A Bolton MP has slammed proposals to move out-of-hours services away from a Bolton health centre as ‘not good enough’.
David Crausby said the move is evidence of the ‘death of the NHS by 1,000 cuts’ and has written to Bolton’s Clinical Commissioning Group asking for ‘clear information’ about its plans and the local funding situation.
The Bolton News revealed last month that the CCG is proposing to ‘co-locate’ the out-of-hours service within the Royal Bolton Hospital, moving it away from the Waters Meeting health centre.
Health chiefs insist that this is only a proposal and said a six-week consultation has started. But Mr Crausby, who previously campaigned to re-open the out-of-hours service at Lever Chambers in the town centre, said the proposal is ‘worrying’.
He said: “When I said we need a walk-in centre in town, we were told closing it would have no impact on A&E because we had places like Waters Meeting.
“Now A&E is struggling to meet demand and the plan is to cut services at Waters Meeting as well? It’s not good enough. Bit by bit our NHS services are being taken away.
“Many residents have contacted me because they can no longer see a paediatrician on the NHS in Bolton and may have to go private or struggle on without the care they need — our NHS won’t disappear with one blow. It will be death by 1,000 cuts.”
“It is likely that there will be more to come in the near future. Under the Conservatives’ budgets, increasing numbers of NHS Trusts are finding themselves in deficit. In an attempt to address this the Government has asked the NHS to come up with “sustainability and transformation plans”. These plans are being drawn up with no public engagement, and are expected to contain proposals to reorganise services with spending cuts as the main priority, rather than patient care.”
Mr Crausby said he will be writing to the CCG, adding: “I will be asking for clear information about their plans and the current funding situation in Bolton. I will also share information about any consultation on the plans for Waters Meeting as the public should have their say.”
At last month’s meeting, the CCG’s chief officer Su Long said health chiefs must communicate with the public on the plan. She said: “The first thing we have to do is to talk to people about the potential for such a move and to understand any impact it might have on individuals and what we can do to mitigate those impacts. The national message now is — ‘society has shifted, people are going to access primary care at hospitals, we may as well provide them with the service’.”
Article originally published by The Bolton News
