Agenda item

Cabinet Member: Leader

Forward Plan Ref: 2016/155

Contact: Claire Phillips, Senior Policy Officer Tel: 07785 453260

Report from the County Leadership Team (CA8).

The Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group launched the first phase of its consultation on the future of Oxfordshire Health and Care Services on January 16th 2017. The county council is a consultee in the process. This report provides an assessment by the Council Leadership Team on the potential impact the proposals may have on council services and on the public and proposes an approach for how Cabinet may wish to respond to the consultation and present its views to full Council in March.

A copy of the Consultation document can be found on the CCG web site: The Oxfordshire Big Health & Care Consultation: Phase 1 - Consultation Document

Further associated documents are also available on the CCG site.

The Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group had launched the first phase of its consultation on the future of Oxfordshire Health and Care Services on January 16th 2017. The County Council was a consultee in the process. Cabinet had before them a report providing an assessment by the Council Leadership Team on the potential impact the proposals may have on Council services and on the public and proposing an approach for how Cabinet may wish to respond to the consultation and present its views to full Council in March.

Dr Ken Williamson, Chair of Oxfordshire Keep Our NHS Public addressed the Cabinet in support of the Council Leadership Team report and its recommendations, He agreed the consultation was flawed, in that it had only given a partial picture of how services could look in the future; that the consultation document was incoherent, lacked cohesion and failed to acknowledge the domino effect of closures at the Horton and acute beds at the JR. 

Keep Our NHS Public believed that the Consultation had also relied on major assumptions, especially about the workforce; that the decisions were premature; closing beds without viable alternatives in community or home-based settings puts cost cutting way ahead of providing a service to the people of Oxfordshire, particularly the Frail Elderly; that Published plans cannot be workable or sustainable with current chronic underfunding of the local health economy. They believed the Bucks, Oxfordshire and West Berks Sustainability and Transformation Plan (BOB STP) was about making ‘savings’ not about investing in Health & Social Care services. Its appendices on finance, workforce, activities and service and risk assessments had not been published.

The HOSC’s referral of the de facto down grade of Maternity at the Horton to the Secretary of State was applauded as it flagged the down grade of the whole hospital and was sufficient reason to halt phase 1 of the consultation.

A study based on ONS figures showed that year on year increases in the numbers of surviving over-80s had already reversed in the year to July 2015, with a loss of just under 40,000 elderly in England and Wales, continuing the trend since the start of austerity in 2010. He asked whether the Council could allow this to accelerate and whether the Council would increase council tax to partially address the Social care crisis in the face of central government’s refusal to do so from general taxation.

He urged the Cabinet to endorse the Leadership Team’s report.

Councillor Hibbert-Biles in moving the report endorsed the comments made above and commented that the consultation only presented a partial picture and that it was impossible to separate the impact of phase 1 on phase 2 and vice versa. She expressed grave concern around the comments in relation to the future of midwifery-led obstetric care in the north of the County and in particular the potential loss of those services in Banbury and Chipping Norton and generally about the way the information on maternity services was presented in the consultation.

During discussion Councillor Heathcoat referred to the importance of working with the NHS and of being a consultee allowing us to take account of public opinion.  Councillor Carter highlighted the lack of any clarity of the potential ‘domino effect’ on other services.  Councillor Stratford referred to the less than transparent proposals for communities and the public disquiet, particularly in the North of the County.

Councillor Hibbert-Biles moved and Councillor Heathcoat seconded that the recommendations be approved, subject to adding “and that of the public” to the end of the first recommendation.

The recommendation was put to the vote and agreed unanimously.

RESOLVED: (Unanimous)           to:

-     Welcome the opportunity to comment on this consultation, acknowledge the difficulties faced by NHS services locally as presented in the OCCGs case for change, but on balance not to support the proposals based on the lack of information on the impact on council services and that of the public.

-     Present its views and the officer’s assessment to the Oxfordshire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 7 March 2017.

-     Present a report on its views to the County Council meeting on 21 March 2017 to gather further comment.