Townlands Steering Group – Townlands Services Consultation

The TSG meeting on June 9th considered the answers given to the questions that the TSG had notified to the Clinical Commisioning Group (CCG) in advance. The TSG also considered the answers given by the CCG to the members of the public who asked an extensive set of detailed and searching questions.

It is obvious that the CCG proposals are strongly opposed by a large majority of the community. The TSG expect the consultation will show this clearly.

The CCG will report on the consultation to the Health Overview Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) of Oxfordshire County Council on July 2nd. The TSG is planning to make its own submission to HOSC.

HOSC has two levels of responsibility with respect to the Townlands

  • ensuring that the consultation has been correctly and properly carried out (section f of its terms of reference)
  • ensuring that the inhabitants of Oxon receive hospital and community health care services; and social care services (sections a, b, e, g of its terms of reference)

The TSG believes the CCG consultation is flawed and has failed for the following reasons

  • insufficient information on the way the model will work
  • insufficient information on the transition from the old model to the new by Nov 1st
  • absence of information on what will happen to staff between Nov 1st and the opening of the RACU in the Nursing Home
  • lack of any information on the monitoring and scrutiny post implementation (e.g. by identifying the process and Key Performance Indicators)
  • refusal of the CCG to provide the detailed current bed usage figures or their modelling data
  • unanswered questions on the modelling figures expressed at the TSG meeting on 9 June (e.g. from TSG member Geoff Probert)
  • the questionnaire made it very difficult for the community to express clearly our views on the proposals
  • lack of any information on costings
  • the emergence of significant changes to the proposals in the course of the consultation, including

—   the RACU is to open only 3 days per week

—   the fact that EMUs were used to provide reassurance of successful examples of operation of the new model which are quite different from RACUs (e.g. being associated with community beds at Witney and Abingdon)

—   The new model is expected not to require additional community health resources (e.g. district nurses). Peter Magrane said this on 9th June. No evidence has been provided to support this

—   The new model is expected not to require additional adult social care resources. John Jackson said this on 9th June. No evidence has been provided to support this

The TSG is very disappointed that the CCG have failed to provide supporting documentation for their proposals which would allow the community to provide a fully informed response to the consultation. The lack of support from the GPs for the proposals underlines this failure.

The TSG will urge HOSC and other stakeholders to act to ensure that the CCG reverts to the service model as specified in the original Business Case approved by the PCT and SHA in 2012, planning permission for which was also granted in 2012.

The TSG will continue to engage with the CCG on a new plan based on the new model of ambulatory care, as it is clear than this is supported in principle by many Gps and other clinicians, and has operated successfully as part of an integrated system of Health and Social Care in other parts of this country and around the world.

Cllr Ian Reissmann

Leader Townlands Steering Group

and other TSG Subgroup members

Cllr David Nimmo-Smith

Dr Peter Ashby

Dr Barry Wood

Dr Fiona Galton-Fenzi

Cllr Stefan Gawrysiak

Cllr Julian Brookes

16th June 2015