Success Regime proposals - Consultation report published

The independent report which summarises the results of the public consultation held late last year into the future of West Cumbria's Hospitals has now been published.

The success regime will review the results and decide what they will now propose to do at a meeting to be held in public on Wednesday 8th March.

You can read the executive summary of the consultation report at

http://www.cumbriaccg.nhs.uk/news/Consultation-documents/executive-summary.pdf

The full report is available at

http://www.wnecumbria.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Healthcare-for-the-Future-consultation-Full-Report.pdf

The independent report descrines the success regime proposals as having "mixed support" which is a polite way of saying that thousands of respondents are vehemently opposed to several of the proposals.

There were over five thousand responses of various types.

The most controversial single issue is of course maternity services.

Of those who responded to the consultation questionnaire, 57% (2,097 people) ranked the maternity options and of these 85% regarded maternity option one as the best (or least worst) maternity proposal.

A further 37% of total respondents (1,366 people) refused to rank the maternity options because the objected to all of them. there were also 234 people (6% of those who answered the questionnaire) who did not respond on maternity.

Put these numbers together and 3,148 people were opposed to the removal of consultant-led maternity from WCH. (That's 91% of those questionnaire respondents who expressed an opinion about maternity.)

There was even stronger objection to the idea of losing 24-hour Accident and Emergency care at West Cumberland Hospital (which the Success Resime is not proposing.)

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

The NHS Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group board will be meeting, in public, at the Workington Oval at 10am on Wednesday 8th March to decide what changes they should proceed  with following the consultation.

The agenda for that meeting will be published three working days before.

Any material change in circumstances will require Department of Health approval.

I hope that the CCG will listen to the public and drop the idea of removing consultant-led maternity from WCH. If they don't the community needs to come together and lobby government ministers to reject the proposal.