York Council set to ignore problems in York hospital A&E department?

Residents and patients, expecting an update on problems at the York Hospital A&E department, will be disappointed when they read the agenda for the Heath Scrutiny committee taking place on 14th January.

With the York hospital performing worse than others in the region in meeting A&E targets recently, residents might have expected the committee – which now has responsibility for providing oversight of NHS issues in the City – to have received an update on the latest position.

York hospital amb

It seems that this will not be the case.

This is all the more surprising  as among the causes identified nationally for the A&E problems are lack of beds.

In turn this is blamed on lack of care in the community places for patients to move to when they can be released from hospital. The York Council bears part of the responsibility for providing such care places.

One report does reveal that the Council is still overspending its Adult Social Care budgets by over £1 million. In the main this is put down to delays in implementing the new care homes project. The Lowfields Care village – as has been reported on many occasions – is running 3 years behind schedule.

The report says, “the performance for delayed transfers of care from hospital is showing a small increase in line with the national trend”

Another report comments on the financial position of the York hospital revealing a surplus of £100,000 in 2013/14 (down on the budget expectation which was £2.4 million).

 The hospitals total budget is around £480 million. The hospital is, however, required to make efficiency savings as revealed in its strategic plan.

Another part of the NHS the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group delivered a £2.12 million surplus last year.

Hopefully the chair of this scrutiny committee will respond to public concerns and ensure that an urgent item is added to the committee agenda.

This will allow an update to be given on the current position at the hospital, the reasons for any failures together with proposals which ensure that standards are achieved in the future.

York hospital resources stretched as….

…….Liberal Democrats publish plan to invest an extra £8 billion a year in NHS

LibDems NHS graphic Jan 2015

Media reports are suggesting that unprecedented numbers of people have visiting A & E departments at the York and Scarborough hospitals over the last 3 weeks, leading to unacceptable delays in treatment.

The hospital has not published any figures for patient numbers and waiting times recently and the Council’s Cabinet member with responsibility for “Health” has offered no comment.

Responsibility for scrutinising the performance of the health service in York now also rests with the York Council but again no statements have been issued and no special meetings scheduled.

Some are claiming that “bed blocking” – discharges from hospitals delayed through lack of spaces in nursing homes – is partly responsible for the crisis.

The hospital management are right to ask people not to misuse A & E services when other options may address their issues.

But more facts about relative demand levels, together with the publication of up to date performance statistics, would help residents understand the problem rather more than they do now.

Liberal Democrats to increase NHS funding by £8bn by 2020

Liberal Democrats have today (Tuesday 6 January) set out plans to safeguard the NHS for the future.

NHS funding will increased by at least £8bn per year in real terms by 2020.

The Liberal Democrats are the first party to present a plan to meet the financial needs of the NHS as set out by Simon Stevens, the Chief Executive of NHS England in his Five Year Forward View.

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To achieve this boost in funding by 2020/21, Liberal Democrats will do three things:
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