential Commons Health Select Committee, and said she was persuaded by evidence from the life sciences industry and from patient groups about the scale of the impact on the health service.

But some voters were taken in by “frankly untrue” advertising by the Leave campaign – most notably the claim that Brexit would deliver a £350 million-a-week dividend to spend on the NHS. The Government has since made it clear that extra NHS spending will have to be paid for through higher taxes.

“I had people in the Leave campaign saying they knew it was wrong but it didn’t matter because using a big number would mean that people would just remember the big number,” Dr Wollaston said. “And the more people disputed it, all that would happen would be that more people would remember the big number.”

Afterwards, surveys showed that the single biggest thing the pubic recalled, it was the £350 million for the NHS, “even though the Leave campaign knew it was false. It was quite deliberate targeting, disinformation from people who should have known better. We now know there won’t be a Brexit dividend for the NHS – there will be a Brexit penalty.”

The EU referendum Leave campaign bus in Cornwall in 2016

The Leave campaign also played on fears of immigration – even after the murder of Yorkshire MP Jo Cox a week before the referendum by Thomas Mair, who had links to right-wing political groups.

“If you look at the targeted Facebook ads sent out immediately after the murder, I think anyone would feel that was distasteful,” Dr Wollaston says. “They were deliberately playing on people’s fears of mass immigration from the Middle East via Turkey.”

One Leave campaign ad suggested that Turkey was about to join the EU with an image showing a large red arrow sweeping across Europe from the Middle East to Britain. Ironically, leading Leave campaigner Boris Johnson has Turkish ancestry and, three months after the referendum, when he was Foreign Secretary, announced that Britain would support Turkey's bid to join the EU – a move opposed by most EU member countries.

“The Trumpification of our politics is very worrying. Playing to people’s fears and whipping those up has consequences. I have seen the impact of a very negative, xenophobic campaign in my surgeries. People from EU countries no longer feel welcome here.

“There is nothing sadder than meeting nurses from EU countries who have worked here for years and they are in tears because they feel no longer welcome. There has been a collapse in applications from EU nurses to work in the NHS.”

Brexit sceptics call for a people's vote

Dr Wollaston is backing a “people’s vote” so the public can give their “informed consent”.

“Everybody knew what ‘In’ meant, but nobody knew what ‘Out’ meant,” she said. “It looks as though we are heading towards the cliff and no deal, which would be the most harmful of all the options.

“It would be a bit like asking someone to consent to an operation two years in advance without them knowing whether they will have two toes removed or their whole leg.

“People have a right to make risky decisions if they feel that the outcome of the surgery is going to be better for them in the long run. That’s an important principle of medicine. But if people don’t know what the actual form of Brexit will be it’s very difficult for them to weigh up all the risks and benefits.

“I don’t think we have anything to fear from a second referendum now. It’s not about blocking Brexit; it’s about saying to people: I think you have the right to give informed consent now that we are very close to the final point and we’ve given a chance for negotiations to take place.

“Polls say there’s a very clear demand from people to have a final say. Everybody has the right to change their minds. Brexiteers have nothing to fear if they are confident of their position.”

She said the parliamentary European Research Group, headed up by hardliner Jacob Rees-Mogg, tabled two amendments specifically aimed at scuppering Theresa May’s so-called Chequers deal, the closest Britain has come to an agreed negotiating position.

“So we are sleepwalking towards the edge of a cliff and we might find ourselves crashing out by accident. It might not be what anyone wants.”

“Unfortunately the promises made during the referendum campaign that we would have bespoke deal look increasingly unlikely.

“There is time to pause once we know what the final terms are and check with the public that we have their consent. This is the biggest constitutional change in my lifetime. It isn’t right that we proceed without informed consent.”

She said it would be anti-democratic not to ask people for informed consent. Voters have the right to say the potential benefits outweigh the risks – or to say, “I don’t feel the benefits outweigh the risks and I would rather stay as we are.”

“Sometimes there’s a view expressed that the 48% who voted Remain should not have any say at all. I hear things like, ‘You lost, get over it’,” Dr Wollaston said. “I don’t agree with that. Everyone should have a say.

“If you take the 48% who voted Remain, and add a significant number of ‘soft’ Leavers who actually wanted to continue to have significant links with the EU. A lot of people talked to me about wanting to be in a single market. They just didn’t want the political union.

“Some people say to me, ‘I voted to get out immediately, get out completely’. I accept that there are some people who would like to see us leave with no transition and no deal, but I don’t believe they are in the majority.”

She said much would depend on what happens at the Labour Party conference in the autumn. “If Jeremy Corbyn backs the people’s vote campaign, there will be a majority in Parliament. Corbyn has managed to present an image to young people that he is on their side. I would like to see him supporting that with his vote.

“There are a great many Conservatives who are opposed to a walk-away Brexit. They need to be prepared to say so in public. Should any Government knowingly lead us into an extended period of economic pain and discomfort without knowing they have the consent of the public?”

The Brexit hardliner and North Somerset MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said last month: “We won’t know the full economic consequences for a very long time. The overwhelming opportunity for Brexit is over the next 50 years.” Dr Wollaston said: “I won’t be around then. We are not talking about a few weeks of turbulence.”

First set of A400M wings, produced by Airbus UK at Filton, being loaded onto the Airbus A300-600ST super transporter aircraft, known as the Beluga, for onward transportation to the A400M final assembly line in Seville, Spain.

She warned that the impact goes beyond the NHS.

“We have all become very used to the fact that we can travel in Europe without worrying about health insurance. If we leave on March 29 next year – particularly if there’s no ongoing cooperation arrangements – people with pre-existing medical conditions will find it much more difficult, and some of them will find themselves uninsurable, as they would be now if they wanted to travel to the United States.”

Big corporations such as Airbus have made it clear that Brexit will have a damaging impact. But small businesses in Dr Wollaston’s constituency – including the region’s many language schools, and the local residents who provide accommodation for European students – also expect to feel the pinch.

Dr Wollaston warned that the South West’s big fishing industry could also suffer, in spite of the enthusiasm among fishermen for being free of the Common Fisheries Policy.

“A significant amount of their exports go to the EU, and if they have long delays at borders that will be harmed. We have already seen the fishermen’s interests traded away in the proposed transition arrangements and there’s a lot of uncertainty about whether that will happen again.”

Fishing boats in Brixham harbour (Image: Keith Rossiter)

“If you look at just the cost of contingency plans for the NHS. We’re already hearing about the need for stockpiling – and that’s for drugs that can be stockpiled. Some need refrigerating to be stored. This is very expensive. The costs of drugs to the NHS will rise significantly.

She said it became clear that the entire NHS supply chain was at risk, and not just for medicines, but for medical devices and products such as blood plasma, which is imported from the EU. Every year 700,000 tests are carried out using radioactive isotopes, none of them made in the UK.

“We don’t make a single drop of insulin for diabetics in Britain. The cost of preparing for Brexit in terms of infrastructure at our borders is enormous. I don’t think at the moment people have been fully informed about the extra costs.

“Two years from now, if we have no deal and people come to my surgery unable to access some medicines they rely on, I want to be able to look them in the eye and tell them I did my best to ensure that we had a people’s vote.”

Dr Wollaston said the Remain campaign did not do enough to promote the positive side of the EU. Many people who remembered war in Europe – like her 83-year-old father – see the benefits of peace the EU has brought to the Continent.

Second World War graves at Higher Cemetery, Exeter (Image: Ed Oldfield)

“Many people are becoming aware of the positive case for Europe – in particular for young people and their ability to travel and work freely, which I think would be a great loss. But we went up against a campaign that was able to draw on many of the tactics used by the Trump campaign that was appealing to people’s fears.

“Some of the Remain campaign material was over the top as well. It allowed them to be written off as ‘project fear’. But I think some of that will turn out to be true if we have a hard Brexit.

“But I get very cross with people who say Leave voters were stupid. You don’t change people’s hearts and minds by telling them they are stupid. People voted the way they did for a variety of reasons.”

“We need to take account of people’s views about the impact of immigration.

“People say to me, ‘We haven’t seen rising unemployment’. But we haven’t left yet. But what we have already seen is the impact on our currency, and people will notice that when they go on holiday. And it got considerably worse this week as fears of a no-deal Brexit rose.”

“People have made a fuss about the EU being unhelpful. But their point would be that if you are 27 remaining members of the club and the 28 decides to leave, it doesn’t place an obligation on you to change your rules.

“The irony of all this is that just as we leave they may change their rules on immigration, which was a key driver of the Leave vote.”

Dr Wollaston said Theresa May was very likely to face a Right-wing challenge to her leadership this autumn, and her parliamentary colleague Dominic Grieve has said he would not remain as a Conservative MP if Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister. But Dr Wollaston said: “There’s not a vacancy.

“The threat to the Prime Minister isn’t from people like me. It has always come from the Right-wingers in the ERG, who are constantly threatening to send their letters in to the 1922 Committee. I’m surprised to hear people saying I’m being disloyal. I’m not at all. It’s really regrettable that they [the Right-wingers in the party] continue to do this. The ERG should stop undermining the prospects of reaching a negotiated settlement.”

Dr Wollaston spoke at last weekend’s rally in Bristol to call for a People's Vote. “I hope people will sign the petition at www.peoples-vote.uk,” she said. “I sense very strongly that the public mood is changing as people see just how much they will lose. A feeling that they weren’t given all the facts. People have a right to change their mind, just as I did.

Why I changed my mind over Brexit - Sarah Wollaston - Devon Live
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Sunday, 22 April 2018

County Council approves NHS Integrated Care System - despite its own scrutiny committee and the public showing overwhelming opposition

Last month, there were real concerns around plans to 'integrate' the County's care and health systems:
Futures Forum: Demonstration at Devon County Council - against NHS Integrated Care System >>> Thursday 22nd March

This was despite assurances from the head of the County's clinical commissioning groups:
Devon health authority moves to ‘bust the myths’ about integrated care systems | Barnstaple, Bideford and Ilfracombe News - North Devon Gazette

However, the County Council's Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee unanimously voted to record the Committee’s concerns over the emerging Devon Integrated Care System until assurances are provided on governance, funding, the future of social care from a democratic perspective:
Councillors put the brakes on health care changes in Devon - Devon Live

The recommendations were put together by independent Cllr Claire Wright who sits on the committee:
Devon’s NHS asked to provide a range of assurances on controversial new integrated care system - Claire Wright

However, by the time the proposals came to the council's cabinet last week, it was clear that they would not be accepted - and that there would be a lot of politics to be had:

Senior councillor apologises for accusing rival over plans to create new health umbrella organisation - Devon Live

And so, the proposals were turned down:
Devon County Council Cabinet rejects own health watchdog’s recommendations on new care system - Claire Wright

DCC cabinet refuses to accept decision of Health and Social Care Scrutiny Committee and rushes in Accountable Care Organisation without checks and balances | East Devon Watch

Here's the report from the weekend's Devon Live:

Devon health campaigners question county’s approval of integrated care system

PUBLISHED: 09:00 19 April 2018

Tony Gussin

Integrated care systems were debated at County Hall in Exeter. Picture: Terry Ife

County councillors have voted to approve closer working between health and social care services.

On Wednesday Devon County Council’s cabinet approved the development of an integrated care system in conjunction with Northern, East and West Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

It said the idea was to bring organisations closer together where appropriate to share services, budgets, staff and resources to provide a better service for Devon residents.

But health campaigners from Save Our Hospital Services Devon have accused the council of ‘a lack of democracy’ after it overturned recommendations from its health scrutiny committee to defer the plans.

The scrutiny committee had concerns over how the new system would be governed, a lack of public consultation and had called for assurances it would not lead to ‘deeper cuts’ to services.

A report to cabinet said the system would be formed of a single integrated strategic commissioner, a number of local care partnerships, a mental health care partnership and shared NHS corporate services.

The CCG had previously told the Gazette that how it works is commissioners and providers of acute hospital and community services, primary care, mental health and social care will work increasingly in partnership to plan, finance and run services.

SOHS campaigners have said they fear it could be the start of an ‘American style’ system but the CCG has said there is ‘no question’ of privatisation.

At the cabinet meeting, Barnstaple county councillor Brian Greenslade said: “The principles of ICS I have not got an issue with, I think that’s the way to go – what I have an issue with is the speed that it’s suddenly appearing on the agenda.”

Sue Matthews of SOHS challenged DCC and the CCG to debate it at a public meeting. She said: “I am appalled at the lack of scrutiny as exercised by this cabinet decision. The CCG are obliged to carry out public consultation before effecting major changes. This rush to adopt an American style of management structure is fraught with dangers and the unwillingness to answer basic questions.”

Previously, Dr Nick Roberts, chief officer at Devon’s two CCGs, had said this was a ‘fully open process in line with national policy’.

He said it was: “Working together to provide a more seamless health and care system, so that patients are not caught up between different organisations, is the best way to deliver modern, sustainable healthcare.”

Devon integrated care system approved | Barnstaple, Bideford and Ilfracombe News - North Devon Gazette
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Wednesday, 4 April 2018

Devolution deals for Devon: further delays and confusion

Back in November last year, the ResPublica think tank said that a unitary authority for Devon would save millions:
Futures Forum: Rethinking devolution > abolish district councils
'Abolish Devon district and borough councils to create super authority', study says - Devon Live

Meanwhile, not all momentum has been lost over the 'devolution deal' otherwise known as 'The Hearth of the South West' - but there are still lots of contradictions, including:

Efforts to devolve powers to the two regions has hit a critical stage in recent weeks after the Government revealed its preference for an elected mayor – and after it emerged that Plymouth, Exeter and Torbay were exploring opportunities to launch a rival bid.

Councils are ‘keeping a foot in the door’ on Devon and Somerset devolution deal | Barnstaple, Bideford and Ilfracombe News - North Devon Gazette
Plymouth's devolution dream is edging closer to reality - Plymouth Herald

And there's yet another parallel plan:
Futures Forum: Greater Exeter Strategic Plan for Exeter, East Devon, Mid Devon and Teignbridge and the plans for new housing >>> CPRE seminar with MP Hugo Swire: Friday 19th January

It's run into difficulties:

The Greater Exeter plan has been delayed

3 APR 2018

Mid Devon, East Devon, Teignbridge and Exeter City Council, in partnership with Devon County Council, are teaming up to create a Greater Exeter Strategic Plan (GESP) which focuses on the creation of jobs and housing until 2040

The purpose of preparing the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan is to have a joined-up vision and aspirations for the area. The local authorities are working together, engaging with stakeholders and communities, to prepare a new joint plan. They are working together to deliver the best possible outcomes for the provision of new homes, jobs and infrastructure for existing and future generations, while also protecting and enhancing the environment.

The GESP will sit above District-level Local and community Neighbourhood Plans, taking a long-term strategic view to ensure important decisions about development and investment are coordinated.

The Greater Exeter plan has been delayed - Devon Live

The East Devon Watch blog is naturally confused:

Owl is STILL having difficulty understanding how the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan (GESP) fits in with the Devon and Somerset Heart of the South West Strategic plan!!! So many strategies, so many plans, so many people being paid to work out how to invent what might, or more likely might not, turn out to be a wheel – though one of them MIGHT just manage to invent a square one!

“The Greater Exeter plan has been delayed” | East Devon Watch
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Wednesday, 21 March 2018

Demonstration at Devon County Council - against NHS Integrated Care System >>> Thursday 22nd March

There have been demonstrations over closing community hospitals:
Futures Forum: Protest rally in Exeter over hospital closures across Devon > further reports

Tomorrow, there will be a demonstration over the integration of health care in Devon:
Our NHS: Demo at DCC HQ Thursday 22 March from mid-day | East Devon Watch

All organised by Save Our Hospital Services in Devon:
SOHS North Devon Save Our Hospital Services

DEVON TO DESCEND ON COUNTY HALL,
Thurs 22nd March at 12.00
DCC are determined to quietly force through their ICS plans PRIOR to Parliamentary Scrutiny, TWO JUDICIAL Reviews and CORNWALL REJECTING the whole idea!

We are opposing the attempt to introduce an ICS by demonstrating at County Hall in Exeter on this Thursday 22nd June at 12 noon, and you may also like to attend
1) The CCG board meeting at 1pm where they will try to press on with plans
2) The Adult Health and Well-being Scrutiny committee at 2.15pm where there are some councillors who plan to approve the ICS
3) Another action will also be taking place on Thursday morning, before the county hall event. This is an independent action not associated with SOHS Devon, but is also designed to put pressure on decision makers who are destroying our NHS. Your presence would be most warmly welcomed. If you would like to join in this action e mail me at johnwardman@hotmail.com

Save Our Hospital Services Devon public group | Facebook

We would all like to see an 'integrated' health service:
Futures Forum: "Put more money into care services to help overflowing hospitals"
Futures Forum: "The loss of community hospital beds was intended to be offset by increasing the capacity of community care... Unfortunately there is not sufficient capacity in the home care services to do this job."
Futures Forum: Care Closer to Home: It's Not Working > new video from Save Our Hospital Services Devon

But nobody seems to understand what's being offered:
New Devon care system agreed even though 'no-one understands it' - Devon Live

Fears for Devon under new ‘integrated care system’

PUBLISHED: 10:35 21 March 2018 | UPDATED: 11:02 21 March 2018

Tony Gussin

Integrated care systems will be debated at County Hall in Exeter. Picture: Terry Ife

A row over a proposed new system of merging health and social care for Devon is set to break out at County Hall tomorrow (Thursday).

An integrated care system (ICS) is supposed to start in the county on April 1, brought in by North, East and West Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (NEW Devon CCG) and Devon County Council. The idea behind it is for the NHS and social care providers to work together to provide better ‘joined up’ health care for patients.

But there are fears for what the new system will mean, with opponents saying there has been no information about ICS – formerly known as accountable care systems (ACSs) – and no public consultation.

Liberal Democrat county councillors have called it in to an emergency meeting of the council’s health scrutiny committee tomorrow after it appeared the DCC cabinet would pass it.

They will put their questions to a CCG representative who will be at the meeting, together with members of Save Our Hospital Services who are travelling to Exeter by coach to add their voices.

Barnstaple county councillor Brian Greenslade said they had been ‘starved of information’ about the plans and there had been no time to properly scrutinise them.

He added: “I am troubled by the way this project appears to being rushed through the council. The principle of integrated health and social care is something that I can endorse. However the way opposition councillors have been starved of information is of concern.”

Nationally there are fears proposed ACOs (accountable care organisations) that hold budgets for a population, could lead to an American style health system or privatisation.

SOHS campaigners fear the same for Devon, with an ICS system being brought in without consultation.

But a statement on the CCG website says it is ‘when organisations work together in a shared way; sharing budgets, staff, resources where appropriate, to best meet people’s needs. ‘What it’s not is a creation of a new organisation or ‘privatisation by the back door’.

Spokesperson Sue Matthews said: “ICSs will still have to operate under the conditions of austerity and cost-cutting, but the public have not been given a clue about their legal structure and obligations, about leadership or about how the funding system might work. From what we do know, it is beginning to look as if they could be run along the lines of a private business, protected from public scrutiny and without the accountability to central government which has been a cornerstone of the NHS.”

Fears for Devon under new ‘integrated care system’ | Barnstaple, Bideford and Ilfracombe News - North Devon Gazette

With comment from Devon County Cllr Claire Wright:

Protest to kick off on Thursday over Devon’s looming shady accountable care system

Monday, 19 March 2018 0 Comments by Claire

Save Our Hospital Services (SOHS) Devon demonstrate their opposition to Devon County Council who are determined to quietly force through NHS England’s Integrated Care System (ICS) plans without Parliamentary Scrutiny, despite two judicial reviews and the neighbouring local council in Cornwall who have rejected the NHS England’s alternative to the unpopular Accountable
Care Systems and Accountable Care Organisations(ACOs) which were seen by health service campaigners as a further budgetary restriction on provision of a consistent level of access to all health service across Devon leading to a post code lottery on patient access to urgently needed medical operations.

The demonstration is scheduled for 12.00 midday at County Hall, Exeter

SOHS Devon are calling for these ICS plans to be fully scrutinised to ensure that the Healthcare of the County is not put into further crisis as seen to reach a peak particularly in A&E in recent weeks.

In an extraordinary move, DCC Health & Adult Care Scrutiny Committee has been forced to allow an urgent item on the agenda about the subject at 2.00pm on Thursday 22nd March at County Hall, Exeter, after a challenge by Councillors to a DCC Cabinet decision to allow the introduction of ICS without any consultation or scrutiny.

SOHS Devon are concerned that the Scrutiny Committee were not aware of the plan to introduce Integrated Care Systems across Devon and have raised 12 questions in a letter to Dr Tim Burke, Chair of the NEW Clinical Commissioning Group and SOHS campaigners will address the Committee at 2.00pm on Thursday raising these same questions which cover governance, accountability, and seek clarity as to how the NHS principle of providing a comprehensive health service for everyone who needs it, free at the point of need, is going to survive
when merged into this cash-strapped, means tested, largely privatised system.

All Devon residents are invited to join under the SOHS banner to demand answers to questions that will impact on everyone’s healthcare in the future.

North Devon campaigners are arranging a coach to join the protest while South, East and mid Devon campaigners are expected to join the protest at 12.00 outside.

Presentations will be made to the Clinical Commissioning Group meeting at 1.00pm and to the DCC Health & Adult Care Scrutiny Committee at 2.00pm as both meetings are being held at County Hall on Thursday.

Protest to kick off on Thursday over Devon’s looming shady accountable care system - Claire Wright.
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