Blackburn with Darwen has responded to the health secretary, Andrew Lansley’s offer to listen to stake holder’s comments and to suggest improvements to the Health and Social Care Bill.
A submission has been written for the MP on behalf of the NHS Blackburn with Darwen Teaching Care Trust Plus Board and the Health and Well-Being Board.
The submission was put together following consultation with a group that included local GPs, local councillors, NHS and council officers, and the Director of Public Health.
The group agreed that they were generally comfortable with the overall thrust of proposals believing they were ‘truly empowering and based upon local circumstances – local solution, bottom up approach’.
An invitation was also extended to the health secretary to visit the borough to discuss the changes further.
The submission included a number of suggestions around the proposals and one of the issues raised was that the process of change felt very “top down”.
It was commented that the SHA appeared to be demanding information which appeared to have no purpose and was diverting staff focus away from services to the public.
A recommendation was made that in the spirit of localism and the initial NHS reforms of a “bottom up” approach local solutions need to be given the time and opportunity to develop.
It was also pointed out that a ‘one size fits all’ Clustering approach to NHS commissioning will significantly damage delivery capacity for health improvement.
The submission requested that maximum local sovereignty was allowed to local NHS commissioning services to design systems that best meet local needs.
It also suggested that the government allow the borough to pilot integrated local authority and health commissioning support arrangements to GPCC.
The submission raised a concern over the loss of localism if cost was the main driver.
It stated that it would be best if competition should only be used where there is significant evidence it would bring benefits.
And that it should not be universally and dogmatically adopted as the primary method of health improvement or cost containment in the UK health and healthcare system.
The full submission is attached below.
