Agenda item

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting. 

80.1          Members received an update from the Council’s reserve representative on the Gloucestershire Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee on matters discussed at its last meeting held on 15 January 2019.

80.2          Members were advised that the Committee had been asked to note a petition that had been presented at the Gloucestershire County Council meeting on 28 November 2018 in response to concerns about x-ray services at North Cotswolds Hospital in Moreton-in-Marsh.  The petition related to grave concerns that the NHS acute trust would be reducing radiology services from around 30 hours to eight hours per week which could have significant repercussions for minor injury units involving breaks or fractures which would require making travel arrangements to Cheltenham or Gloucester, should the service be reduced.  The petition sought to maintain the current level of local x-ray services and ensure that the North Cotswold Hospital continued to serve the residents of Moreton-in-Marsh and surrounding villages.  The Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee had debated the petition and it had been agreed that the Committee would write to the Clinical Commissioning Group and Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust requesting restoration of the radiology at North Cotswold Hospital in Moreton-in-Marsh. 

80.3          The Committee had also received a presentation from the 2gether NHS Foundation Trust on emergency mental health care services in Gloucestershire.  Representatives from partner organisations in Kingfisher Treasure Seekers and Swindon and Gloucestershire Mind had been in attendance.  The Committee had noted some of the initiatives emerging from the Gloucestershire Mental Health Crisis Care Continuous Action Plan and had acknowledged the commitment and dedication from organisations participating in the multi-agency partnership and the progress being made.  Attention had been drawn to the publication of the NHS Long Term Plan on 7 January 2019 and the priorities set out by NHS England for healthcare provision over the next 10 years.

80.4          Members were informed that an additional Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be held on 20 February 2019 at the request of the Committee in order to gain a better understanding of the proposal to pilot the reconfiguration of general surgery services across Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and Cheltenham General Hospital.  The second item of business would be in relation to Motion 825 - ‘Protecting Gloucestershire Hospitals’ Walk-In Services which had been debated at the Gloucestershire County Council meeting on 28 November 2018 and had been referred to the Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee for further discussion.  The Council had noted the value that communities placed upon Accident and Emergency Units, both in Gloucester and Cheltenham; the enormous and varied contributions made by the seven minor injury units spread across Gloucestershire; and the great value communities across Gloucestershire placed upon having hospital facilities close by.  It was further noted that all walk-in centres, urgent care centres and minor injury units would be rebranded as Urgent Treatment Centres by the end of 2019 and the Council had resolved to write to the Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group to appeal in the strongest possible terms that none of the services currently on offer to walk-in patients at any of the nine hospitals be removed, and that Cheltenham General Hospital not be further downgraded to an Urgent Treatment Centre from an Accident and Emergency department.

80.5          A Member queried whether the Committee had taken into account that radiology cuts were due to a national staff shortage and not for cost saving purposes.  The Council’s representative confirmed that the Committee was aware of this and would be asking for action to be taken to encourage more radiologists.

80.6          The Chair thanked the Council’s representative for her update and indicated that it would be circulated to the Committee following the meeting.  It was subsequently

RESOLVED          That the Gloucestershire Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee update be NOTED.