Sutton Council – get off the fence and save our hospital!
‘Sitting on the fence’ councillors dither about the future of St Helier. @WandleValet
Cllr Colin Stears, let’s have some scrutiny from the Scrutiny Committee!
Who is Colin Stears?
Colin Stears has been a Lib Dem Councillor for The Wrythe since 2006. He is currently the Chair of the Scrutiny Committee. He also sits on the Audit and Governance Committee, chairs the SW London & Surrey JHSC sub-committee – Improving Healthcare Together 2020-2030 and sits on the SW London & Surrey County Council Joint Health Scrutiny Committee.
In his day job he is a Management Partner in a large medical centre / GP practice in Lewisham, a part of The Lewisham Care Partnership, and is Managing Director of Lewisham CEPN Training Hub which provides training and development in primary care.
What is Sutton Council’s Scrutiny Committee?
A committee with the responsibility to review and scrutinise matters relating to health, crime and disorder and risk management.
Its key responsibilities relevant to the Improving Healthcare Together (IHT) proposals are:
To consult, be consulted on and respond to substantial changes to local health service provision, including assessing the impact on the local community and health service users.
To scrutinise the impact of interventions on the health of local inhabitants, particularly socially excluded and other minority groups, with the aim of reducing health inequalities.
Members of the Scrutiny Committee have a clear duty to fully inform themselves of the implications for Sutton residents of any changes to our health service provision.
In the view of Hands Off Our Hospital campaigners, Sutton Council’s Scrutiny Committee under its Chair Cllr Stears is demonstrably failing to carry out its duties.
What did Colin Stears advise the Scrutiny Committee on 14th October 2020?
In his introduction he said that they didn’t have enough information to make a decision on whether to refer the IHT decision back to the Secretary of State for independent review, therefore they shouldn’t consider it, but should wait until the Trust’s proposals were more detailed. Cllr Stears said “until we know the detail around that delivery, it is not possible for us as a Scrutiny Committee to say whether it will be detrimental, beneficial or neutral to the residents of Sutton”*.
This is clearly ridiculous - there has been plenty of information available to the committee since July (and before) about the likely impact of the proposals. In the view of the Hands Off Our Hospital Campaign, the grounds for referring the decision to the Secretary of State have been fully met – that the public consultation was inadequate and that the proposals will be detrimental to a large number of residents
* full transcript of Cllr Stears’ introduction to the Scrutiny Committee meeting below
Why doesn’t this add up?
The decision to proceed with IHT and to locate the new unit at the Royal Marsden site in Belmont was made on 3rd July 2020 after years of planning.
Merton Council commissioned an independent expert, Roger Steer, to review the IHT plans. This report was written in March 2020, shared with the SW London & Surrey Joint Scrutiny Sub-Committee on 4th June 2020 and recommended that Merton should oppose the plans on the grounds of poor public consultation, doubt as to whether IHT would deliver better clinical outcomes, solve staffing problems or save costs, and the likelihood of reduced access for more deprived groups. This report is detailed and well-considered and would have been source material for the Scrutiny Committee. However the Joint Scrutiny Sub-Committee decided, without giving its reasons, that the Merton report was ‘outside the remit of’ their sub-committee.
In short, Cllr Stears and the Scrutiny Committee have had ample time – several months in fact – to collect evidence about whether the IHT decision should be referred back. In fact Cllr Stears agreed at a Joint Scrutiny Committee on 29th July to produce a briefing paper – an action which was apparently not shared with Leader of the Council Ruth Dombey – but we can assume that this briefing paper was never written.
There is really no excuse for all these delays, unless the aim is to wave the IHT plans through without offering any objections, while paying lip service to opposing the changes at St Helier. Whatever the motive, the Scrutiny Committee is not fulfilling its function of scrutinising major decisions affecting the lives of Sutton residents. We deserve better service from our elected representatives.
What’s the next step?
Next week’s meeting of the SW London & Surrey JHSC sub-committee has as its main agenda item:
The Improving Healthcare Together (IHT) plan has moved into its next phase with work being led by the Epsom and St Helier Trust under the title ‘Building Your Future Hospitals’
This suggests that Cllr Stears and his various committees have accepted the IHT plans and have no intention of referring back to the Secretary of State or any form of opposition to the downgrading of our hospitals. If this is the case, come clean and stop pretending!
Come on Cllr Stears, come on Cllr Ruth Dombey, Leader of Sutton Council, what have you got to fear by referring the plans for independent scrutiny? if they pass then the development will go ahead as planned, if they don’t then you really shouldn’t be nodding them through.
* Cllr Colin Stears’ introduction to agenda item 6: The Trust’s plan for the next steps of the acute hospital reconfiguration at Sutton Council Scrutiny Committee meeting on 14th Oct 2020
“Can I just clarify this item on the agenda – there has been a lot of emails that councillors have received today regarding suggestions that this meeting will refer to the Secretary of State certain decisions made by local CCGs etc. This meeting is about taking the journey that has happened – the CCGs have put forward a recommendation where the site might be, and in terms of referring to the Secretary of State, it is the Scrutiny Committee’s jurisdiction within Sutton Council, but that can be on a number of grounds – that the consultation was not appropriate and didn’t move forward in the way… and wasn’t acceptable, the other ground for it is actually that the services that are going to be delivered might be detrimental and not suitable for the residents etc. The CCG have moved forward and recommended a site, and it’s the Trust’s responsibility now to develop an overall business plan that will go forward into the process. We don’t yet know the detail around that patient delivery, so until we know the detail around that delivery, it is not possible for us as a Scrutiny Committee to say whether it will be detrimental, beneficial or neutral to the residents of Sutton, so this meeting is about the plans, and questioning the plans of the Trust, this meeting and maybe subsequent meetings moving forward. This meeting is not here to decide whether we refer to the Secretary of State. Although it is this Committee’s responsibility, we have now not collected enough evidence up to date to be able to satisfy whether it might be for the lack of consultation or we’re not happy with the consultation of the CCGs, or we’re not happy with the service delivery pattern by the Trust. And I hope that makes it clear to people who have sent us emails today. We are not dodging the issue, what we are doing is to try to collect a much wider range of evidence about the service delivery that is proposed by the Trust”.
Our reply to Cllr Stears
Hands Off Our Hospital Campaign’s reply to Cllr Stears – no it doesn’t satisfy us and yes you are dodging the issue
You can see a video of the full meeting here: Agenda item 6 starts at 2:00 hours in from the beginning
Further reading
BACKGROUND
History
The various Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) for South / South West London have spent the last several years developing plans to reduce spending on hospital care by merging and cutting services at local hospitals, telling us that this will result in more efficient services. Over the years a number of public relations exercises have been carried out to inform residents and hospital users about the proposals, but there has been little in the way of genuine consultation, which is a two way process and involves listening to and taking on board the opinions and concerns of local people and of experts who may not support the CCGs’ proposals. The plans as presented to the public have gone through several changes as to the number of beds proposed (in total and for each department) and the size, shape and status of the new building at the preferred location (Belmont) for the new acute unit.
The plan
The final proposal, which someone with a sense of humour named ‘Improving Healthcare Together’ (IHT) (by reducing services and failing to properly consult the public) – we prefer to think of it as ‘Cutting Healthcare Costs’ - was decided on by the CCGs on 1st April 2020 in the face of ongoing opposition from patients, healthcare campaigners, local residents and trade unions.
The IHT plan involves moving acute services (not just A&E but 8 other services including consultant led maternity, paediatrics and cancer care) from both St Helier and Epsom hospital to a new unit next to the Royal Marsden. This raises a number of issues around the reduction in capacity, poor site access and increase in travel time, which in turn has a knock-on effect on surrounding hospitals such as Croydon and Kingston.
Reactions to IHT
Opponents of the IHT plans have asked local councils to exercise their right to refer the IHT decision back to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care for independent review, on the grounds of lack of proper public consultation and a worsening of services for a large number of residents.
Merton Council (Labour) voted to refer back to the Secretary of State.
Croydon Council (Labour) voted to support Merton in referring back to the Secretary of State
Sutton Council (Lib Dem) under Scrutiny Committee Chair Colin Stears declined to vote on referring back to the Secretary of State on the grounds that they don’t have enough information.
Ruth Dombey (Lib Dem), leader of Sutton Council, claims to oppose the plans but takes no action and declines to comment on the option available to the Council of referring the plans to the Secretary of State.
Elliot Colburn MP (Conservative) and Paul Scully MP (Conservative) are in favour of the plans and have sent letters supporting IHT to all residents on a facsimile of House of Commons stationery in breach of Parliamentary Standards.
Timeline 2020
March Independent report on IHT produced (commissioned by Merton Council)
4th June IHT documents and Merton Labour Council’s independent report presented to members of SW London & Surrey IHT JHOSC Sub-Committee (of Council representatives)
3rd July The SW London CCGs took the decision to proceed with the IHT plan and approved the recommendations of the IHT Programme to locate the new acute unit (aka Specialist Emergency Care Hospital or SECH) at the Royal Marsden site in Belmont
21st July Merton Labour Council’s Scrutiny Panel vote to refer back to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care the decision to move acute services from St Helier and Epsom Hospitals to a new Sutton site.
29th July at South West London and Surrey Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Colin Stears agrees to produce an off-line briefing paper
Meanwhile NHS Trust go ahead and spend money on plans for the Royal Marsden site ahead of the independent review decisions
13th September Sutton Lib Dem leader Ruth Dombey says she has no knowledge of a briefing paper being prepared by Scrutiny Committee Chair Colin Stears and advises opponents of IHT to take up the matter with their local Tory MPs (who are both in favour of IHT)
22nd September Croydon Labour Council Health & Social Care Scrutiny Sub-Committee agree that they share Merton’s concerns, agree to support Merton’s referral to the Secretary of State and will take a keen interest in the outcome
1st October (or before) the Independent Reconfiguration Panel is reported to be carrying out an initial assessment for the Secretary of State of whether a full review is required
14th October Sutton Scrutiny Committee chaired by Colin Stears refuses to vote on referring the decision to the Secretary of State due to insufficient information
21st October Meeting of SW London & Surrey JHSC sub-committee - agenda item 5 - The Improving Healthcare Together (IHT) plan has moved into its next phase with work being led by the Epsom and St Helier Trust under the title ‘Building Your Future Hospitals’ - implies that Cllr Steers and his various committees have accepted the IHT plans and have no intention of referring back to the Secretary of State or putting up any form of opposition to the downgrading of our hospitals. If this is the case, come clean and stop pretending!
The independent report on IHT produced for Merton Council can be read here
Coming soon – The Great Hospital Land Sell-Off