Frenchay Hospital campaigners are to ask for South Gloucestershire Council’s support in their efforts to end the latest uncertainty that hangs over a new community hospital.
Plans for Frenchay’s new community hospital – now known as a Health and Social Care Centre – were only agreed last year and envisaged a greater range of services than that proposed in the original Bristol Health Services Plan drawn up by the previous Labour government in 2005.
But a new review of services at Frenchay has recently been jointly launched by the NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust Cluster and the local GP-led Clinical Commissioning Group. The review is due to report in March 2013.
In response to this, a motion has been tabled for debate by the South Gloucestershire Conservative Group at the Full Council meeting on Wednesday 12th December, asking for united and cross-party support for the hospital plans.
Cllr John Godwin (Con, Winterbourne), a former Chairman of the Save Frenchay Hospital Group who worked on the community hospital project group, is putting forward the motion.
He said:
“The future of Frenchay Hospital is an incredibly important and emotive local issue ever since the previous government decided to downgrade our beloved hospital – this latest review is causing a great deal of concern in our community.”
“I fought hard as part of the Frenchay Hospital project group to secure the maximum possible health services to be provided at Frenchay and I’m not about to stop now.”
“Having secured a promise for more services than originally planned in 2005, we really need to end the uncertainty as soon as possible.”
“We want all parties on South Gloucestershire Council to support the Frenchay Health and Social Care Centre as promised to local people and the well-established and comprehensive evidence base that underpins it.”
Text of the Frenchay Hospital motion as tabled by the Conservative Group
This Council:
- Notes previous Council Motions on Frenchay Hospital;
- Notes that we are now 7 years into the implementation phase of the 2005 Bristol Health Services Plan;
- Notes the work streams established by the Frenchay Project Board, including the health needs assessment, whose findings were reported to the Health Overview Scrutiny Committee in 2010, along with the statement: “These emerging themes have a strong coherence and are based on a clear understanding of the needs of the population and the rapidly increasing older population.”
- Welcomes the Coalition Government’s plans to invest more than £12.5 billion per year extra in the NHS by 2014;
- Believes in the importance of the rapid delivery of the community hospital in parallel with the Southmead development to ensure as smooth as possible a transition for patients and surrounding communities;
- Expresses concern about the uncertainty and delay that has been created as a result of the Clinical Commissioning Group cluster re-design project and regrets that this review will not conclude until March 2013;
- Requests that the three Group Leaders write to the South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group to express this Council’s support for the Frenchay Health and Social Care Centre as promised to local people and the well-established and comprehensive evidence base that underpins it.
Source: Conservative Group on South Gloucestershire Council
