Councils back Kate Green MP in critique of Trafford’s Health Plans

Manchester has become the latest body to question whether the plans to downgrade A&E at Trafford General are viable without the assurance of investment in other services across the region.

Most significantly, the City Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee joined calls from Kate Green for Trafford’s health provision to be looked at in conjunction with the wider “Case for Change” review across Greater Manchester rather than in isolation.

The Committee agreed with Kate that Community Care urgently “needs to be resolved”. This is absolutely vital. Too often patients are admitted to hospital when they could be better treated at home if only the investment was in place. Everyone seems to agree on improving community care, but just closing A&Es doesn’t make it happen. It’s ludicrous to be cutting the strings to the parachute before we’re safely on the ground.

If we’re moving to new models of care and treatment delivery, we need to see firm commitments rather than vague aspiration. And again, Trafford should not; and indeed can not evolve in isolation. This transformation has be considered across the city-region.

Manchester has raised genuine concerns over the impact that changes in Trafford will have on availability of health provision for Manchester residents. They are right to do so, We need investment in Wythenshawe Hospital’s A%E capacity today, as Kate Green, Paul Goggins MP, and reiterated here by the council’s scrutiny committee.

We need to be assured too about the impact on other services and Manchester has cited the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.

The City Council has produced an excellent report which alongside Trafford’s similar excellent report under the chairmanship of my colleague Cllr Judith Lloyd and ably supported by Labour members, Cllrs Sophie Taylor, Joanne Harding and Kevin Procter.

These two reports will feed into the combined Scrutiny Report across the two councils and to be submitted to the consultation.. The committee meets tomorrow night (Monday, 29^th October  at 6:30pm in Committee Room 11, Manchester Town Hall).

The closing date for the consultation is 31^st October. You can still submit your views online on The new health deal for Trafford website until 5pm on that day.

Mike Cordingley