Councillors resolve to have meeting in February 2019 to consider whether consultation on Walk In Centres was “adequate”

Councillors resolve to have meeting in February 2019 to consider whether consultation on Walk In Centres was “adequate”

Councillors resolve to have meeting in February 2019 to consider whether consultation on Walk In Centres was “adequate”

                                    

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Wirral and Cheshire West and Chester Joint Health Scrutiny Committee 11th December 2018

Cllr Ben Powell (left) Wirral and Cheshire West and Chester Joint Health Scrutiny Committee 11th December 2018
Cllr Ben Powell (left) Wirral and Cheshire West and Chester Joint Health Scrutiny Committee 11th December 2018

Last week was the first public meeting of the Wirral and Cheshire West and Chester Joint Health Scrutiny Committee to discuss the Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group consultation on Walk In Centres and Minor Injuries Units.

The consultation finished on the 12th December 2018.
Continue reading “Councillors resolve to have meeting in February 2019 to consider whether consultation on Walk In Centres was “adequate””

Councillors pause £129.9m pooled budget with the Wirral CCG for further scrutiny

Councillors pause £129.9m pooled budget with the Wirral CCG for further scrutiny

Councillors pause £129.9m pooled budget with the Wirral CCG for further scrutiny

                                                

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The Wirral CCG is now stuck on the paddle wheel of Wirral Council politics (a rather apt metaphor)

Adult Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Wirral Council) 28th November 2018 Councillors vote for further scrutiny on pooled budgets
Adult Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Wirral Council) 28th November 2018 Councillors vote for further scrutiny on pooled budgets

However hard they tried, however much help they had from Wirral Council’s Director of Adult Social Services Graham Hodkinson and Cabinet Member Cllr Chris Jones Wirral CCG found themselves unable to move forward in the paddle wheel of Wirral Council politics.
Continue reading “Councillors pause £129.9m pooled budget with the Wirral CCG for further scrutiny”

Why are people trying to silence doctors on the subject of patient safety?

Why are people trying to silence doctors on the subject of patient safety?

Why are people trying to silence doctors on the subject of patient safety?

                                    

Dr Mantgani talking to the Adult Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Wirral Council) 12th November 2018 about the Urgent Care Review consultation
Dr Mantgani (centre, foreground) talking to the Adult Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Wirral Council) 12th November 2018 about the Walk In Centres and Minor Injuries Units closure consultation

I’ll start this blog post today unusually with a quote from a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, uttered by Patrick Stewart playing Captain Jean-Luc Picard,

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Star Trek TNG: Series 4 Episode 21 The Drumhead

“With the first link, the chain is forged, the first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably. Those words were uttered by Judge Aaron Satie, as wisdom and warning.”
 

Those are words which will resonate with many whistleblowers and indeed last week I wrote not just one but two pieces about an ongoing Employment Tribunal about a doctor who blew the whistle on patient safety and was told she was not allowed to speak.

On Tuesday, councillors on Wirral Council’s Adult Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee are reviewing a decision by the Joint Strategic Commissioning Board (a joint committee of Wirral Council and Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group) to pool budgets of Wirral Council and the Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group.

It would be fair to say that following the Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group’s decision to ignore the recommendation of the majority of councillors on the Adult Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee to end the Walk-In Centre Closure consultation that relationships between Wirral Council and the Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group are somewhat strained.

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Adult Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Wirral Council) 12th November 2018 Pt 16 of 19

Going back to what I started this piece about on the subject of raising concerns about patient safety. At a recent well attended public meeting Dr Mantgani during the meeting who was also raising concerns about patient safety was also told to keep quiet. Dr Mantgani was the Wirral CCG’s former Chief Clinical Officer but left in 2014 receiving £56,000 in lieu of six months notice. A Capability and Governance Review carried out by John Bewick OBE and published in August 2014 following concerns raised with NHS England recommended external intervention in how the Wirral CCG was run including in the delivery of accident and emergency and urgent care.

Responding to the points raised in this article, Dr Mantgani wrote,

“The payment I received was in lieu of notice which I was entitled. The Bewick review exonerated me of any wrong doing and recognised that I made every effort to address issues but was unable to succeed due to breakdown in personal relationship with the [former] hospital CEO and differences in how to address the problems with the then Chair of CCG Dr Phil Jennings.

The fundamental issue was that I was reluctant to divert all resources to keep a failing hospital propped up at the cost of community services which is what Dr Jennings wanted to do.

Four years on, the issues are the same.”

 

NHS England recently in August 2018 used its formal legal powers of “directions” to Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group. Directions can only be issued if NHS England is satisfied that (a) a clinical commissioning group is failing or has failed to discharge any of its functions, or (b) there is a significant risk that a clinical commissioning group will fail to do so.

Controversial proposed changes in the NHS made for mainly financial reasons have been opposed by protest groups such as Defend Our NHS.

The problems faced by Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group over governance have been well documented over the years by the local media, but now with national intervention and a deterioration in its relationship with local councillors after their recommendation was rebuffed, political matters will reach a stage where the individuals involved will have to consider whether creative leadership is required to find a way through or whether the best option is to leave it to other individuals.

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What did councillors recommend about the Wirral CCG consultation to close (for adults) 3 Walk-In Centres and 3 Minor Injuries Units?

What did councillors recommend about the Wirral CCG consultation to close (for adults) 3 Walk-In Centres and 3 Minor Injuries Units?

What did councillors recommend about the Wirral CCG consultation to close (for adults) 3 Walk-In Centres and 3 Minor Injuries Units?

                                                  

Dr Mantgani talking to the Adult Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Wirral Council) 12th November 2018 about the Urgent Care Review consultation
Dr Mantgani talking to the Adult Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Wirral Council) 12th November 2018 about the Urgent Care Review consultation

Continue reading “What did councillors recommend about the Wirral CCG consultation to close (for adults) 3 Walk-In Centres and 3 Minor Injuries Units?”

What were the 4 recommendations made in a report into problems homeless people on the Wirral have accessing health and social care services?

What were the 4 recommendations made in a report into problems homeless people on the Wirral have accessing health and social care services?

What were the 4 recommendations made in a report into problems homeless people on the Wirral have accessing health and social care services?

                                             

 Bus Stop (Bidston Village Road, Eleanor Road) to Arrowe Park Hospital (8th November 2018) - bus fares were one of the barriers homeless people faced in accessing healthcare services
Bus Stop (Bidston Village Road, Eleanor Road) to Arrowe Park Hospital (8th November 2018) – bus fares were one of the barriers homeless people faced in accessing healthcare services

A report titled Health Without a Home written by Leah Ragan with the help of Healthwatch Wirral looked at the problems homeless people on the Wirral have in accessing healthcare and social care services.
Continue reading “What were the 4 recommendations made in a report into problems homeless people on the Wirral have accessing health and social care services?”