The South Glos Post

Patients hoping to see a GP in Kingswood could be turned away if their needs are not “medically urgent” it has emerged.

Under an agreement introduced by the previous Labour government in 2008, each Primary Care Trust had to provide a GP-led health centre that was open to all patients from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week – whether registered or not with that practice. South Gloucestershire PCT, now re-branded as NHS South Gloucestershire, awarded their contract to the Orchard Medical Centre in Kingswood and for the past two years anyone resident in South Gloucestershire has been able to access Orchard Medical Centre with or without an appointment.

However, at a meeting of the local council’s Health Scrutiny Committee last week, it emerged that as part of an overhaul of urgent care services, the local PCT has changed the contract without consulting anyone. Since May, any patient who is not registered with the practice and whose needs are not deemed to be “medically urgent” will not be treated and will be told to go and see their own GP.

More: Comments from Labour councillors concerned at the change in policy »

Source: Labour Councillors on South Gloucestershire Council

Conservative campaigners have welcomed the local NHS’ plans for Frenchay Hospital and accused of accused Labour Councillors of “gross hypocrisy” over their opposition to plans for employing nursing staff provided through an external company.

It follows a recent meeting of South Gloucestershire Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee, where representatives from North Bristol NHS Trust presented the next stage of plans for a new community hospital on the existing Frenchay site.

Services to be provided include:

• 68 community rehabilitation beds including GP access beds (plus support for an additional 47 patients cared for in the community);
• Outpatient facilities for pain management, care of the elderly, respiratory medicine, gastroenterology, diabetes, orthopaedics, rheumatology, neurology and urology;
• Diagnostic tests including bloods, x-ray, ultrasound and echocardiograms;
• Therapy services such as occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, dietetics, podiatry and physiotherapy;
• Complementary services such as the Head Injury Treatment Centre and the Disablement Services Centre;
• Extra Care Housing, a nursing home and a site for a GP surgery.

Although contracts to downgrade Frenchay Hospital and stripping it of its acute services were signed by the previous Labour government shortly before the 2010 General Election, local Conservatives have been campaigning for the maximum possible health facilities to remain at Frenchay.

Read on: Conservative campaigners comment on Labour “hypocrisy” »

Source: Conservative Councillors on South Gloucestershire Council

Nursing staff at the new community hospital planned for Frenchay will not work for the NHS it has emerged, prompting claims from Labour councillors that Frenchay is being “part-privatised”.

At a meeting of South Gloucestershire Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday, bosses from North Bristol Trust (NBT) who currently run Frenchay said that they do not see themselves as running the new community hospital when it opens in 2014. Instead they intend to put the running of the hospital out to tender and confirmed that the successful bidder would also be expected to provide the nurses to look after the 68 patients undergoing rehabilitation that the new hospital will cater for.

Speaking after the meeting, Labour’s spokesperson on Health, Cllr Ian Scott (Labour, Filton), said;

“This revelation came completely out of the blue. I don’t think anyone ever expected that the new community hospital at Frenchay would not stay entirely within the NHS. It goes to show that the NHS is clearly not safe in the hands of a Tory government.”

(more…)

Source: Labour Councillors on South Gloucestershire Council

A local health and social care watchdog group composed of service users is holding a stakeholder event on Thursday this week (15th September) in Emersons Green.

South Gloucestershire and Bristol Local Involvement Networks (LINks) are linking together to become the joint Local HealthWatch ‘Pathfinder’ (one of 75 announced by the Department of Health on 3rd August 2011).

The LINks will are to evolve to become the Local HealthWatch in October 2012 and will be tasked with providing a collective voice for users of health and social care services and their carers.

Becoming a Pathfinder will ensure that South Gloucestershire and Bristol LINks are at the forefront of becoming a network of networks for collecting the views of local communities which will be used to advise the new Clinical Commissioning groups on the shape of local services to ensure that their future plans are informed by the views of the community.

Find out more about the meeting and how to book a place »