Issue - meetings

This report considers the consultation response on Improving Heathcare Together 2020-3030 and a Council Position Statement on the consultation.

Following consideration, it was resolved:

That the Committee

(1)      agreed the Position Statement relating to the future location of the new specialist emergency care hospital as set out in Annex 1 to the report.

(2)      agreed the consultation response to Improving Healthcare Together 2020-2030 as set out in Annex 2 to the report.

The Committee received a report proposing a response to the Improving Healthcare Together 2020-2030 NHS consultation and a Council Position Statement on the consultation.

The Committee received a presentation from the Chief Operating Officer highlighting the proposals set out in the Improving Healthcare Together 2020-2030 public consultation. The Committee noted the following matters:

·         The provision of £500 million in Government funding to improve existing buildings at Epsom and St Helier hospitals and the provision of a new specialist emergency care hospital in Epsom, St Helier or Sutton. A minimum of £80 million of this investment to be in Epsom and St Helier Hospital buildings.

·         85% of services would remain at Epsom hospital in the event of the new specialist emergency care hospital being sited in St Helier or Sutton.

·         The provision of 24 hour, 365-day-a-year Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) at Epsom Hospital in the event of the new specialist emergency care hospital being sited in St Helier or Sutton. A UTC would support 2 out of 3 cases which would normally be served by an Accident and Emergency Department.

·         The investment and changes in services would be made in the context of very significant financial challenges being faced by the local Healthcare Trusts. The proposals put forward in the consultation intended to reduce ongoing building maintenance costs and the Trusts’ dependency on agency staffing.

The Committee considered the following matters:

a)            Needs of Borough residents. The Committee considered the varying needs of residents within the Borough. It was considered that residents’ preferences on the location of a new Emergency Care Hospital might depend on where they lived in the Borough, and their access to the proposed sites. The Committee noted that the Council was one of a number of bodies likely to submit a response to the consultation, and that its response should support an outcome that best met the needs of the Borough as a whole. The Committee also noted that the Epsom site was centrally located (geographically) in the NHS Trust and well positioned for access from East Surrey, whilst the other two proposed sites were very London centric and had neither of these benefits.

b)           Position statement and consultation response. The Committee noted that the proposed Position Statement and consultation response strongly recommended that the proposed specialist emergency care hospital be located at the Epsom site, and that if this were not the case, the Council’s second preference was for the Sutton site as outlined in the consultation documentation.

Following consideration, it was resolved:

That the Committee:

(1)      Agreed the Position Statement relating to the future location of the new specialist emergency care hospital as set out in the Annex to the report.

(2)      Agreed the consultation response to Improving Healthcare Together 2020-2030 as set out in the Annex to the report.