Health Care (Gloucestershire)

Chris Skidmore Excerpts

Wednesday 19th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Chris Skidmore (Kingswood) (Con)]

My hon. Friend the Member for Filton and Bradley Stoke (Jack Lopresti) and I have been calling for this debate for some time, so we are grateful for the opportunity to discuss health care provision in south Gloucestershire.

In 70 days’ time, the accident and emergency department at Frenchay hospital in south Gloucestershire will close its doors. The decision on this is not recent, as it was taken in 2005 under the Labour Government, who then refused to allow it to be referred to the independent reconfiguration panel, despite a 50,000-signature petition from local people. The decision to close the A and E was also voted through locally by Labour councillors against Conservative opposition. When my hon. Friend and I were elected to this place in 2010, we called a debate on the future of Frenchay hospital in which it was confirmed that contracts had already been signed under the Labour Government to close Frenchay’s A and E, making the decision irreversible. The downgrading of Frenchay will forever be Labour’s legacy to the people of south Gloucestershire. My hon. Friend will speak later about the hospital and the continuing uncertainty over the health care provision that will be based there.

For the first time, this Government allowed South Gloucestershire council’s health scrutiny panel to refer recent decisions by health care managers temporarily to relocate beds to Southmead hospital while the final provision of beds at Frenchay was investigated by the independent reconfiguration panel—something that the previous Government resolutely refused to do. As local MPs, we submitted our own statements in support of Frenchay to the IRP along with local campaigners, and they are listed in the report’s appendix, yet we were surprised to see that no statements of support were made by the local Labour party or by its candidates.

The publication of the IRP report on Frenchay this week highlights—

--- Later in debate ---

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—(Mr Gyimah.)

[Chris Skidmore]

The publication of the IRP report on Frenchay this week highlights for the first time real concerns about the reconfiguration of health care provision in south Gloucestershire. These concerns are so damning that it is right that we as local MPs raise them now on the Floor of the House. The IRP rightly observed not only that health care provision had been subject to continual alteration since 2005, but that

“there is considerable public disquiet with the process to date”,

that

“residents of the area should feel exasperated by the years of delay”,

that

“the overall process to date has shown a marked lack of empathy for patients and the public who have a right to expect better”,

and that

“progress to date has suffered from a lack of trust from the public”.

The IRP goes on to recommend that

“a new approach to pubic engagement and involvement is required that demonstrates mutual co-operation and ensures that the public can have confidence in a quality service”.

Importantly, the IRP also notes that

“concerns remain about access to outpatients and diagnostics, capacity for rehabilitation services particularly in light of housing developments, and the absence of external clinical assurance”.

The IRP has finally put on record what local people and groups such as the Save Frenchay Hospital group have long been saying. North Bristol NHS Trust and health care bosses must now listen to them, and to the IRP in the light of its damning conclusions.

I am concerned, however, that history is about to repeat itself at nearby Cossham hospital. As a member of the league of friends at Cossham hospital, and someone who volunteers at the café there—I hope that that will suffice as a declaration of interest—I know at first hand how cherished Cossham hospital is within the Kingswood community. In 2004, the hospital was threatened with closure. Then—a story all too familiar—the health care bosses said that they knew best and that there were strong clinical reasons for shutting the hospital, yet they underestimated the determination and resolve of the Save Cossham Hospital campaign group, which mounted a remarkable cross-party campaign to save the hospital from closure.

In the end, the decision to close Cossham was reversed, and the hospital underwent a £19 million refurbishment. So far, this has included a new renal dialysis unit, an X-ray and scanning department, physiotherapy and out-patient appointments, and Bristol's first free-standing, midwife-led birth centre, which has already delivered hundreds of babies. But the minor injuries unit at Cossham hospital, which was promised as part of the Bristol health services plan, and reaffirmed by the 2009 business plan for the hospital—signed and sealed, as it were—has not been delivered. Instead, the commissioning group is now considering installing a rapid assessment centre for the elderly in its place. Obviously we must consider an ageing population, but in this particular case we should be considering the needs of the entire health care community in south Gloucestershire.

As the local MP for Kingswood, I feel that not to have a minor injuries unit for Cossham is unacceptable. With Frenchay A & E closing in just 70 days, if local people are in need of treatment for an injury, they will have to travel 11 miles to Yate, or have to travel across Bristol to Southmead hospital or to the Bristol royal infirmary. As many local people know, public transport to Yate and Southmead is woeful, with the bus often taking several hours. Without a minor injuries unit at Cossham, I remain concerned about health care provision for the east side of the Bristol region. I set out the case for a minor injuries unit in my letter to the Health Secretary on 26 February, and I would welcome the opportunity for the reformed Save Cossham Hospital group to meet the Minister to present the case in detail. There is a clear and present need for a minor injuries unit at Cossham, and a clear and present danger to our local community if it is not delivered.

I cannot impress enough on the Minister that I believe that, just as in the case of Frenchay hospital, and in the light of the highly critical IRP report on its changing services, the ability of health care bosses continually to chop and change health care services at Cossham and in the south Gloucestershire area without regard to public opinion and confidence is extremely damaging. Above all, it raises questions about why local people, who pay for their health service through their own taxes, should feel, as the IRP report states, “exasperated” by the uncertainty surrounding the health care for which they have paid.

The people of Kingswood and south Gloucestershire, as the IRP has firmly stated, “deserve better”. We also deserve better when it comes to the provision of a minor injuries unit at Cossham. We were promised a minor injuries unit, we want a minor injuries unit, and for the sake of the health and safety of local people in my community, we need a minor injuries unit at Cossham hospital.