Help Us Help You South West survey

What do you think about the new ways health and care services and the voluntary and community sector have been helping people in the South West? For example, by offering online and telephone appointments.

You can share your views by completing this questionnaire. It should take 10-15 minutes and will be open until 31 July 2020. A report with the results of the survey will be published on the NHS England, NHS Improvement South West website and participating health and care organisations. You can also receive a copy of this report by providing your email address.

Yate Minor Injury Unit update

Claire Young and the Focus Team have  been pursuing the health authorities for improvements and more services at Yate MIU. Today we received the following from the NHS commissioning team who decide where more services go.

We THINK this is good news, though it is in NHS speak.

"As part of our strategies for urgent care, the implementation of a new BNSSG-wide contract for adult community health services from April, and our development of integrated locality services, we are actively discussing opportunities for further development of hubs, including in Yate"

We will keep you posted. 

South Gloucestershire Tories refuse to call for end to local NHS cuts

South Gloucestershire’s ruling Conservative group have rejected a motion by the opposition Liberal Democrats, calling for an end to planned severe cuts to the local NHS.

Lib Dem Deputy Leader, Cllr Claire Young (Westerleigh), said: “We asked the Council to call on the Government to halt the so-called “Capped Expenditure Process,” which will see our local NHS singled out for extra NHS cuts along with 13 other areas of the country from next year. Instead, the Conservatives introduced a watered-down motion, which stops short of calling for an end to these planned cuts. 

“The Conservatives say that the NHS should tighten its belt and live within its means – but the Health Service has reached a point where it can’t tighten its belt much further without vital services being lost, and it’s patients who will suffer as a result.”

Lib Dem Councillor Linda Boon (Chipping Sodbury) described to the Council her recent experience of cutbacks in the NHS. After waiting months for a cataract operation, she was told that she was no longer eligible, because NHS policy had changed – meaning she will now have to wait until she is almost blind in the affected eye before she will be able to have the surgery.

Claire concluded: “We are hearing of more and more cases like Linda’s. It is not fair of the Conservatives to pass the buck to local NHS managers to make these sorts of cuts. The decision not to invest more in the local NHS is, ultimately, a political choice and it’s Conservative MPs who must be held responsible for that. The Lib Dems believe that income tax should be raised by a penny on the pound to ensure that the NHS has the extra funding it so desperately needs.”

Partial victory in health campaign - but more cuts to come

Your Focus Team welcomes news that local health managers have rowed back on proposals to cut the upper age limit for which women are eligible for IVF treatment on the NHS after protests - but more cuts are to come.

Faced with a growing deficit, NHS chiefs proposed a series of cuts to local health services, including limiting fertility treatment to women between 30 and 35 years of age. They already only fund one treatment, rather than the NICE recommendation of up to 3. They have now decided to keep the age limit for IVF treatment at 40. However they are still proposing that any woman whose partner has a child from a previous relationship will not be eligible for IVF treatment. On top of this, we have been warned that there will be millions in cuts announced after the New Year.

Together with Bristol and North Somerset, South Gloucestershire is one of only 14 areas in the country targeted for extra cuts under the Conservative Government’s Capped Expenditure Process. Many of our NHS services are already being stretched close to breaking point. We are calling for greater investment in the NHS so that health managers can concentrate on how to improve services, not how to cut them. Thank you to everyone who has already signed our petition to protect local NHS funding. If you haven’t already, you can sign it here.

Cuts to local health services

Faced with a growing deficit, NHS chiefs have proposed a series of changes to local health services to cut costs. You can find out more about their plans and how to have your say on their website.

Most controversially, they are proposing to limit fertility treatment to women between 30 and 35 years of age. They already only fund one treatment, rather than the NICE recommendation of up to 3. This would mean that access to fertility treatment was even more limited. Your have until 15th September to have your say on this - some of the other consultations finish as early as next week.

During the recent election, the Liberal Democrats proposed putting an extra 1p in the pound on income tax to increase NHS funding. Across the country, we are seeing the consequences of under funding.

Cutting waiting times by shutting out patients

Your Focus Team was shocked to learn that Sirona, who run the Minor Injuries Unit (MIU) in Yate, are being allowed to shut the doors to new patients when they're busy so they can meet their waiting time targets.

Of course there is no guarantee if you're redirected to A&E that you'll be seen any more quickly there than if you'd been allowed to wait at the MIU. Neither Southmead or the Children's Hospital are easy to get to from Yate, especially when injured. This seems to be about meeting targets, not meeting the needs of patients.

Claire Young is asking for your experiences of being turned away by the Yate MIU during the advertised opening hours. Please fill in our short survey  - the more evidence we have, the better we can speak up for you. We have already heard from a number of disgruntled users, including someone who travelled from Thornbury with two young children, only to be told they would have to go to Bristol Children's Hospital, and another who found the unit closed 2 hours early.

The local dimension - Health and caring

South Gloucestershire has some brilliant and caring health professionals. But  services are still not always as good as they should be. We will work closely with residents and the local NHS to help drive up standards and improve support for carers.

We will:

1. Lobby for greater support and recognition for carers in South Gloucestershire.
2. Foster stronger partnership with your local NHS to help enable better local services.
3. Increase emphasis on helping people to lead healthier lives and doing more to help tackle chronic health problems caused by smoking, alcohol and drugs.
4. Support more work to help to tackle the stigma surrounding mental health.
5. Work in partnership with the police to help tackle anti-social behaviour and create a sense of safety for all.

Our record of action...

We have consistently campaigned for more health services to be provided at Yate, Thornbury and elsewhere so you don’t have to travel to Southmead unnecessarily.

This is an extract from the Liberal Democrat Vision for South Gloucestershire, our manifesto for the 2015 Local Elections.

The NHS and what the parties promise

There's a lot of activity in Yate today concerning the National Health Service. The Labour Party is holding an "NHS Day" at their pop-up shop, and members of the campaign group 38 Degrees are collecting signatures for their campaign "Save Our NHS". This level of interest shows how concerned the public are about the NHS - it's one of this country's unique and most treasured features.

It's worth looking at what the major parties have put in their manifestos about NHS funding. The respected health and social care think tank The King's Fund has looked at the size of the funding challenges facing the NHS and what the various parties are proposing in their manifesto. The latest King's Fund article says that though both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives are promising to fill the projected £8 billion funding gap, "there is a lack of clarity about the Conservative promise, which could amount to a bit more than £8 billion depending on the period the pledge covers. Importantly, with no details on the path the Conservatives will take to reach their promise, there is a worry that the bulk of the increase could come in the later rather than (as needed) earlier years of the next parliament"

Worryingly the Labour Party proposal falls far short of filling the gap (so what are they going to cut in the NHS?) - you can see how much lower the red line is in this graph from the King's Fund article, which is well worth reading in full.

So if you hear the Labour Party talking about being the defenders of the NHS, ask them how they are going to fund the shortfall. And if you hear the Conservatives saying they are matching the Lib Dem pledge, ask them for the details they still haven't provided.

Oh yes, and who came up with the idea to create the NHS in the first place? The Liberal Party. William Beveridge (who was also involved with the introduction of Old Age Pensions) wrote the Beveridge Report for the wartime government, and it was implemented by Atlee's post-war Labour government. See the BBC History website for more details.