Unusually about forty people were in the audience of last night’s meeting, so many that Committee Room 2 had to be opened up so everybody had somewhere to sit.
The proceedings were interrupted several times, with the Chair calling for calm. The committee heard from one of the consultants at Arrowe Park Hospital Mr R Chandrasekar. It also heard from:-
Kathy Doran, Chief Executive of NHS Cheshire, Warrington and Wirral (West Cheshire)
Gary Doherty, Acting Chief Executive Wirral University Teaching Hospital (the NHS Trust that covers Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge hospitals) NHS Foundation Trust
Peter Herring, Chief Executive Countess of Chester NHS Foundation Trust
The Labour Chair read out the long history of the matter, stating that more people would be inconvenienced by longer journeys to the Countess of Chester, that Wirral had higher rates of vascular disease, that Arrowe Park Hospital was a renal centre and that it met the four criteria.
She then proposed a motion. Her motion called for the matter to be referred to Wirral Council’s Cabinet, however a Conservative amendment (accepted by Labour as friendly) agreed that vascular services shouldn’t be moved from Arrowe Park Hospital to Chester but called for a report to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee after the 12 week public consultation on the change (which will run from December to February of next year).
The amended motion was accepted and agreed unanimously by all councillors.