Agenda item

National Health Service and Social Care

 

Proposed by the Deputy City Mayor, seconded by the City Mayor:

 

“This Council believes the NHS is one of Britain’s most cherished institutions; we have serious concerns about the financial pressures facing the NHS and social care and the development of Sustainability & Transformation Plans.”

Moved by Councillor Palmer, seconded by the City Mayor:

 

“This Council believes the NHS is one of Britain’s most cherished institutions; we have serious concerns about the financial pressures facing the NHS and social care and the development of Sustainability & Transformation Plans.”

 

Under Council Procedure Rule 18c Councillor Palmer and the City Mayor as proposers and seconders of the motion sought the consent of Council to the addition of the following text (indicated in italicised text):

 

Council notes;

i.              The requirement for each area of the country (44 NHS STP ‘footprint’ areas) to develop a Sustainability & Transformation Plan (STP);

ii.             The requirement for STPs to be five year plans covering the period until 2021;

iii.            That the STP for Leicester is part of the Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland ‘footprint’ covering a population of 1.1 million people and including the three Leicester hospital sites and the community hospitals across Leicestershire;

iv.           The City Mayor and majority Labour Group’s manifesto commitment: ‘where acute service changes are proposed that involve replacing hospital based services with community services we are clear that the community services should be up and running and proving to be delivering the necessary quality of care before acute services are reduced’.

 

Council notes with concern:

i.              The financial challenge facing the NHS and social care;

ii.             The proposals to remove a significant number of hospital beds out of the local hospital system when we are seeing day-to-day full capacity and demand for current bed provision, further noting that the precise number of bed reductions is not confirmed;

iii.            The significant capital funding requirements identified as needed to implement the LLR STP and whether that funding will be forthcoming;

iv.           The restrictions imposed by NHS England on the publication of draft plans and the frustration this caused;

v.            The projected financial gap in local NHS budgets of £399 million by 2021;

vi.           The lack of meaningful financial detail published to date regarding LLR STP proposals;

vii.          The ongoing and significant challenges facing primary care in Leicester;

viii.         The significant risk of reducing hospital-based services before ‘home first’ services are fully developed, resilient and are carrying the confidence of clinicians and patients.

 

Council believes:

i.              The NHS is one of Britain’s most cherished institutions. We should recognise the extraordinary efforts of NHS staff every day and this Council believes the NHS should be properly funded, protected for future generations and run today in the best traditions of its founding values.

 

Council resolves, through the Executive and Health Scrutiny Commission:

i.              To demand the Government brings forward extra funding for the NHS and social care urgently to avert this current crisis;

ii.             To specifically seek clarity from the Government regarding when the £350 million a week will be available - which it was claimed by some Government Ministers would be available for the NHS in the event of the UK leaving the European Union;

iii.            To continue to call for a long-term and sustainable funding model for social care and to write to the Government to express our serious concerns about the financial situation facing the NHS and social care;

iv.           To formally request full publication of all LLR STP financial modelling to inform and support meaningful public discussion and scrutiny;

v.            To continue to scrutinise specific elements of the LLR STP including hospital site reconfiguration; GP and primary care services; maternity services and the development of ‘home first’ services through the City Council’s Health Scrutiny Commission and for the conclusions of that scrutiny work to be reported to the Executive, OSC and Council;

vi.           To respond to the formal public consultations on specific STP proposals relating to Leicester hospital site changes and maternity services (and other STP proposals as council sees fit) and for those responses to be informed by the current and ongoing work of the Health Scrutiny Commission;

vii.          To hold further Council debates on specific STP proposals as part of Council’s development and agreement of responses to formal NHS consultation on these;

viii.         To challenge and oppose specific STP proposals where this Council believes – through its assessment of evidence and conclusions of its scrutiny of proposals – that the quality, safety and sustainability of care available to Leicester residents will be put at risk;

ix.           To continue to make mental health a priority and to seek specific assurances from the LLR STP leadership that improving outcomes for mental health will be a priority across all elements of STP work;

x.            To support efforts for wider public discussion and scrutiny of STP proposals locally;

xi.           To set in place work to assure Council that where hospital-based services are proposed to be replaced by home-based services, that proposals are safe and that local GPs and clinicians are satisfied that home-based services will be sufficient in terms of capacity and quality and that hospital-based services are not decommissioned until home-based services are fully operational;

xii.          To request that the LLR STP leadership team and lead officer sets out an ongoing plan for public engagement beyond formal public consultation requirements to secure wider public awareness of these plans and ongoing public discussion, including with NHS staff and trade unions;

xiii.         To actively scrutinise emerging national proposals relating to STP governance and to ensure arrangements locally meet our expectations of transparency and democratic accountability;

xiv.         To continue to allocate the Council’s Public Health budget to support preventative work to help people lead healthier lifestyles but to seek further monies from the NHS to invest seriously in prevention work to secure better health outcomes across the population.

 

The Lord Mayor put the modification of the motion to the vote and declared it carried.

 

There followed a debate.

 

The Lord Mayor put the modified motion (ie incorporating the modification as accepted by Council) to the vote and declared it carried.

 

37.       Council notes;

i.              The requirement for each area of the country (44 NHS STP ‘footprint’ areas) to develop a Sustainability & Transformation Plan (STP);

ii.             The requirement for STPs to be five year plans covering the period until 2021;

iii.            That the STP for Leicester is part of the Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland ‘footprint’ covering a population of 1.1 million people and including the three Leicester hospital sites and the community hospitals across Leicestershire;

iv.           The City Mayor and majority Labour Group’s manifesto commitment: ‘where acute service changes are proposed that involve replacing hospital based services with community services we are clear that the community services should be up and running and proving to be delivering the necessary quality of care before acute services are reduced’.

 

Council notes with concern:

i.              The financial challenge facing the NHS and social care;

ii.             The proposals to remove a significant number of hospital beds out of the local hospital system when we are seeing day-to-day full capacity and demand for current bed provision, further noting that the precise number of bed reductions is not confirmed;

iii.            The significant capital funding requirements identified as needed to implement the LLR STP and whether that funding will be forthcoming;

iv.           The restrictions imposed by NHS England on the publication of draft plans and the frustration this caused;

v.            The projected financial gap in local NHS budgets of £399 million by 2021;

vi.           The lack of meaningful financial detail published to date regarding LLR STP proposals;

vii.          The ongoing and significant challenges facing primary care in Leicester;

viii.         The significant risk of reducing hospital-based services before ‘home first’ services are fully developed, resilient and are carrying the confidence of clinicians and patients.

 

Council believes:

i.              The NHS is one of Britain’s most cherished institutions. We should recognise the extraordinary efforts of NHS staff every day and this Council believes the NHS should be properly funded, protected for future generations and run today in the best traditions of its founding values.

 

Council resolves, through the Executive and Health Scrutiny Commission:

i.              To demand the Government brings forward extra funding for the NHS and social care urgently to avert this current crisis;

ii.             To specifically seek clarity from the Government regarding when the £350 million a week will be available - which it was claimed by some Government Ministers would be available for the NHS in the event of the UK leaving the European Union;

iii.            To continue to call for a long-term and sustainable funding model for social care and to write to the Government to express our serious concerns about the financial situation facing the NHS and social care;

iv.           To formally request full publication of all LLR STP financial modelling to inform and support meaningful public discussion and scrutiny;

v.            To continue to scrutinise specific elements of the LLR STP including hospital site reconfiguration; GP and primary care services; maternity services and the development of ‘home first’ services through the City Council’s Health Scrutiny Commission and for the conclusions of that scrutiny work to be reported to the Executive, OSC and Council;

vi.           To respond to the formal public consultations on specific STP proposals relating to Leicester hospital site changes and maternity services (and other STP proposals as council sees fit) and for those responses to be informed by the current and ongoing work of the Health Scrutiny Commission;

vii.          To hold further Council debates on specific STP proposals as part of Council’s development and agreement of responses to formal NHS consultation on these;

viii.         To challenge and oppose specific STP proposals where this Council believes – through its assessment of evidence and conclusions of its scrutiny of proposals – that the quality, safety and sustainability of care available to Leicester residents will be put at risk;

ix.           To continue to make mental health a priority and to seek specific assurances from the LLR STP leadership that improving outcomes for mental health will be a priority across all elements of STP work;

x.            To support efforts for wider public discussion and scrutiny of STP proposals locally;

xi.           To set in place work to assure Council that where hospital-based services are proposed to be replaced by home-based services, that proposals are safe and that local GPs and clinicians are satisfied that home-based services will be sufficient in terms of capacity and quality and that hospital-based services are not decommissioned until home-based services are fully operational;

xii.          To request that the LLR STP leadership team and lead officer sets out an ongoing plan for public engagement beyond formal public consultation requirements to secure wider public awareness of these plans and ongoing public discussion, including with NHS staff and trade unions;

xiii.         To actively scrutinise emerging national proposals relating to STP governance and to ensure arrangements locally meet our expectations of transparency and democratic accountability;

xiv.         To continue to allocate the Council’s Public Health budget to support preventative work to help people lead healthier lifestyles but to seek further monies from the NHS to invest seriously in prevention work to secure better health outcomes across the population.