Health Trust's depressing presentation

This afternoon the cross-party group of councillors, of which I am part, heard a presentation by Jeff James of the NHS Partnership Trust. This was part of their consultation process and an opportunity for us to question not just the proposals but the way the consultation was being conducted.

Many of us have been aware what a dire situation we are in but I have to say it was a deeply depressing experience to be confronted by the seriousness of the Trust to make these cuts - unless alternatives can be found then cuts will go ahead - and alternatives haven't been found....it really is a very bleak situation and not getting any better.

Over 3000 marched, over 7000 letters so far, numerous letters to the press and many people at public meetings across the county - it seems extraordinary that such strong feelings can be dismissed - especially when they are so rooted in commonsense and indeed in many cases economics as well.

It cannot be right to lose our local centres of excellence and expect people to travel such long distances to centralised services. There seems to have been no proper assessment of the cost this will have to patients, carers, relatives and indeed the environment. Councillor after councillor expressed concerns, yet no hope was given.

I have written elsewhere in this blog about how we got to this state of affairs - and it is still my view that a large part of the reason for the problems within the NHS relate to private companies that are bleeding the NHS dry - £3.3 billion profits on PFI schemes alone yet here we are with 'only' a £38 million deficit.

So what now? I think our hope lies in making so much noise that nationally the Government cannot fail to act - the Maternity Hospital has been excellent at doing this - an Observer article yesterday, a Guardian one week ago plus local press while Cheltenham and other County cuts were featured in The Telegraph. I think this, and the noises being made by the public, MPs and all, are having an effect.

We must keep up the pressure: more letters - if you haven't written please do - see 23rd May Blogs for details - Weavers Croft consultation has been extended until 14th July - despite the gloom we still have a chance to save these services.