Last week Emma spoke in Parliament to defend South Tyneside District Hospital against the possible downgrading of acute services. The debate centred on Government imposed NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STP) which are expected to lead to significant cuts or changes to frontline services.
The Government led plans have tasked local areas with making significant cuts to local hospital services under the guise of better patient care and improved NHS efficiency around the needs of local populations.
STPs are five-year plans covering all areas of NHS spending in England. A total of 44 areas have been identified as the geographical ‘footprints’ on which the plans will be based, with an average population size of 1.2 million people (the smallest area covers a population size of 300,000 and the largest 2.8 million). A named individual has been chosen to lead the development of each STP. Most come from clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and NHS trusts and foundation trusts, but a small number of STP leaders come from local government.
Back in March, Emma raised concerns about the alliance between Sunderland Royal and South Tyneside District hospital fearing that it would mean the downgrading of services in the future which is now coming to pass.
Along with constituents, Emma and trade unions have been campaigning for months to protect frontline services such as A&E, maternity and stroke services which are under threat from this latest top-down reorganisation of the NHS put forward by the Conservatives.
The secret plans for South Shields which is part of the “footprint” area ‘Northumberland, Tyne and Wear’ have not yet been published or even seen by hospital governors despite the fact that the Government’s timetable to begin the implementation of the plans begins this Autumn.
This leaves no room for the public to be properly consulted about radical changes to their local hospital which could mean increased travel to access life and death services.
The whole process agreed by the Government in December 2015 lacks transparency and the timeline announced by NHS England, but directed by Government, is insufficient to finalise such a major restructure of the NHS.
These plans are by the hospital’s own admission a “radical reconfiguration and transformation of services’ which could see acute services moving to Sunderland. The Government have no mandate to make such monumental changes without consulting the public properly.
South Tynesiders will remember that Palmer’s Walk-In Centre in neighbouring Jarrow, which was initially introduced to relieve pressure on A&E services in South Shields was closed down in the face of public opposition just last year. Now the over-stretched A&E services in South Shields may be closed and added to the over-stretched A&E Services in Sunderland. Forcing people to go farther and farther afield to access supersize and super-stretched emergency services could have fatal consequences.
You can read Emma’s speech here.
Following the debate, Emma said,
‘’As usual the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt couldn’t be bothered to show up at another vital debate regarding our NHS. And his stand-in did not address any of Labours’ concerns. All we heard from the opposite side of the House was that they are putting more money into the NHS than Labour did which is totally untrue. If that was the case why are they forcing hospitals to make up for the £22 billion black hole in funding that is crippling our NHS? The truth is, the NHS was never better funded than under the last Labour Government. The NHS has been in decline since the Tories got their hands on it – a deliberate ploy to run the NHS in to the ground so they can privatise it. We know exactly what they are up to and we will do everything we can to stop them decimating our hospitals.”
If you would like to join the campaign to Save South Tyneside Hospital please click here