Health service and council budgets are under unprecedented pressure. Ludlow Town Council and the Ludlow and Clee Local Joint Committee (LJC) will be hosting a public debate on 29 September on health and public services.
Health minister and Ludlow MP Philip Dunne will join a panel for a debate on the future of services in the south of the county. He’ll be joined by Cecilia Motley, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for rural services, and George Candler, the council’s director of place and enterprise.
Paul Draper, Mayor of Ludlow, says:
“We are faced with unprecedented challenges here in Ludlow. We are being pressed to take on services from Shropshire Council. At the same time local health services are under threat. We need to fight hard to ensure that rural towns like ours, and the villages in the south of the county, are not cut off from essential services. There is a very real danger that services and health facilities will be sucked out of Ludlow. We may find that we have to travel to Shrewsbury and Telford for many of our essential health and social needs.”
Tracey Huffer, Shropshire Councillor for Ludlow South, says:
“Health services in Shropshire and across England are stretched. Shropshire’s Clinical Commissioning Group is overspending by millions. The planned reorganisation of health services in the county will see one A&E department close. No one knows that’s going to happen to Ludlow Community Hospital over the next few years. It is important that we debate all these issues in public.”
Andy Boddington, Shropshire Councillor for Ludlow North and chair of the LJC, says:
“Rural areas seem to lose out time and time again when budgets are squeezed. I am really pleased that we have both Philip Dunne and Cecilia Motley coming to this meeting. Cuts to the health service could place significant strains on Shropshire Council’s adult services budget. I am also worried that cuts to the council’s budget could increase strains on the local health service. We must discuss these matters locally and make our views heard before decisions are made.”
The meeting is jointly organised by Ludlow Town Council and Shropshire Council’s Ludlow and Clee Local Joint Committee. The debate will run from 7pm on 29 September at Ludlow Church of England School on Bromfield Road. Formal business for the LJC will begin at 6.30pm.
I know of case here in Leeds where a patient was ready to leave hospital but did not have a special bed to go home to or care assistants in place to assist his washing etc. (he needed 4) Therefore he was stuck in hospital till a bed was found and negotiations with the private care services were finalised. This put further costs on the NHS system whilst the budget of the council previously cut had to find the money to pay the care company. The hospital should be linked to the council services The hospital sounds like it could be a hub for the area Concentrating health services in the hospital, including AandE with a respite care ward linked to the council to ensure smooth running of patient care for discharge to home could be talked about. A community nurse,nurses could be based their linked to an emergency phone number to assist people at home or to transport to hospital. Voluntary services could be developed to assist. just thoughts for you to chew on.