midweekherald.co.uk
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
19
NEWS
‘Bed cuts: first prove
the model will work’
Fears hospital cuts will ‘hit
vulnerable people the hardest’
fuelled a call for all beds to remain
until ‘sufficient evidence’ was
provided, writes Eleanor Pipe.
East Devon District Council’s
(EDDC) scrutiny committee on
Thursday, November 24, lodged
concerns about plans that will see
Honiton lose its inpatient unit and
suggested health bosses were tackling the issue ‘back to front’.
Rob Sainsbury, director of operations for the Northern, Eastern
and Western Devon Clinical
Commissioning Group (CCG),
faced members and argued the
current system was both unaffordable and ‘causing harm to
patients’.
He said there was a ‘huge inequity’ in community hospitals,
which could be redressed by
cutting 54 per cent of the beds in
East Devon, and stressed proposals would not be signed off until
adequate alternative care was in
place.
Councillor Marianne Rixson
said: “We all know that Devon has
been under-funded for years and
no reference has been made to the
fact that this is a retirement
community. A one-size-fits-all
model will not work.”
There was anger expressed over
the fact that Tiverton Hospital is
set to retain its beds because it is
run as a privately financed initiative (PFI) and the contract cannot
be broken.
Cllr Rixson said: “The sums of
money involved in terms of PFI
are robbing the NHS of money.”
Mr Sainsbury admitted
Tiverton was a ‘fixed point’
because of the private finance, but
added: “It’s a very small amount
overall - the PFI in Tiverton will
not fill the £400million debt and
neither will these proposals, but
it’s not just about costs, it’s about
better care for people.”
Cllr Peter Burrows said: “Have
you thought about a pilot scheme
with staff in place in the community to show residents that what
you are proposing is feasible? I
think if your scheme goes ahead,
lives will be put at risk and I
really do worry.”
Mr Sainsbury referred to the
model now operating in North
Devon and stated the extent to
which services had coped had
been significant.
Cllr Andrew Moulding said the
CCG’s bid to plug a predicted
£384million deficit by 2020/21
was ‘aiming savings at vulnerable people’ and argued this
approach was wrong.
Mr Sainsbury said a group of
80 clinicians and patient representatives were needed to sign
off on the proposals and they
would not do so until a stringent
set of tests and safeguards had
been satisfied.
The committee concluded
proposals did not address issues
of social isolation and put
forward a recommendation that
all hospital beds should remain
for the foreseeable future.
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