The motion was moved by Councillors Maurice Groves and Debbie Shears.

The amendment set out at item 23 was moved by Councillors Linda Kirby and Stan Anderson.

The amendment was put to the vote.

Voting in favour: 33

Voting against: 22

Carried.

The substantive motion was agreed.

RESOLVED:

This Council notes the statement issued on 6th January 2014 by the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) of Merton, Kingston, Sutton, Richmond, Wandsworth and Croydon:

“The six south west London CCGs are actively discussing the next steps for local health services following the withdrawal of Surrey Downs CCG from the BSBV programme. As we have made clear in the past, the BSBV business case is now invalid and the options put forward through the programme are no longer on the table for consultation. It follows that all six CCGs are in the process of dissolving the committees to which they had delegated decisionmaking on BSBV.

“However, the challenges outlined in the BSBV case for change remain. If we do not address these challenges, we know that local services will decline in quality and that we will not be able to meet the required quality and safety standards. We are discussing with each other and with our boards how we address these challenges and we hope to make a further announcement in February.”

Council notes its resolution on 12 September 2012 to “vigorously oppose [..]the proposal to close accident and emergency and maternity services at St. Helier Hospital [and] resolves to continue to do everything in its power to keep St. Helier Hospital’s accident and emergency, maternity services and other related services open.”

This Council therefore cautiously welcomes that the preferred BSBV options posing a threat to services provided at St Helier hospital are now no longer viable and are therefore not now being consulted on as part of the BSBV programme.

However, this Council recognises that under NHS Call to Action the long term viability of healthcare across the south west London region is still an issue for consideration by the CCGs.  The South West London CCGs continue to believe the current configuration of hospitals is neither clinically nor financially viable, and therefore reconfiguration of local health services still remains as a threat.

Council is appalled that the Chief Executive of the Merton CCG responded to a letter from Siobhain McDonagh MP on 24 January 2014 confirming that the £219m redevelopment of St Helier hospital no longer features in their plans. 

Council is further concerned that NHS England wrote to all South West London CCGs on 23 December last stating that their refusal to allow hospitals to take on foundation status “could be interpreted as commissioners planning for clinical and financial failure in some of its providers [hospitals].”  Council would be extremely concerned if it was planned that any of our local hospitals would fail.

In light of the above, council recognises that this is no time for complacency and there is still a very real threat to services at St Helier hospital.

Therefore this Council resolves to request that the Leader of the Council write to the Secretary of State, Jeremy Hunt (who on 7 November 2012 confirmed in his reply to a letter from the Leader of the Council that he makes the final decision on the future of St Helier hospital), to ask that the £219m development of St Helier hospital be reinstated and that he confirm that St Helier’s A&E , maternity and associated services are safe and that there is no plan to allow local hospitals to fail, either clinically or financially, due to the withholding of foundation trust status; and that the Chairman of Merton’s Healthier Communities and Older People Overview and Scrutiny Panel asks the Chairman of our local CCG, Dr Howard Freeman, to attend the next Healthier Communities and Older People scrutiny panel meeting in order to update Members on the current position with regard to our local health services and the next steps being considered going forward.

This Council also requests that the panel members ensure that Dr Freeman is fully aware of the high regard felt by Merton residents for the professionalism and sympathetic care provided at St Helier Hospital by its staff, the  strong desire of the borough’s residents to preserve A&E and Maternity Services at St Helier for the future, and the council’s agreed policy of vigorously opposing any downgrading of services at St Helier hospital.