Withdrawal of Local Facilities/Sources

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Withdrawal of Local Facilities Sources to 2006

• Mental health patients moved. 22 mental health patients are being moved, following the closure of three wards as part of a cost-cutting exercise. Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust has taken the action to reduce its £1.98m deficit by the end of March. Langley Ward and Belvoir Unit at Glenfield Hospital, plus the nine-bed Grasmere Unit at Rowlatts Hill will all be shut temporarily to save £300,000. The decision has been condemned by campaigners who say that patients should not yet again be bearing the brunt of the NHS financial crisis. Zuffar Haq, chair of the Leciester Patients' Group, said: "This is terrible news for patients. Closing wards is a drastic measure and dramatically affects patients. I know the NHS is in financial crisis but patients always bear the brunt of cuts." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Leicester Mercury 4 January 2007
• Join debate about your hospitals. The future of two Midland casualty departments is to be discussed in public at a 'Big Debate'. Bosses at City Hospital, in Winson Green, and Sandwell Hospital, in West Bromwich, are planning dramatic changes in the next 12 months - from scaling down accident and emergency facilities to closing a children's ward. Two official 'public consultations' are already under way - the first into building a new hospital in Smethwick to replace the two old sites, and the second into cutting back hospital services for the next seven years until the new building is ready to open. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Birmingham Mail 5 January 2007
• Email error 'sign of NHS disarray'. The Department of Health has lost the plot, according to a health campaigner. Mike Gough, who is leading the Save Hinchingbrooke campaign, received an email from the Government department describing Douglas Pattisson as Hinchingbrooke Hospital's chief executive. But Mr Pattisson resigned last September and is now advising the Government on ways of providing better health care in the community. Hinchingbrooke bosses admitted at the beginning of November the £22m treatment centre, opened little more than a year ago, which was designed to increase day surgery at the hospital, was actually plunging finances further into the red. The hospital faces a £93m bill spread over the next 30 years to pay off the building, funded by the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Cambridge Evening News 5 January 2007
• MP praises protest march against health cuts. Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart has lauded residents for taking part in a demonstration against planned hospital closures and told them they must make sure their voices are heard. The Conservative MP made the call after a protest attracted hundreds of people. The New Year's Day demonstration in Beverley was organised to vent fears about a proposed shake-up of health services by the East Riding of Yorkshire Primary Care Trust that could affect facilities at Beverley Westwood Hospital. Other plans include removing all the beds from the region's community hospitals. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of East Riding Mail 5 January 2007
• Elderly in fear after loss of ward. Older people in Ludlow are too scared to visit their doctor for fear of being sent miles from home for treatment, a new document has revealed. The League of Friends of Ludlow Hospital today published a collection of comments made by residents over the loss of services at the town's hospital. One poignant entry reads: "At the age of 71 I am now afraid to go to see my doctor in case I have to go by train elsewhere. No family member cares and my circumstances are not unique. I hope I die quickly from a sudden heart attack and require no NHS support." The Whitcliffe ward at Ludlow Hospital closed shortly before Christmas, despite a long campaign by residents in the town. As part of a public consultation more than 10,000 households in the town were sent a copy of Shropshire County Primary Care Trust's proposals. More than 5,700 replies were received by the friends group and more were sent directly to the PCT. Peter Corfield, friends group chairman, said: "The comments included on the response forms reveal a disturbing and deep-seated lack of public confidence in the management and direction of the NHS both in Shropshire and nationally. The concerns of residents of this rural area, particularly the elderly, are eloquently highlighted in their unedited and spontaneous comments." A spokesman for Age Concern Shropshire Telford & Wrekin said the closure of the ward would have a huge impact on older residents. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Shropshire Star 5 January 2007
• Outrage as school nurses are axed. Headteachers have been left outraged after being told their school nurses were being withdrawn - with just two working days notice. The cuts were revealed earlier this month when Wandsworth Primary Care Trust sent a letter to 16 of the borough's schools - 10 of which are in Battersea - to say that due to a large number of vacancies there would be a temporary closure of the School Nursing Service. The debt-ridden primary care trust will still carry out its statutory requirements for children such as immunisation programmes. It blamed a recruitment crisis for the withdrawal of the nurses, who are widely regarded as being on the front line in fighting issues such as domestic abuse and teenage pregnancy. The trust is currently trying to recruit three school nurses and one nursery nurse so the service can be resumed early next year, but Councillor Kathy Tracey, cabinet member for children, is unimpressed. "It's pretty catastrophic," she said. "We know they had problems with recruiting but it's absolutely bizarre that no notice whatsoever was given and that the schools all seem to be in very deprived areas. All the work we have done to bring children's services together in the last two years is in jeopardy." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Wandsworth Guardian 5 January 2007
• Wards close on Hewitt's doorstep. Leicestershire Primary Care Trust has been forced to close two mental health wards in Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt's constituency due to a deficit of just under £2m. The move, described as temporary, represents a 23% reduction in the beds used for assessing and treating elderly patients with dementia. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Times 8 January 2007
• Mass Lochaber protest over hospital closure. More than 1,000 letters demanding the retention Glencoe Hospital in Lochaber will reach health minister Andy Kerr next week from angry Loch Levenside communities. NHS Highland has endorsed a decision by the Mid-Highland Community Partnership that the hospital should close as no longer "fit for purpose" and services be provided by the Abbeyfield Ballachulish Society at a complex two miles away. However residents argue that the new facilities will not be adequate and they want any alternatives to Glencoe in place before the community hospital's doors shut. They have also expressed anger at what they see as a limited consultation process. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Aberdeen Press & Journal 9 January 2007
• Plea for meeting on ward closure. Campaigners are calling for a public meeting over County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust's decision to close down Bishop Auckland Hospital's Ward Three. A trust spokesman has said that admissions were down due to improved community care, the hospital has 77% of beds occupied, well below the 85% it should do. However locals believe they are receiving "short shrift" from the trust. Wear Valley District Councillor Sam Zair said: "Any plans to close wards and cut services should be put on immediate hold until the people from this community have been given the opportunity to discuss them. As far as we are concerned only a full, open, public meeting will suffice." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of BBC Online 9 January 2007
• Health bosses given hot reception at meeting over Glencoe hospital closure. Villagers laid siege to a luxury hotel, forcing health bosses into a hasty change of plans. More than 200 people packed the Isles of Glencoe Hotel at Ballachulish to the rafters, literally, filling overhead balconies as restaurant tables were hurriedly moved so more people could squeeze into the meeting. It had been planned to discuss "implementation" of NHS Highland proposals, approved in December, to close Glencoe Hospital and bring more care for the elderly into their homes. Loch Leven-side communities have criticised the health partnership's consultation procedure, which they claim has been a sham and is flawed. Under the proposals, yet to be confirmed by Health Minister, Andy Kerr, care beds would be provided at the Abbeyfield Ballachulish Society complex, two miles away. But campaigners insist the board should stand by its pledge that the 12-bed Glencoe Hospital would remain open until alternative facilities are up and running. Rev Kenneth Wigston accused the board of closing the hospital by stealth and said an earlier episode last March when attempts were made at closure because of an alleged shortage of staff had been a "public relations disaster" by the board. "There is no confidence that these proposals to close the hospital are the best for our communities," he said. Another campaigner, Donald Stewart, urged the board to go back to the drawing board, bring the hospital back to a 12-bedded unit and carry out a proper consultation with the communities involved. Mr Coutts promised there would be no closure until the board was confident that alternative services were in place. "If we cannot meet aspirations and get the services provided, then we will have to think again." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Aberdeen Press & Journal 12 January 2007
• Doctor fears for the future of GP surgery in Sutherland. A Doctor who has worked as a locum in the far north for many years fears NHS Highland is trying to slowly amputate a community's GP surgery. The communities of Scourie and Kinlochbervie in Sutherland share a GP practice. The health board has cut the number of days on which surgeries are held at Scourie from four to three by transferring the Tuesday surgery to Kinlochbervie. The move follows a reduction in the number of GPs covering the area. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Aberdeen Press & Journal 12 January 2007
• Anger over NHS chiefs' attitude on birth units. North-east maternity campaigners fear NHS Grampian has already decided not to create a network of birthing centres in Aberdeenshire. They have described a meeting with health chiefs yesterday as bitterly disappointing and now plan to lodge a formal complaint with Health Minister Andy Kerr. Mr Kerr had ordered a review of controversial plans to close the delivery wards at three north-east hospitals - Fraserburgh, Banff and Aboyne - and asked NHS Grampian to produce a report on whether or not there was scope for providing birth units for low-risk mothers "along the lines of those already in place in other parts of rural Scotland". Senior NHS managers met representatives of the Fraserburgh Maternity Action Group (Mag) and members of the public at invitation-only talks. After the two-hour meeting at the local hospital, Mag joint chairman Ian Tait said his group was very unhappy at the outcome. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Aberdeen Press & Journal 12 January 2007
• Hospital beds loss put on ice until April. Proposals to close ten psychiatric beds at Birmingham Children's Hospital were put on ice last night after it emerged the commissioning body was to conduct a review of the trust's plans. Susanna McCorry-Rice, director of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), told the city council's health overview and scrutiny committee hospital bosses will "delay any decision". The West Midlands Specialist Services Agency (WMSSA), which has taken over commissioning the service from the region's 17 primary care trusts, will conduct an independent review next month. This has earned patients and staff a temporary reprieve, as the trust was set to announce its final decision on February 28. Hospital bosses claimed the bed closures were necessary to claw back £800,000 against its £2m shortfall, and conducted two public consultation exercises, after the city's health watchdog ruled the first "inadequate". Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Birmingham Post 12 January 2007
• Have a say on maternity care services. Meetings to discuss the future of maternity services in the Bristol area are being held to give people the chance to have their say. The NHS is reviewing maternity and newborn services in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire to meet the needs of the future. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Bristol Evening Post 12 January 2007
• Now crisis hospital slashes cancer care…but don't worry - it's still got 5-star toilets! Cancer patients will have to go to Peterborough instead of Hinchingbrooke in a shake-up of treatment services. Health chiefs denied the move was a cut to services or a bid to slash Hinchingbrooke Hospital's £29.9m deficit, claiming instead it was designed to meet Government guidelines. Newly diagnosed patients with high-grade lymphoma who would have been sent to Hinchingbrooke will now have to travel more than 20 miles to Peterborough for haematological cancer services. Low-grade treatment will remain at Hinchingbrooke. Hazel Gough, Unison rep for Hinchingbrooke, said the dire financial plight of the hospital might have sped up the decision to merge services with Peterborough. A plan is being formed which would save Hinchingbrooke's A& E but the maternity unit, which is deemed to fall below "efficient" birthing levels, may still be axed. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Cambridge Evening News 12 January 2007
• Respite care unit is under threat again. The future of a respite care home for people with learning disabilities is in doubt - again. Heathfields Respite Centre in Newmarket has previously been saved from closure, but a new consultation process has been started which could see the service transferred to Kedington. However, parents and carers of people with learning disabilities want to see the service, which they regard as a lifeline, continue in Newmarket. Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, which runs Heathfields, has denied it is about to close. But Robert Nesbitt, the trust's director for community engagement, said a consultation process was about to start "to explore how the service can be improved". Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Cambridge Evening News 12 January 2007
• Chance to quiz officials over future of hospital. Residents are urged to attend a public meeting to discuss controversial plans for the town's Westwood Hospital. The meeting has been organised by the recently-formed Beverley Health Action Group (BHAG) as part of its fight to preserve hospital beds and community health services in Beverley. East Riding of Yorkshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) has launched a formal consultation on the future of community services in the East Riding. Parts of the Westwood Hospital site have already been sold for housing and a further 2.84 acres are being advertised for sale. BHAG has already collected more than 1,000 signatures for their petition to safeguard services at the hospital, and attracted hundreds of people to a protest march through Beverley on New Year's Day. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of East Riding Mail 12 January 2007
• Plea for minister to save maternity ward. Councillors are poised to ask Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt to intervene in plans to close Salford's maternity unit. A health and children's joint watchdog rejected a health bosses' decision to cut overnight maternity and children's services from 13 to 8 sites across Greater Manchester, including Hope Hospital in Salford. It says that the Making It Better consultation was flawed, the decision-making process was `misdirected' and the recommendations are not in the best interests of local people. It has referred the decision to the council's Health Scrutiny Committee which is expected to ask Ms Hewitt to review the consultation. The consultation was the biggest in the history of the National Health Service, affecting three million people. It lasted two years and was conducted across the region, triggering an unprecedented 52,000 written responses, as well as petitions signed by thousands, speeches in the Commons and public marches. The council is also considering challenging the plans in court and are currently waiting for legal advice. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Manchester Evening News 12 January 2007
• Blair defends ministers' right to protest against health cuts. Prime Minister Tony Blair has defended ministers' right to protest against health cuts in their constituency. 'MPs who are ministers are perfectly entitled to take part in local consultations,' he told the Commons on January 10, when questioned about Labour chair Hazel Blears's appearance at a demonstration in Salford. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Public Finance 12 January 2007
• 'Job and bed cutter' is new NHS boss. The appointment of a new interim chief executive at Epsom and St Helier NHS University Hospitals Trust has sparked further speculation over its future. Graham Smith took over the position on January 4 after the departure of his predecessor Lorraine Clifton. The former chief executive left the trust after criticism from Surrey health scrutiny committee for planning significant changes without adequate public consultation. Mr Smith has filled the same position for brief periods at various trusts across the country over the past six years. Prior to accepting the job at Epsom and St Helier he was interim chief executive at South Warwickshire General Hospitals NHS Trust from May until September 2006. While there, he was challenged with saving £9m in a year to try and bring down Warwick Hospital's £23m deficit. At the time, the Warwick Courier reported that due to merging wards the medical unit only had four staff looking after 39 patients from midnight onwards. Geoff Martin, head of campaigns at pressure group London Health Emergency, said: "It's like he has been on a national tour. He's been all over the country and seems to go to trusts to cut jobs and beds." Mr Martin urged people to continue putting pressure on the trust to cease cuts and closures. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Sutton Guardian 12 January 2007
• Revealed: the 11 government ministers fighting NHS cuts. Solicitor-general and two of Hewitt's own team have campaigned against closures. At least 13 members of Tony Blair's ministerial team have campaigned over the last few months against closure of services at NHS hospitals used by their constituents, a Guardian survey has revealed. The hitherto unrealised scale of opposition within the government's ranks to the consequences of NHS reform reflects the difficulty Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, faces in selling her policies to the nation. Many Labour backbenchers are also showing their dissent by making campaigns to save accident and emergency departments or maternity services the focus of their constituency activities. John Carvel, social affairs editor Saturday January 13, 2007 Guardian
• The MP, the health secretary, and an unresolved conflict.  Campaign over A&E highlights discrepancy.  Hewitt said to see protests as legitimate response. Throughout last year, Kitty Ussher, an up and coming Labour MP, fought a high profile campaign to save the accident and emergency department at the NHS hospital in her Burnley constituency. It was slated for closure and there were fears among the townspeople that lives could be lost if they had to be taken in an emergency to the hospital in Blackburn. In June, Ms Ussher led local protesters on a delegation to London to plead their case with Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary. It may not have been too difficult for the 35-year-old MP to gain access to the minister. For three years, while Ms Hewitt was trade and industry secretary, Ms Ussher was her special adviser. Before the protesters' bus headed back to Burnley, Ms Hewitt said their presentation had been "amazing". But any decision to open or close a hospital unit is made by local trusts and health authorities. There was nothing Ms Hewitt could do to help her colleague, whose 5,778 parliamentary majority at the last election was not impregnable against the passions roused by loss of cherished NHS facilities. The health secretary could only intervene if local authorities backed a formal complaint. In this case, that required the support of a scrutiny committee of councillors from Lancashire county council and Blackburn with Darwen borough council. If Burnley won the case to keep its A&E, the chances were that Blackburn's rival department would have to close. Since there was no appeal, Ms Hewitt did not have a say in the matter. John Carvel, social affairs editor Saturday January 13, 2007 Guardian
• Health service shake-up defended.  PROPOSALS to transfer seriously-ill patients in Rugby straight to Coventry, and further cuts to bed numbers, have been approved - and defended. Under new recommendations, patients during 'off peak' hours and weekends will be taken straight to the University Hospital for treatment, rather than the Hospital of St. Cross. The plans were put forward by the Coventry and Acute Services Review Board, which has been considering a number of plans affecting hospitals across Warwickshire. Although it means patients would have to wait longer for treatment, Dr. Mark Newbold, managing director for the St. Cross, said it would help Rugby patients access greater care faster. Rugby Advertiser 16 January 2007
• Maternity care row over hospital closures in Blair's back yard. Two big NHS hospitals serving Tony Blair's constituents in south Durham are to be closed after a fierce row over which of them should provide maternity services, it emerged last night. Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, has approved proposals to close the hospitals in Stockton and Hartlepool and build a new state-of-the-art facility for nearly 500,000 people living north of the Tees. The hospitals have a combined turnover of about £186m this year. John Carvel, social affairs editor Friday January 19, 2007 The Guardian
• Hospital protestors lobby parliament. Campaigners fighting to save hospital services in Banbury took their battle to the capital. About 30 opponents of proposals to downgrade the Horton Hospital joined dozens of other protesters from across the country for a lobby of Parliament. The Horton is facing a threat to maternity services, including the closure of its special care baby unit. Emergency surgery could also be reduced, under plans expected to be announced by the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust later this year. The Banbury protesters won the backing of Conservative Party leader and Witney MP David Cameron. Fifty-eight GPs have signed a letter condemning downgrading as unsafe and 46,000 people have signed a protest petition. Banbury MP Tony Baldry said: "We are determined to keep the Horton a general hospital with all the services one expects from a general hospital. Communities up and down the country are not willing to see their NHS hospitals being downgraded." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Banbury Cake 19 January 2007
• Trust to consult on maternity unit plan. Members of the public will have a chance to have their say on a proposal to close a maternity unit at a Derbyshire hospital. The trust that runs the unit, at Whitworth Hospital has proposed its closure as part of cost-cutting measures. Chesterfield Royal Hospital Trust is to consult patients, members of the public and organisations about the plans. It said that it was planning to offer more women the opportunity to have home births or to have their baby at Chesterfield Royal Hospital. The unit, which sees about 120 babies delivered every year, stopped deliveries in September last year after a clinical incident. The trust has stressed that the incident and the consultation are not linked. The unit continues to offer care to pregnant women and new mums, but it is not clear how these services would be affected if the plans go ahead. The consultation document recommends setting up four maternity bases. Their locations have not been decided. If the plans go ahead, staffing in the midwifery service in North Derbyshire would be altered. A new role - maternity care support worker - would be introduced to relieve midwives of routine and administrative tasks. But it would mean that 41 posts instead of 50 would be needed. Beverley Beech, honorary chairwoman of the Association for Improvements in Maternity Services, said that she was appalled by the plans. "I understand that Darley has been earmarked for closure in order to save money - this will not occur," she said. "Salaries make up the major costs in midwifery units and these costs will not be reduced by transferring women to Chesterfield Royal." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Derbyshire Evening Telegraph 19 January 2007
• Beds reopened at community hospital. Campaigners fighting to save services at their community hospital are delighted that more than a dozen beds have been reopened. Suffolk County Council is now using 14 beds at Aldeburgh and District Community Hospital for a short-term solution to ease overcrowding at Ipswich Hospital. The beds had been unused since September. Last year, the local Primary Care Trust (PCT) reduced the number of NHS commissioned beds at the site to 20 and said they would look for an alternative commissioner for 12 beds. However, beds that had been paid for by fundraisers were left empty and had to be put away. Jean Flick, chairman of the hospital's League of Friends, said: "We were over the moon when we told the beds would be needed. We had been fighting for this and all the beds had been bought by the League of Friends. Hopefully now that they are open, we shall push to keep them open. Staff morale is much, much better and people feel more stable." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of East Anglian Daily Times 19 January 2007
• Patient care warning over GP cuts. Patients could be put at risk because of "drastic" cuts to the out-of-hours GP service across Norfolk and Waveney, it was claimed last night. The number of bases manned between midnight and 8am is set to be reduced from 11 to 6 - in a bid to meet cost-cutting demands from cash-strapped primary care trusts (PCTs), which buy the services. GPs fear the "swingeing" cuts will mean some sick people in rural areas will face a journey of an hour or more to get medical care. And a Norfolk MP claimed the move was "robbing Peter to pay Paul" - and would lead to a steep rise in emergency admissions to hospitals. In the area covered by Norfolk PCT, the bases will be reduced from eight to four during the eight-hour spell. And Anglian Medical Care (AMC), which runs the out-of-hours service on both patches, is proposing a reduction from three to two bases between midnight and 8am in Yarmouth and Waveney PCT. A decision is expected to be made soon. AMC said it had been forced to take action to "comply with the PCTs' reduction in funding". But Dr Peter Harvey, a GP at Holt Medical Practice and a member of the local medical council, said: "The changes are wholly inappropriate and drastic, and likely to put patients at risk. The cuts are swingeing. I dread to think what will happen. AMC is not the villain of the piece - Norfolk PCT is." Dr Nick Morton, assistant medical director of the East of England Ambulance Service, of which AMC is a subsidiary, said: "We are having to work out how to provide the safest achievable service to all our patients within the finances given. Norfolk PCT is in dire straits and trying to save £50m, so pressure is being put on all its commissioned services, including the out-of-hours GPs." The out-of-hours service is in the process of being put out to tender, which could spark a fierce bidding war that may see the service taken on by a private provider. AMC admitted it had made the changes "partly" in a bid to avoid losing the contract. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Eastern Daily Press 19 January 2007
• A&E review is planned. Health chiefs have agreed to review accident and emergency services across Worcestershire, including the minor injuries unit at Kidderminster. The review is expected to take into account "interesting ideas" put forward by Wyre Forest MP Dr Richard Taylor. It follows calls to restore a doctor service at the unit in Kidderminster to help save thousands of patients from making a 40-mile round trip to Worcester. Worcestershire Primary Care Trust chief executive Paul Bates today said: "The trust is under pressure to make sure it reaches the 98% target of people who attend A& E being seen within four hours. With that in mind we will be carrying out a wide-ranging review of A& E, including the minor injuries unit, and how out-of-hours GP services operate. This is not about restoring accident and emergency at Kidderminster. We are planning to review the way we are operating." Members of the trust yesterday met to hear calls for a doctor to be restored to the minor injuries casualty unit at Kidderminster. Health campaigners from Worcestershire yesterday descended on London to join a mass rally against Government plans to close or downgrade hospitals. The group turned up at Westminster to support people protesting against hospitals suffering a similar fate to Kidderminster. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of West Midlands Express & Star 19 January 2007
• Childbirth trust backs maternity units fight. A Lifeline service for pregnant women and young mothers has thrown its weight behind an ongoing battle to safeguard rural maternity units across the north-east of Scotland. The National Childbirth Trust (NCT) argues that closing the under-threat delivery services at Aboyne, Banff and Fraserburgh will not create great savings for the NHS. Its local members believe shutting the wards will only lead to greater pressure on remaining maternity services and many mothers and babies not getting the care and attention they need. Members of the trust's local branch welcomed Health Minister Andy Kerr's call for NHS Grampian to review its plans for the future of local maternity services. A spokeswoman said last night: "We want all women to have access to a place of birth run by midwives outside consultant-led acute hospital units, and it has become clear that in Aberdeenshire financial pressures in the NHS now mean that some well-established birth centres are under threat. The health service often overestimates the cost of midwife-led birth centres. The NCT believes that closing these centres will not produce savings to the NHS as the major cost in providing maternity care is the cost of midwives' salaries. This is estimated to cost around 85% of the cost of the service, and midwives are needed to provide one-to-one care whether the woman uses a birth centre or a hospital unit." The trust also argues that local units are more personal and less frightening to new mums, as well as being more convenient and easier to access. Following a public consultation, Aberdeenshire Community Health Partnership, which is responsible for organising and providing NHS services in the area, recommended the closure of the Fraserburgh, Aboyne and Banff maternity units. Its scheme, which involves keeping open the delivery ward at Peterhead Hospital, but setting it targets, was backed by the NHS Grampian board in April. But Mr Kerr has refused to endorse the controversial proposals and sent them back to the drawing board. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Aberdeen Press & Journal 20 January 2007
• Health row. Western Isles NHS Board faced the wrath of an island community after its health centre was controversially shut without notice. The board refuses to spend cash to upgrade the Scalpay surgery and islanders have been told to travel to Tarbert to see a doctor instead. But angry islanders are fighting to retain their local health centre, highlighting the large number of elderly people and the poor bus service. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Aberdeen Press & Journal 20 January 2007
• Blair said hospital 'would not close'. A hospital looks doomed despite a pre-election promise from the Prime Minister that there was "no question" of it being shut down. A review of health services in Teesside has recommended that two hospitals in Hartlepool and Stockton should be replaced with a single "super-hospital". The proposal, backed by the Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has caused anger in Hartlepool, where a campaign has been running since rumours surfaced that the town's hospital could close. Hartlepool Hospital was a key issue during the campaigning in the 2004 by-election, called when Peter Mandelson stepped down as local MP to take up a role as European Union Commissioner. In an interview with the Hartlepool Mail on Sept 9 2004, Tony Blair said: "There is no question of the hospital closing or being run down. We are there to improve it and not run it down." The then health secretary John Reid also backed Hartlepool Hospital to remain open. Iain Wright retained the seat for the party, with the Liberal Democrat's Jody Dunn 2,000 votes behind. He held the seat, with an increased majority, at the 2005 general election. Now a local review has recommended that services should be provided by one hospital, accessible to people across North Teesside and South Durham, including patients living in the Prime Minister's Sedgefield constituency. The new hospital could be built within four years. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Telegraph 20 January 2007
• Pledge to keep hospital cuts to minimum. NHS chiefs have announced plans to privatise some medical services at the Royal Bolton Hospital in a move that would axe £3.7 million from the hospital's budget and lead to up to 130 job losses. The majority of outpatient appointments for ear, nose and throat, urology, gynaecology, general surgery and orthopaedics would be handled by a new range of clinics to be set up away from the hospital. Around 90 per cent of GP referrals would be involved and the changes would affect clinical staff, including doctors and nurses. Bolton's Primary Care Trust said it was already working with the hospital to minimise the impact of the proposals. The change is happening across Greater Manchester and the new clinics - Integrated Clinical Assessment and Treatment Service (ICAT) centres - should be up and running by the end of the year. It is not yet known where the new clinics will be sited or how they will be staffed. David Fillingham, chief executive of the Royal Bolton Hospital, said: "I certainly support delivering health services in a new and better way and I think we've built up a good track record in the last two years and are real leaders in innovation. But I'm worried because the hospital isn't being allowed to compete with ICATs." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Bolton News 22 January 2007
• Maternity transfers would cost lives, MP Jamie tells Commons. Downgrading maternity services could dramatically cut ambulance response times and ultimately put lives at risk, an MP has claimed. Copeland's Jamie Reed believes time spent transferring mothers from Whitehaven to Carlisle will leave gaps in ambulance coverage for other emergencies. His comments, in the House of Commons, add a new twist to the debate surrounding maternity care. Downgrading the obstetric ward at Whitehaven's West Cumberland Hospital is one of the options currently being looked at by health chiefs. If agreed, all specialists will be moved to Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary and a dedicated midwife-led birthing unit, similar to the one in Penrith, would replace it. This option would result in west Cumbrian mums having to travel many miles to Carlisle, during labour, if they needed a consultant. The alternative is to maintain maternity and obstetric units at both of the hospitals, though each would require major modernisation. Jamie Reed, MP, believes about 1,000 births at Whitehaven need some kind of consultant intervention. He argues that, if this were the norm, 1,000 ambulance trips could have to travel the 42 mile distance between the two sites every year. Mr Reed believes any downgrading of services would go against the government's new choice policy, as he does not believe many mums would choose to give birth without consultant support. He added that although merging the maternity units would not be down to cost, extra cost would be incurred as additional ambulances would be needed. Mr Reed does not believe the difference in numbers of births at the two sites justifies the need for centralisation. Last month a 10,000-strong petition was handed to the government demanding it retain a consultant-led maternity service in Whitehaven. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of North West News & Star 22 January 2007
• Nursing home may replace hospital. Campaigners against NHS cuts are welcoming multi-million pound plans to knock down a seaside hospital and build a private nursing home on the site. Under the proposals by Hornsea GPs, Hornsea Cottage Hospital would be flattened and a new home with between 50 and 80 beds, including between eight and 12 NHS beds, built in its place. Lib Dem councillor Polly Worsdale, who has fought to save Hornsea Cottage Hospital, said she was thrilled. "I have said all along that we need a nursing home in Hornsea and I would certainly support a plan for a nursing home on the current hospital site as long as there was an adequate number of NHS-funded beds," she said. Coun Worsdale admitted there are many unanswered questions about the development, which comes at a time when hundreds of residents have taken to the streets to march against the proposed closure of NHS beds at all four community hospitals in the area. There are questions over whether NHS nurses or private nurses will provide the care and what provision will be made for residents between the hospital's closing and the opening of new facilities. East Riding of Yorkshire PCT is consulting on proposals to axe beds at community hospitals at Hornsea, Beverley, Withernsea and Driffield. The PCT could not speculate on the outcome of the consultation but would work with independent sector care home providers to develop partnerships to try to secure beds in the same locations as existing community hospitals. "This is not about privatisation; these would be NHS fully funded beds." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Yorkshire Evening Post 22 January 2007
• Angry islanders force health board to reopen Scalpay health centre. Western Isles NHS Board has been forced to find a way to reopen Scalpay's health centre after its closure without consultation infuriated islanders. The trust has admitted to residents that it had approved the decision to close while being unaware of the dilapidated condition of the building. The district's three GPs admit they should have raised the issue of the centre's deteriorating condition earlier but are now refusing to work there, saying they could be in breach of General Medical Council guidelines. Renovating and reopening the clinic will cost the health board tens of thousands of pounds it can ill afford and residents have been told that, due to a new bridge to neighbouring Harris, they can visit a GP in Tarbert. However residents have countered saying the bridge was meant to strengthen the community, not facilitate the removal of services. Over 80 islanders, almost a quarter of Scalpay's population, attended a public meeting over the issue on Friday night. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Aberdeen Press & Journal 23 January 2007
• Mental health care cutbacks debated. Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust is to run public meetings on controversial plans to shut hospital beds for adults with mental health problems. The plans - to shut the 30-bed Herrick Ward at Leicester's General Hospital and close 16 beds on Stanford Ward - are designed to save £1.2m a year. The Trust said: "If these savings are not achieved through the proposal, it would be necessary to achieve equivalent savings through changes in some other parts of the trust's services." However critics have accused managers of making cuts at the expense of those with mental health problems. The first public meetings will be held in the Brandon Unit, at the General Hospital, at 6pm on January 30. The second will be in Loughborough on February 5. Consultation ends on March 9 and a decision will be taken by the trust board on March 22. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Leicester Mercury 23 January 2007
• Is the NHS fit for purpose in a modern Britain? In a letter to the Times Jacky Davis writes: "It is true that some patients will do better if taken "past their local hospital to a specialist centre" but the numbers are relatively small. This fact should not be extrapolated to justify the closure of many local accident and emergency departments. We have no idea how many patients, requiring emergency care but not needing a specialist centre, will die because their local emergency services have been closed down. Yes, by all means take heart attack and stroke victims to a specialist centre but do not compromise the treatment of the vast majority of acutely ill patients who do not need a specialist centre but do need rapid access to a local A& E department." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Times 24 January 2007
• Boycott call over closure of Lochaber hospital. Residents enraged at plans to close the twelve bed Glencoe Hospital have been urged to boycott NHS workshops due to what has been seen as improper consultation over the move. NHS Highland said the hospital was no longer "fit for purpose" and has agreed with Abbeyfield Ballachulish Society for 24 beds to provided at its complex two miles away. However residents of the surrounding area say that none of their questions have been answered and five community councils have urged the boycott of workshops planned to discuss the implementation of the plans. A spokesman for the residents said yesterday: "We have not been properly consulted and so we are not recommending that any of our residents attend the workshops. We are worried that if they close the hospital and then find the proposals are unworkable then we would have nothing in south Lochaber." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Aberdeen Press & Journal 25 January 2007
• "We want the truth on hospital plans." Civic leaders are urging health bosses to be honest about plans for Alfred Bean Hospital in Driffield ahead of two public meetings to discuss the proposals. Officials at East Riding of Yorkshire NHS Primary Care Trust (PCT) have been accused of hiding the truth over plans for the area's community hospitals. East Riding councillor Felicity Temple, from Driffield, said: "I urge the PCT to be open and transparent in its consultations with the public. Its future commissioning strategy for community health services is not written in simple terms and is disingenuous in disguising the truth of what they are proposing. We want the truth before any decisions are made and residents must be fully involved in the process." The PCT has been criticised for holding its consultation at North Bridlington Library, well away from the town centre and not on local transport routes. Campaigners and local councillors are organising their own meeting on Tuesday at 7:30pm at the Community Centre, Mill Street. Cllr Temple said: "The PCT's aim is to treat patients closer to their homes, yet it is considering investing heavily in two hospitals on the periphery of the East Riding and closing everything in between. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of East Riding Mail 25 January 2007
• Backing for bed cuts plan. Norfolk Primary Care Trust has passed controversial plans to cut the number of community hospital beds in the area after a surprise vote of public confidence at a meeting to discuss the proposals. The plans include the loss of up to 70 beds as private "supported beds" and more community care are used, as well as the setting up of a 30 to 40 bed specialist rehabilitation unit for stroke victims. The trust was keen to point out that the changes have nothing to do with the £48m deficit the trust is carrying. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Eastern Daily Press 25 January 2007
• Hewitt rejects council's block on closure of mental health clinic. Health secretary Patricia Hewitt has overruled objections from local councils and agreed to the closure of a south London emergency clinic for people with mental health problems. Lambeth and Southwark councils referred the matter to the secretary of state when they did not agree with local NHS proposals to reconfigure mental health crisis services. South London and Maudsley foundation trust's proposals included closing the emergency clinic at the Maudsley Hospital. The clinic is the only 24-hour self-referral service of its kind in the UK and has been open since the 1950s. Lambeth and Southwark councils formed a joint health scrutiny committee which concluded that the changes were not in the interests of the local health service and that the matter could not be resolved locally. But in a letter to the committee, Ms Hewitt said that closing the clinic was 'in line with the mental health national service framework and other departmental policy, and therefore in the interests of the local health service'. Committee chair Angie Meader said: 'I think she's been very selective in the points we've raised that she's responded to. She's not looking at the whole - she's just looking at the words on paper rather than the reality of patients. When you lose one thing, it doesn't mean other things get better. It just means services are diminished.' Lambeth council's legal department will now 'read the small print of the Local Government Act' to see if there are any future areas of action. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Health Service Journal 25 January 2007
• Forward to an NHS disaster? Four hospitals could close in Wiltshire as part of the area's biggest health shake-up in years in a move hailed by Wiltshire PCT as bringing the NHS into the 21st century. The plans, which involve replacing the lost beds with 24-hour neighbourhood healthcare teams, will also see the closure of maternity units and mental health hospitals as health chiefs try to stay within budget. Community hospitals in Trowbridge, Devizes, Westbury and Melksham would close under the plans, following the already closed hospitals in Bradford-on-Avon and Malmesbury. The cuts would bring £15.7 million in to PCT accounts, but it said yesterday it would invest £13.7m of that in upgrading the surviving facilities. The PCT's one major U-turn, the retention of beds in Warminster, was not enough to satisfy West Wiltshire MP Dr Andrew Murrison. "I regard this as a complete disaster for health care in West Wiltshire," he said. "There is no mention of the promised new generation community hospital and all we have is a programme of wholesale closure. It is difficult to see how the plans the PCT has announced will do anything but damage service provision to my constituents." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Western Daily Press 25 January 2007
• Nurse steps in over axed blood tests. Nurse Pat Brady is launching her own blood test clinics - weeks after being made redundant by the NHS. Mrs Brady was the only member of staff forced out of a job when Coventry Teaching Primary Care Trust controversially decided to scrap its community blood test service. Mrs Brady said: "I came up with the idea when I was talking to an elderly lady a few weeks ago and she told me she had been to the new hospital and the trip had cost her £25 in a taxi. I thought starting my own service out in the community could help people like her." Mrs Brady said she and many of her colleagues had been sad to hear the service was being scrapped. But she believes the decision will become such an extra burden on the hospitals and cause so many complaints that the service will be reintroduced in the future. About 500 people are protesting about cuts to the blood test service in Cheylesmore. The clinics were cut back as part of a bid by the PCT to save £10.5m. From next week, people will have to attend either University Hospital, Walsgrave, for blood tests, or a unit on the Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital site, in the city centre. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Coventry Evening Telegraph 26 January 2007
• Midwifery bid sparks appeal. Hospital bosses have launched a public consultation on proposals to reform midwife services in north Derbyshire - to meet Government cutbacks in NHS funding. Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is inviting comments on three main changes suggested to community midwifery. The changes focus on ante-natal provision, births and midwifery care and come as part of plans to reduce the running costs of the Royal by 10% by 2008/ 09 after the Department of Health decided to reduce its spending on NHS services. The reduction in Government spending on NHS services means that the hospital's income will be less than expected for at least two more years and has already resulted in job cuts to try to reduce staffing costs. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Derbyshire Times 26 January 2007
• Another ward shuts in drive for efficiency. Winchester hospital chiefs have announced the latest ward closure in an attempt to cut costs and balance the books. Under its financial recovery plan, Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare Trust, which runs the Royal Hampshire County Hospital and Andover War Memorial Hospital, needs to save £11.2m by April. The cash-strapped trust is proposing to cut 125 beds, equal to four whole wards, as well as shed 310 jobs within three years. Two wards at the RHCH have closed since last October, plus five beds in family services. Now the plan is to close a further 21 beds by May. Clarke Ward, including six coronary beds will close, but four high dependency beds will transfer to a high care cardiac bay in the intensive care unit. Hospital managers say up to six beds on Clarke Ward will be kept as "contingency beds" to be re-opened during busy times. Other wards are also being reorganised, including Clifton ward and the stroke unit The financial recovery plan hinges on selling off NHS property, including The Mount Hospital in Eastleigh. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Hampshire News 26 January 2007
• £7.4m for surgery, but K&C is at risk. A new £7.4 million clinic could threaten the future of Kent and Canterbury Hospital. Plans are afoot to create the new facility which will provide a GP surgery, outpatient clinic and day surgery, and on-site diagnostics including X-ray, ultrasound, MRI and CAT scan facilities. If it goes ahead it would be built as a partnership between Whitstable Medical Practice and a private company which would contribute more than £5 million. The chairman of Concern for Health in East Kent David Shortt believes the new surgery could spell the end for Kent and Canterbury Hospital. He said: "The system is now based on payment by results which effectively means payment by activity. If procedures are taken away from the hospital, it will receive less money and eventually a point will be reached where the hospital will no longer be financially viable. We must also take into account that with the 'choose and book' system, whereby patients can pick where they want to be treated, patients might receive a gentle shove in the direction of the new surgical facility in Whitstable." Bunny La Roche of the Keep Our NHS Public campaign is disgusted by the possibility. She said: "If the scheme is allowed to get off the ground it will destabilise local NHS provision. Because of 'payment by results' the money follows the patient. Facilities like this will undermine current services. We don't want an NHS dominated by for-profit organisations. We want a universal and comprehensive system free at the point of use." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of icKent 26 January 2007
• Blears stays clear of Hope demo. Hazel Blears chose not to repeat her controversial picket outside Hope Hospital's under-threat maternity unit. Health union Unison held a day of action on the theme `NHS Cuts - it's Bananas' with demonstrations across the region. One of the largest was at Royal Bolton Hospital, with staff protesting over cuts to maternity services, privatisation of NHS services and threatened job cuts. Hospital staff carried out a leafleting blitz during their lunch hour, with union officials leafleting commuters at Manchester Piccadilly. Stephanie Thomas, of Unison, said: "Members across the region are fed up. They are facing job cuts because the government is privatising NHS work, and services like maternity units are being cut. Several branches are looking at industrial action." More than 100 demonstrators gathered outside the Royal Bolton to protest about plans to transfer 90% of tests in ear nose and throat, urology, gynaecology, general surgery and orthopaedics to private centres across Greater Manchester. Each of the region's hospital trusts is to lose an average of £5m, putting doctors' and nurses' jobs at risk, in a move regional health bosses claim will cut waiting times. Bolton Hospital bosses predict they will lose about £3.7m a year in income and up to 130 jobs. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Manchester Evening News 26 January 2007
• Objectors plan bed-cut protests. Campaigners fighting possible bed cuts at hospitals across the East Riding are set to deliver an emphatic rejection of the latest proposals for change. The East Riding Primary Care Trust (PCT) has tabled a radical shake-up of services that could lead to bed cuts and reduced admissions at hospitals in Beverley, Bridlington, Driffield, Goole, Hornsea and Withernsea. The trust, which owns the hospitals at Hornsea and Driffield and runs some services at the others, wants to reduce hospital capacity and transfer care into the community. It says the overhaul will see between £7m and £8m invested in community care services over the next two years. In its public consultation document, to be debated in a public meeting, the trust says: "The aim is to deliver new models of care which will treat a greater proportion of patients closer to home, giving them greater independence as well as better health." But opponents say it will reduce their hospitals to little more than "walk-in clinics" and are demanding the safeguarding of existing services. Residents of Beverley, Hornsea and Withernsea will air their views at the public meeting, hosted by the trust, tomorrow. Joan Heathershaw, secretary of the Hornsea Cottage Hospital Campaign Committee, said: "We intend to give a firm 'No' to the proposals for care in the community. We don't accept the proposals or any of the options put to us at this time. One of the suggestions could see people in Hornsea having to travel to Goole or Beverley for a hospital appointment. We don't have very good public transport and there are no 'A' roads around here so that's just not acceptable. We want NHS beds in an NHS hospital, like we have now." The trust has run into strident opposition across the region as it attempts to sell its plans. Last week Driffield town councillor Brent Roach appeared outside its headquarters in an old hospital bed to highlight what was at stake in a rally that attracted hundreds of protesters. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Yorkshire Post 26 January 2007
• Elderly 'content to travel further for care'. The elderly will benefit under NHS reorganisation despite having to travel longer distances for treatment, the Government's "older people's tsar" claims. Professor Ian Philp believes older people will become the "biggest beneficiaries" of the push to remove services from local hospitals and concentrate them instead in a smaller number of specialist centres. In a report, Professor Philp, appointed as national director for older people's services in 2000, will argue that the elderly are content to travel further for treatment at specialist centres because they are "much happier when they know they are being treated by experienced clinicians". However, Geoff Martin, the director of campaigns for the pressure group Health Emergency, said: "Older people are among the most vociferous opponents of the idea of remote super-centres located on a central site. A lot of them don't drive, public transport can be an issue and it is difficult for their families and friends to visit." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Telegraph 28 January 2007
• Delight as three maternity units saved. The future of three closure-threatened North-east maternity units is to be settled at a meeting. The chairman of NHS Grampian Jim Royan will meet with Lib Dem health minister Andy Kerr. They are expected to confirm that the three units at Aboyne, Banff and Fraserburgh will stay open. An official announcement is expected soon, stating they will be transformed into birthing units. The units had been lined up for closure by Grampian NHS bosses to make savings. But a huge campaign by mothers and North-east MSPs persuaded health minister Mr Kerr to ask the health board to rethink its plans. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Aberdeen Press & Journal 29 January 2007
• MOMS step up battle over maternity unit. Campaigners fighting to save a maternity unit have formed an action group and launched a petition. They are trying to save birth, ante-natal and post-natal services at the Darley Maternity Unit, at Whitworth Hospital. Chesterfield Royal Hospital Trust, which runs the unit, is consulting on plans to stop offering deliveries there. This follows a review which found that annual investment of more than £300,000 was needed to run the unit safely. It has already closed its birth services after a clinical incident last year but continues to offer other maternity facilities. The trust has refused to reveal details about the incident but has stressed that the decision to consult on possible closure of the unit was not connected. If the unit closes, women will be offered a choice between giving birth at home or at Chesterfield Royal. Sarah Walker is one of the parents behind the action group - its website is at www.momscampaign.com - which has so far collected 150 signatures on its petition. Fathers are also getting involved in the Maintain Our Maternity Services (MOMS) campaign. The group is also worried by recommendations to set up four maternity bases where mums-to-be would go for ante-natal care instead of seeing a midwife at a local GP's surgery. The location of these centres has yet to be decided but the Darley unit could be one. Mrs Walker, 30, said this would mean pregnant women would have to travel further. Trust chief executive Eric Morton said the priority was to provide safe care for mothers and babies in north Derbyshire. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Derby Evening Telegraph 29 January 2007
• Hundreds turn out at meeting to protest against health cuts. More than 300 objectors gathered for a renewed protest against looming NHS cuts across the East Riding - which an MP said had left the public "overwhelmingly unconvinced" about the changes. The East Riding Primary Care Trust is at the centre of a row over a shake-up of services that could lead to bed cuts and fewer admissions at hospitals in Beverley, Bridlington, Driffield, Goole, Hornsea and Withernsea. The trust, which owns the hospitals at Hornsea and Driffield and runs some services at the others, wants to reduce hospital capacity and spend more on community care. It says the overhaul will see £7m to £8m invested in community care services over the next two years. The public consultation document led objectors to turn out in force to a public meeting. The trust claims the changes will allow more patients to be treated nearer home. But Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart said after the meeting: "I think it was fair to say they were overwhelmingly unconvinced. It shows how much the Trust understands people's access problems when the only consultation is held at a hotel which is a three-hour public transport journey from Withernsea. There was a lot of anger and feeling that a trust, which is not locally elected or accountable, was just going through the motions. The trouble with the proposals is they are half cocked, and for them to work would need a big increase in private home places - none of which are yet earmarked. The fear is patients will be sent to Goole or Bridlington for treatment." The protesters say the changes will reduce their hospitals to walk-in clinics and want to keep existing services. Joan Heathershaw, secretary of the Hornsea Cottage Hospital Campaign Committee, said the aim of the big turnout was to show the public's rejection of the plans. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Yorkshire Post 29 January 2007
• Delays will get even worse… In the first days after blood testing services have been moved from 14 neighbourhood clinics to two Coventry Hospitals, patients have been waiting up to 90 minutes for tests and hospital staff are warning of impending chaos as queues build up. Supervising Nurse Jayne Moore admitted on Friday that the Coventry and Warwick phlebotomy clinic was almost chaotic. "Our numbers are going up here but we're not getting any extra staff - we had an awful time last week and I can only see it getting worse," she said. "We will cope with it because we have no choice, but we'll end up getting complaints because people will have to wait longer." Pathology services manager Carl Holland said: "The two sites are already doing about 900 patients a day between them, but now we're expecting an extra 850 a week." Spokesman for Coventry Teaching PCT Simon Dudman said: "It is regrettable that changes to this service will be inconvenient to a small number of patients. The NHS has a duty to prioritise services for those with the greatest health need within the financial resources available." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Coventry Evening Telegraph 30 January 2007
• Clinic closure "would affect 30,000." Dr Faye Wilson, medical director of the NHS Walk-in Centre at Boots, in Birmingham High Street, has claimed that over 30,000 people will be affected if the centre closes due to the NHS cash crisis. She also said the move would hamper the city's attempts to bring down abortion rates. "We must be one of the biggest providers in the city for emergency contraception at a time when abortion rates in Birmingham are not coming down," said Dr Wilson. Dr Wilson, who works for the Badger consortium, said that the government had dropped the centre after pushing the idea in 2000. The Department of Health has now withdrawn funding, which makes up four fifths of the centre's budget, leaving cash strapped local primary care trusts to foot the whole bill from the centre, the future of which is now being reviewed by local primary care trusts. Dr Sandy Bradbrook, chief executive of Heart of Birmingham Primary Care Trust, said: "This review is necessary partly because of an expected reduction in funding from the Department of Health, but it also provides us with an opportunity to link the walk-in facility more closely with other health services." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Birmingham Mail 2 February 2007
• We'll fight on for our hospital. Over 170 people turned up at Driffield Community Centre in East Riding to challenge health chiefs over plans to close beds at the town's Alfred Bean Hospital. East Riding of Yorkshire Primary Care Trust wants to move beds from community hospitals to private care homes. Town mayor Councillor Paul Rounding told the meeting: "Our hospital is the best place to expand services because, geographically, Driffield is about the centre of the East Riding." Councillor Simon Pickering said: "The trust's consultation effectively pits town against town, even though we are all fighting for the same thing." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of East Riding Mail 2 February 2007
• Health 'cuts' spark alarm. Oxford and Buckinghamshire Primary Care Trust's plans to reduce psychology services across Oxfordshire will put mental health patients at risk according to staff, patients and union leaders who are fighting the proposals. The trust plans to halve the number of its highly qualified consultants from 13 to six and replace them with nurse therapists and newly qualified psychologists. A statement from union Amicus warned: "Availability of specialist psychological treatments will be significantly reduced as a result of the reduction in senior posts. Inevitably, some of the most vulnerable patients will be at greater risk with potentially serious consequences." The Trust has launched a consultation into the plans which has already attracted many objections. One consultant, who would not be named, said: "We're very concerned about these proposed cuts. The trust wanted an in-house consultation and we managed to force them to make it public. Our concern is that the service to patients will be greatly reduced because they're cutting senior positions at the top end and employing a new band of workers at the very bottom end. There'll be a real cut in quality. The trust says it won't affect the seriously mentally ill, but it certainly will. It'll have huge ramifications over time." A spokesman for the trust said that although the changes were efficiency driven, the trust had more senior staff than most UK services and that the removal of management sessions would enable existing senior staff to dedicate more time to treatment. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Oxford Mail 2 February 2007
• Searching questions at hospital meeting. A protest meeting against the closure of both the QE2 and Lister hospitals attracted almost 100 people. Welwyn Hatfield's Keep the NHS Public Campaign held its first meeting on Thursday. Questions from the lively audience kept the gathered politicians and primary care trust representatives on their toes. One asked: "Apart from the politics, what are we going to do about the closure of the QE2 Hospital", and another wondered: "Why can there be only one general hospital in the East and North Herts PCT area ?" Speeches were heard from MP Grant Shapps, Labour parliamentary hopeful Mike Hobday and union reps, who all reiterated their stances. The group's next meeting will take place at 8pm on Thursday, February 8, at Ludwick Family Centre, Hall Grove, WGC. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Welwyn & Hatfield Times 2 February 2007
• PCT plans may move patients into care homes. Patients will be shifted from community hospitals into care homes under radical plans to privatise health services. East Riding of Yorkshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) has drawn up proposals for a major shake-up of healthcare across the county. All beds would be removed from Beverley, Driffield, Hornsea and Withernsea community hospitals. The PCT would then offer 60 overnight beds at three upgraded hospitals - Bridlington, Goole and possibly a new hospital to be built at Market Weighton. A further 50 beds would be moved into private care homes across the county. The PCT has not ruled out closing the community hospitals, which have serviced residents for decades. The move is seen as the latest - and possibly most significant - threat to rural hospitals in the East Riding. In the most recent victory, plans by the PCT to cut beds at Hornsea Cottage Hospital were blocked by the threat of a legal challenge over the way the decision was reached. Once again, people power is seen as the key to saving community hospital services. That was the message from Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart during a recent debate on the issue in the House of Commons. Mr Stuart urged the Government to listen to patients who are angry about plans to axe beds in East Riding hospitals. He said the Government must live up to its promises of considering patients' views and respond to the united call to save services. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of East Riding Daily Mail 5 February 2007
• 'We're united in saving hospital'. The fight to save services at an East Yorkshire community hospital stepped up a gear by moving to Parliament. East Yorkshire MP Greg Knight will present a petition to health ministers calling for their support for Alfred Bean Hospital in Driffield. The hospital could lose all its 20 patient beds under East Riding of Yorkshire NHS Primary Care Trust's (PCT) proposals for healthcare in the region. Mr Knight was presented with the 2,000-name petition when he met campaigners during a demonstration against hospital cutbacks. The protest, organised by Driffield Hospital League of Friends, included handing out leaflets urging people to show their support and wheeling an old hospital bed around. Mr Knight said: "Everybody in the Driffield area is united in their aim to fight any loss of beds. The campaign involves people from all political parties, which shows the strength of feeling against the plans. Campaigners are under no illusions if the beds go, the hospital could go. I fully support them in their bid to keep Alfred Bean open." He said: "We must continue to work together to bring home to health ministers Alfred Bean is a vital community hospital, which is badly needed." Mr Knight is also calling for a meeting with Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt to discuss the proposals. The PCT launched a 14-week consultation on the future of community services in the area, which is due to end in March. The proposals include removing all the beds in community hospitals in Driffield, Beverley, Hornsea and Withernsea. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of East Riding Daily Mail 5 February 2007
• Childbirth shakeup means NHS unit closures. Plans for a drastic reduction in the number of NHS hospitals in England providing full childbirth facilities for mothers and specialist medical care for children will be announced by the Department of Health today. It is part of a move to put more complex clinical work into regional centres of excellence. John Carvel, social affairs editor Tuesday February 6, 2007 The Guardian
• Minister under fire over NHS maternity strategy. The position of Ivan Lewis, the health minister responsible for maternity services in England, was called into question yesterday after he failed to represent the government at the launch of a new maternity strategy for the NHS. Mr Lewis has been fighting a decision by NHS managers to close the maternity unit at Fairfield in Greater Manchester, close to his Bury South constituency. Last month he denied allegations in the Commons that he was hypocritical - backing the case for hospital reorganisation, but campaigning against it in his back yard. Mr Lewis invited the BBC to film him at a London maternity unit on Monday to publicise the launch yesterday of a report by Sheila Shribman, the maternity "tsar". The report presented medical arguments for more midwife-led maternity units. Mr Lewis is understood to have offered an interview to the BBC on condition that it would not ask questions about his constituency. John Carvel, social affairs editor Wednesday February 7, 2007 The Guardian
• Plans to strip hospitals of maternity units. Women in labour could face lengthy journeys by ambulance to distant specialist units under plans which would strip dozens of local hospitals of consultant-led maternity services. Department of Health proposals seek a smaller number of consultant units to deal with the most complicated births and the sickest babies. It would be left to local, midwife-led units to handle the majority of births, while more women would be encouraged to have their babies at home. Unusually, the health minister responsible for maternity services, Ivan Lewis, was not present at the report's launch. Mr Lewis, the MP for Bury South, has been active in the campaign to save the maternity unit at Fairfield Hospital in his constituency. The Conservatives have already identified 22 consultant-led maternity units which are threatened with closure, as well as 21 midwife units. Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, demanded to know why Mr Lewis was unavailable for comment at the briefing to launch the report, Making it Better for Mother and Baby. He said the Conservatives had repeatedly asked for clinical evidence to show the need for a reconfiguration of maternity services and the report failed to provide this. "Government nationally seems to be saying that everything has got to change and smaller units have got to be shut down, while locally, Labour ministers say they don't believe it and it's not justified. There's a hypocrisy in that. These changes are being driven by financial deficits in the NHS and this kind of nimbyism displayed by health minister Ivan Lewis and Hazel Blears, the Labour Party chairman, is patronising to expectant mothers who want to access good maternity services within travelling distance, and to midwives who tell us that they are unable to get a job," he said. The report, and another on services for children and young people, comes from Dr Sheila Shribman, the maternity and children's health tsar. She said the plans were about change not closure. Dr Shribman, a paediatrician, said she was not able to say how many consultant-led units would close. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists was cautious in its response. It said the care and safety of mothers and newborn babies should be at the heart of maternity services planning and women should always have the choice of where to have their babies. Prof Shaughn O'Brien, the vice-president of the college, said no woman would be forced to have her baby at home or in a midwife unit and all should receive "full and accurate" information on the risks if there were complications in labour. The Royal College of Midwives said there was a shortage of 10,000 midwives and the service was facing cuts, job freezes, shortages and financial crises. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Telegraph 7 February 2007
• A threat to new mothers. A Telegraph leader says: "A report recommending the radical "reconfiguring" of maternity care by the Government's chief adviser on childcare and maternity services, Dr Sheila Shribman, is tendentiously titled Making It Better for Mother and Baby. Expectant mothers may wonder how the closure of many hospital maternity facilities could possibly benefit them or their families. The changes involve consultant-led specialised care being based in fewer centres of excellence. Most routine maternity cases would be consigned to local midwife-led birth centres or be home births under the supervision of midwives (an option the Government presents as constituting "more choice"). Only patients with complications or special needs would be referred to specialist units, which would almost inevitably be more distant from their homes. The report points out that the vast majority of pregnancies and births are straightforward, raising no medical problems that require the attendance of doctors or the use of specialist equipment. But there is an obvious objection to this managerial concept of efficient use of resources: the course of labour and childbirth can turn very quickly and unexpectedly from a routine procedure to a medical emergency… The real beneficiaries of this overhaul can only be those who manage the NHS budget." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Telegraph 7 February 2007
• Reforms needed 'to uphold the level of care'. Manchester's blueprint for change has already been six years in the making and is not expected to come into effect until at least 2010. The overhaul will involve the creation of eight centres of excellence for maternity and children's services, with neo-natal care concentrated at three units. Four neo-natal centres in Rochdale, Bury, Salford and Trafford will close. NHS North West acknowledges that some mothers will have to travel further for specialist care. But it claims that 97.6 per cent of the region's 3.1 million population will still be within a 30-minute car journey of such provision. Despite such assurances, opposition appears to be gaining momentum. Salford city council has already urged the Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, to review the decision to close the maternity unit at Hope Hospital, and may yet take the issue to judicial review. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Telegraph 7 February 2007
• Maternity crisis: ministers who won't toe line. At least a dozen members of the Government are fighting NHS closures of maternity units, A& E departments, wards and cottage hospitals in or near their constituencies. Among the most prominent are Hazel Blears (Salford), the party chairman and a former health minister, and Ivan Lewis (Bury South), a junior health minister in charge of maternity services. He opposes the closure of the maternity unit at Fairfield Hospital, Bury, and was absent yesterday at the launch of the report on the future of maternity services in England, written by the maternity and child tsar, Dr Sheila Shribman. She had to strive alone to answer questions from journalists on the closures. Miss Blears has been on the picket line protesting over the closure of maternity services at the Hope Hospital, and Jacqui Smith (Redditch), the chief whip, has campaigned against the closure of maternity services at the Alexandra Hospital in the town. Two parliamentary private secretaries (PPS) have also been involved in protests. Kitty Ussher (Burnley), a former special adviser to Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, led a campaign last year to save her local A& E department. Mary Creagh (Wakefield), the PPS to Andy Burnham, another health minister, has campaigned vigorously against the loss of maternity services at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. Mike O'Brien (Warwickshire North), the solicitor general, has challenged proposals to close a special-care baby unit at George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton, and Derek Twigg (Halton), a defence minister, is concerned about ward closures at Halton Hospital, Runcorn. Joan Ryan (Enfield North), the immigration minister, backs the fight to for children's services at Chase Farm Hospital. James Plaskitt (Warwick & Leamington), the work and pensions minister, wants to save the full range of services at Warwick Hospital. Tessa Jowell (Dulwich & West Norwood), the Culture Secretary, and Harriet Harman (Camberwell & Peckham), the constitutional affairs minister, oppose the closure of a 24-hour emergency clinic at the Maudsley Hospital, south London. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Telegraph 7 February 2007
• Community Hospitals under threat.  Map and index Telegraph 8 February 2007

  Closed	Threat of closure/loss of service			Under review
  Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire  former Strategic Health Authority
  Keynsham	Tetbury	Moore	Moreton	Thornbury	Corsham
  Delancey	Dilke	Lydney	Winchcombe	Clevedon	Evesham
  Bradford upon Avon	Berkeley	Melksham	Trowbridge
  Westbury	Devizes	Warminster	Malmesbury
  Fairford	Chippenham
  Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire former Strategic Health Authority
  	Harpenden	Potter's Bar
  Cheshire and Merseyside former Strategic Health Authority
  	Northwich
  County Durham and Tees Valley former Strategic Health Authority
  	Shotley Bridge
  Cumbria and Lancashire former Strategic Health Authority
  	Wigton		Alston	Cockermouth	Millom
  			Brampton	Keswick	Maryport
  			Penrith	Workington	Pendle
  Dorset and Somerset  former Strategic Health Authority
  South Petherton
  Greater Manchester  former Strategic Health Authority
  	Altrincham
  Hampshire and Isle Of Wight  former Strategic Health Authority
  Fenwick	Alton		Hythe	Fordingbridge	Romsey
  Emsworth	Haslar, Gosport		Milford	Havant	Andover
  Kent and Medway  former Strategic Health Authority
  		Sittingbourne	Hawkhurst	Tonbridge	Edenbridge
  London  former Strategic Health Authority
  Carshalton War Memorial
  Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire  former Strategic Health Authority
  Wells next the Sea	Doddington	Kelling	North Walsham	Norwich
  	Michael's, Aylsham	Swaffham	Benjamin Court, Cromer
  	Dereham	Hartismere	Aldeburgh	Felixstowe
  	Bartlett	Newmarket	Walnuttree
  North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire  former Strategic Health Authority
  			Whitby	Hornsea	Withernsea
  			Alfred Bean	Bridlington
  Northumberland, Tyne and Wear  former Strategic Health Authority
  				Morpeth	Blyth
  Shropshire and Staffordshire  former Strategic Health Authority
  	Ludlow	Whitchurch	Longton Cottage		Bishop's Castle
  South West Peninsula  former Strategic Health Authority
  	Teignmouth
  Surrey and Sussex  former Strategic Health Authority
  Cobham	Farnham		Weybridge	Walton	Surbiton
  Cranleigh			Thames Ditton