Cornwall’s Sustainability and Transformation Plans deemed “Not Fit For Purpose”
Cornwall’s Sustainability and Transformation Plans deemed “Not Fit For Purpose” and “Must Do Better”!
Councillor Sue James and Rob Rotchell do not believe just re-organising Health and Social Care in Cornwall will be enough to deal with the current crisis
NHS plan declared “not fit for purpose” by Cornwall Council Health and Social Care Committee – Liberal Democrats lead rejection of Cornwall NHS STP Outline Business Case
A key committee on Cornwall Council has today rejected the Outline Business Case (OBC) for Cornwall’s Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP), which is due to set out the plans for funding and delivering services for Cornwall health and social care for the next five years.
The Government has set Cornwall NHS services a target of saving £277m over the next three years by 2020/21. The business case that has been rejected included reviewing how urgent care services and the community hospital network work, looking at how specialist services such as cancer treatment are provided, and bringing in new ways of working to create greater efficiencies.
Cornwall Council’s Health and Adult Social Care overview and Scrutiny Committee today raised serious concerns about the plan as it stands including: the viability of the financial plans; the implications of increasing debt levels within Kernow Commissioning Group; lack of clarity about proposals for bed closures; and poor engagement with the public, workforce and key stakeholders.
Liberal Democrat Cllr Rob Rotchell, Chair of the committee said: “the outline business case contains serious flaws both in its content and how it has been developed. Consultation with key groups such as GPs and community pharmacists has been lacking, as has meaningful engagement with voluntary groups and the workforce.”
“Underpinning the problems with the STP process as it stands in Cornwall, is the refusal by the Government to adequately fund Cornwall’s health services. Current proposal are to starve Cornwall’s NHS and social care by £277m over the next five years, which will lead to cuts in services. Cornwall’s health and care services are already massively underfunded to the tune of £3m every month.”
“Today, by rejecting the outline business case, we have sent a message to the Conservative government in London and NHS England, that we will not stand idly by and watch Cornwall’s health and care services decline. We have demanded improvement in the plan and we will be scrutinising closely how the plans develop going forward” Cllr Rotchell said.