Meeting documents

This is an opportunity for members of the public to put a question or raise an issue of concern, related to health.   Where possible, the relevant organisation to which the question/issue is directed will be present to give a verbal response.  Members of the public will be invited to speak for up to four minutes on their issue.  A maximum of 30 minutes is set aside for the Public Questions slot in total (including responses and any Committee discussion). This may be extended with the Chairman’s discretion. 

For full guidance on Public Questions, including how to register a request to speak during this slot, please follow this link:

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/about-your-council/scrutiny/getting-involved/

The following public questions have been submitted.

Question received from District Councillor Robin Stuchbury relating to the present consultation on bringing care closer to home by Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust

Q1. I understand that the community hubs pilot resulted in overnight bed closures of 20 beds in Marlow and Thame. Should this pilot be rolled out across the county, will this result in overnight bed closures in our other local hospitals (such as Buckingham, Amersham, Wycombe, Stoke Mandeville)?

This was a concern at the recent public meeting at Buckingham Community Centre where residents felt that the Trust was unable to give their assurance that the beds would not be closed. Please can Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust confirm what is the timescale for a decision on whether to retain overnight beds at Buckingham hospital and how much money per annum do these beds cost the NHS Trust?   And how will that decision be taken and by whom?

Question received from Ozma Hafiz

Q2. Bed closures in Bucks are contributing to national patients being affected with operations delayed at NSIC.  We have less beds in Bucks compared to this time last year. Operations at Oxford have again been cancelled this week (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-43470237) Would the Committee agree that it is time to reopen beds at Marlow, Thame and Wycombe Hospital and restore services to meet population needs. 

Question received from Andrew Clark

Q3. What impact will the potential closure of beds at community hospitals have on the health and wellbeing of disabled people living in the relevant localities, and when will the equality impact assessments of these changes be published?

These three questions have been sent to the Bucks Healthcare Trust for a response.

Question received from Linda Derrick

Given that: 

a) the report on "Developing out of hospital care: Community hubs pilot evaluation and next steps" is dated yesterday

b) the Trust refused to provide a copy earlier and referred me to BCC's website; and 

c) the deadline for questions from the public is 5pm today 

(i) precisely when did the report go on BCC's website?

(ii) how long does this give members of the public to read the report (which is 51 pages long) and prepare and submit questions; and 

(iii) does BCC or the Trust believe this is a transparent, open or democratic way of making and scrutinising decisions on what is an important healthcare issue for residents in Bucks?  

A written response will be sent after the meeting.

The following public questions had been submitted.

The following question had been received from District Councillor Robin Stuchbury relating to the present consultation on bringing care closer to home by Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust (BHT).  The following question was read out by Mr R Stuchbury.

Q1. I understand that the community hubs pilot resulted in overnight bed closures of 20 beds in Marlow and Thame. Should this pilot be rolled out across the county, will this result in overnight bed closures in our other local hospitals (such as Buckingham, Amersham, Wycombe, Stoke Mandeville)?

This was a concern at the recent public meeting at Buckingham Community Centre where residents felt that the Trust was unable to give their assurance that the beds would not be closed. Please can BHT confirm the timescale for a decision on whether to retain overnight beds at Buckingham hospital and how much money per annum these beds cost the NHS Trust?   And how would that decision be taken and by whom?

The following question had been received from Ozma Hafiz and was read out by the Chairman.

Q2. Bed closures in Buckinghamshire were contributing to national patients being affected with operations delayed at NSIC.  We have less beds in Buckinghamshire compared to this time last year. Operations at Oxford had again been cancelled this week (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-43470237) Would the Committee agree that it was time to reopen beds at Marlow, Thame and Wycombe Hospital and restore services to meet population needs. 

The Chairman asked BHT to note the question.

The following question had been received from Andrew Clark and was read out by the Chairman.

Q3. What impact would the potential closure of beds at community hospitals have on the health and wellbeing of disabled people living in the relevant localities, and when would the equality impact assessments of these changes be published?

These three questions had been sent to the BHT for a response.

The following question had been received from Linda Derrick and was read out by the Chairman.

Given that: 

a) The report on "Developing out of hospital care: Community hubs pilot evaluation and next steps" was dated yesterday (11 April 2018)

b) The Trust refused to provide a copy earlier and referred me to BCC's website; and 

c) The deadline for questions from the public was 5pm today ( (12 April 2018)

(i) Precisely when did the report go on BCC's website?

(ii) How long does this give members of the public to read the report (which was 51 pages long) and prepare and submit questions; and 

(iii) Does BCC or the Trust believe this was a transparent, open or democratic way of making and scrutinising decisions on what is an important healthcare issue for residents in Buckinghamshire?

A written response would be sent after the meeting.