PRIMARY CARE TRUST AMALGAMATION.
The following letter went out in December 2005, inviting residents to attend meetings in Bootle and Southport regarding the amalgamation of the current South Sefton PCT and the Southport and Formby PCT:
Southport and Formby, Primary Care Trust, 5 Curzon Road, Southport PR8 6LW,Switchboard: 01704 530940, December 21st, 2005. Sefton residents invited to consult on the future of local NHS primary care trusts
Sefton residents are invited to take part in a public consultation process, which will run until March 22nd, about proposals to form a single primary care trust for the borough, within the local council’s boundaries. Southport and Formby Primary Care Trust and South Sefton Primary Care Trust, both currently work on behalf of Sefton’s residents to provide primary care services, promote health and commission hospital services.
It is proposed that the two organisations would be replaced by one primary care trust for the whole of the borough, to meet local health need more effectively, in conjunction with Sefton Council. The local consultation process is part of a region-wide consultation, launched by Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority on December 14th, with proposals to reduce the current 15 primary care trusts in Merseyside and Cheshire to seven. The benefits of forming larger organisations would be to commission better services for patients in their local communities, work more closely with local government and ensure best value for public money. Fifteen per cent of current management and administration costs would be saved.
Two public meetings will be held in the new year for residents to debate the proposals with managers and clinicians. The first public meeting will take place on Monday, January 30th, 2006, at Bootle Town Hall at 6.30pm; and the second meeting will take place on Wednesday, February 1st, at the United Reformed Church, Lord Street West , Southport, at 6.30pm. In addition, there is a link to the consultation documents on the websites of the two primary care trusts and responses can be made by email or by letter.
Leaflets about the consultation are also available in Sefton’s health clinics, GP practices, local libraries and through local community organisations. Or they can be provided to individuals by the primary care trusts. Gill Dolan, Chief Executive of Southport and Formby Primary Care Trust and Ian Williamson, Chief Executive of South Sefton Primary Care Trust say: “We urge local people to engage with us to debate the issues around the proposed formation of a single primary care trust, which we feel will provide improved services and better value for money locally. We look forward to receiving guidance about how local health services can be made most appropriate to the residents they serve.”
The results of the public consultation will be considered by the Department of Health. If the proposal to form a single primary care trust is accepted, it could be formed by July 2006.
Details of the consultation process can be read on the following websites: www.southportandformbypct.nhs.uk and www.southseftonpct.nhs.uk
Or residents can contact the communications managers of the PCTs, for details of the consultation on: 01704 387031 or 0151 479 6518.
Or leaflets are available in libraries, GP practices, clinics and community organisations.
Editors: For further information contact communications managers Margaret Kitchen on 01704 538701 or Tim Seamans on 0151 479 6518
We wrote to the PCT as follows:
Dear Primary Care Trust Executives, The trust is holding a public meeting on 1st February inviting the opinions of residents on the merging of two trusts, as it appears this is a government strategy they would like to press on with for economical reasons, rather than for the good of our people.
The Southport Party would like to ask: "Is the Trust going to tell the people what will really happen if this merger goes ahead?" Southport residents have already lost vital services to Ormskirk hospital. Will this further proposal mean we are going to have to travel even further for vital health care, approx 20 miles to Aintree/ Fazakerley?
Is this what could happen?
1; Children's A & E moved even further to Aintree?
2; Adult A&E moved to Aintree?
3; Maternity moved even further, perhaps even to Liverpool?
4; Mental Health moved to Aintree?
We demand to know, as is our right, if these and other services will become even more remote from our long suffering residents. Will Southport be left with small units and not the full health care that a town of 90,000 residents and millions of visitors warrants? We require our lost services to be returned, not made even more remote. We believe that if answers are not given to these questions then the consultation will be the usual sham, and a travesty, with the decisions already having been made beforehand.
Many of our members attended the meeting at Southport and asked many questions of the managers and Chief Executives present, focussing mainly on whether a combined PCT would actually operate to the best benefit of anybody and particularly stressing the peculiar position of Southport, having many of its hospital services removed to Ormskirk and the possibility of additional local government reorganisations still to come.
This is the report produced by the PCT of the meetings:
Southport and Formby Primary Care Trust
Lord Street West united Reformed Church Wednesday 1st February 2006
Summary of Comments, questions and concerns raised
- How will moving the PCT's current HQ improve local services and accountability?
- How will needs and views of local residents be taken on board in a bigger organisation?
- Will a larger organisation be inflexible to the needs of its residents?
- Can we expect further changes in the future particularly around cost reductions?
- What are the financial implications behind any reconfiguration?
- Will organisational change affect current service models? (Ormskirk)
- How will a new organisation promote greater choice?
- Will greater choice mean services moving further away in terms of centralisation the agenda?
- Why South Sefton and not West Lanes - this model would reflect the local health economy and its commissioning structure.
- Shouldn't the commissioning structure reflect the local health economy?
- Are services at risk of re-distribution in a new organisation?
- What are the Implications of choice for our local services, are we at risk of losing further valuable services?
- By recreating boundaries will we cause conflict with natural commissioning structures?
- How much emphasis and input will local people have in future discussions/arrangements?
- In terms of the current financial deficit - how will this be addressed in new organisation?
- Will planned services (Merseycare) be affected by proposals?
- Will decisions made by current structures be affected by proposals; can they be undone?
- West Lancs model - does it not make more sense?
- The documentation linked to the CaPLNHS process is very unclear
- Will there be equity in service provision across new borough?
- Who delegates local budgets?
- What effects Effect will this reorganisation have on service integration (Around the White Paper for example)?
- Is the 'Local Authority boundary' focus taking precedence over local care for patients?
- Does this consultation process address 'best fit' (political) boundaries?
- There is an inappropriate construction of boundaries/services etc currently, which doesn't make sense
- How can a bigger organisation address local sensitivities/issues/preferences etc/localness of services?
- Will the imminent re-organisation of local authority boundaries lead to further boundary reconfiguration in the near future?
Many members have written to the PCT pointing out problems about the amalgamation. Here is just one:
From: terry john durrance, The Elms, 368 Liverpool Road, Birkdale, Southport, Lancashire PR8 3BZ,01704 578196
Dear sir/madam,
I write regarding the Department of Health publication entitled "Consultation on new Strategic Health Authority arrangements in the north west of England" in which you invite views from members of the public.
In the fashion that we have come to expect from Tony Blairs New Labour government, this is yet another "wolf in sheep’s clothing". The whole operation is designed to bring about the regionalisation of Strategic Health Authorities and Ambulance Service Trusts. It is much more than coincidence that regionalisation is the preferred route towards political integration with the European Union - hence the reason why it is being promoted by our current government.
The idea that larger administrative bodies could possibly give more say to local people in the running of local health services does not ring true. In fact, the opposite would occur as decision making and accountability would be further removed from the service users. Any savings made from these mergers would be at the expense of the loss of local services.
- But, of course, this is something we have come to expect from a NHS that bombards us with propaganda telling us how wonderful they are, whilst at the same time essential services are being taken from us.
A/though I understand that the proposals you outline are currently open to consultation, I feel that most people are somewhat confused as to what exactly this word means.
The act of consultation was, at one time, considered to be the seeking of the opinions of others in order to make an informed deliberation. Today it is often used in the context -" this is what we are going to do, whether you like it or not".
As far as the merging of the local PCT's is concerned, it is difficult to understand how a combined Southport & Formby PCT with South Sefton PCT could possibly be as focussed in serving the needs of their respective areas as the two separate organisations as at present.
