Agenda item

Councillor Ray Ballman moved and Councillor Bob Wright seconded:

“This Council notes: 

·     The Great Western Hospital Emergency Department continues to fail to meet its 4 hour waiting time target and at the last GWH Trust report to the Health Overview & Scrutiny the GWH were 6% below their 95% NHS target.

·         Overcrowding in the Emergency Department remains the GWH Trust’s most pressing challenge.

·        Demand for the Emergency Department continues to be high year on year as, with a 13.4% increase in Emergency Department attendances compared with March 2018 and this trend continues.

·     That at the end of last year, NHS statistics showed that Swindon patients faced some of the longest GP appointment waits in the whole country.

·     The government continues to delay a social care bill with over a million older people in England struggling with unmet care needs.

This Council requests the Leader of the Council to write to the Secretary of State for Health and Swindon two MPs requesting the government set out a clear health and social care strategy addressing these issues, including providing additional money for beds in hospital emergency departments.”

          Councillor Ray Ballman moved and Councillor Brian Ford seconded that the Motion be amended to read:

“This Council notes that:

·       The Great Western Hospital Emergency Department continues to fail to meet its 4 hour waiting time target and at the last GWH Trust report to the Health Overview & Scrutiny the GWH were 6% below their 95% NHS target.

·       Over 70%, of all money raised from Council Tax payers is spent on supporting the most vulnerable who need Social Care.

·       This Council eagerly awaits publication of the Government’s Green Paper on Social Care for Adults.

·       Overcrowding in the Emergency Department remains the GWH Trust’s most pressing challenge.

·       Demand for the Emergency Department continues to be high year on year as, with a 13.4% increase in Emergency Department attendances compared with March 2018 and this trend continues.

·       At the end of last year, NHS statistics showed that Swindon patients faced some of the longest GP appointment waits in the whole country.

·       More money is being invested in the NHS than ever before, and reform is urgently needed to address funding the ever increasing demand for Social care.

This Council requests that:

·        The Leader of the Council writes to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, reiterating the views of the BMA (at the Annual Representative Meeting 2019)in that long waiting times at A&E are not conducive to safe patient care.

·       The Leader of the Council must also request that the Government seeks cross party support for the publication of the Green Paper on Social Care for Adults.

·       The Leader of the council forwards a copy this motion, and any correspondence generated as above, to the Chair of the NHS Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) who is responsible for the allocation of resources and funding to NHS Services in the Borough.”

          The Amendment was put to the vote and declared carried becoming the Substantive Motion.

          The Substantive Motion was put to the vote and declared carried.