12:40pm Wednesday 1st September 2010
By James Connell
A PATIENT leader says the public has been denied a say about the future of the NHS because they were not told about key meetings.
Ann Montague-Smith, chairman of the patient group LINk (Local Involvement Network), has attacked Worcestershire County Council for advertising talks for “stakeholders” rather than the general public.
There were four such stakeholder meetings in August – in Bromsgrove, Malvern, Pershore and Tenbury Wells – to discuss who should run community services, but the general public was not invited to any of them directly.
No press releases were sent out advertising the dates of the meetings and although the public was not barred from attending, they were aimed at people such as councillors and GPs.
Mrs Montague-Smith said: “Normally consultations are open but this hasn’t been. I feel people have been denied their say. I speak for LINk in this. If people knew properly that this was going on, it could be that people would come out of the woodwork.”
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the county’s three main hospitals, is battling with the Worcestershire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust to run community services, including community hospitals in Malvern, Pershore, Evesham, Tenbury Wells and Bromsgrove, district nursing and specialist nursing. NHS Worcestershire, the organisation which holds the purse strings for county healthcare, will take a decision on Wednesday, September 15.
The decision arises out of Government demands that primary care trusts, such as NHS Worcestershire, split their commissioning arm from the £90 million a year “provider arm”, which employs about 2,500 people.
LINk management backs the acute trust, but a mental health sub-group within LINk is backing the mental health trust.
A spokesman for Worcestershire County Council, which organised the meetings on behalf of NHS Worcestershire, said stakeholders including councillors, GPs, LINks and the Hospital League of Friends were invited.
She said: “In addition, some members of the public who had heard about the meetings via word of mouth also turned up.
“It’s important to note here that although the county council hosted these meetings, it was NHS Worcestershire who actually drew up the invitation list.”
A spokesman for NHS Worcestershire said: “These events were aimed at interested stakeholders but were also open to the public who wished to attend and find out more information.”
More than 200 people attended the four events.
There is still time for people to have their say before Friday. Visit the website at worcestershire.nhs.uk.
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