Issue - meetings

The Chair invited David King – HaNSAH (Haringey Needs St Ann’s Hospital) – to make his deputation to the Committee.

NOTED:

·               HaNSAH were campaigning for improved, integrated, state of the art health services for now and the future at St Ann’s Hospital.

·               HaNSAH was made up of local residents and health campaigners.  Many of these members were also members of the St Ann’s Community Reference Group (CRG), which had been set up by the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust (BEHMHT), although they had since become disillusioned at the lack of information provided to the CRG, and the lack of influence the CRG has had on the redevelopment plans.

·               The BEHMHT have stated that much of the St Ann’s site was surplus to requirements – but no evidence had been provided to back this up.

·               Members of the CRG had requested information about the use of healthcare facilities in the borough to inform the planning process.  No information was provided to the CRG.

·               The CRG asked the Director of Public Health to carry out a needs assessment focused on the redevelopment, and this request was refused.

·               The CRG had asked for representatives from the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to present their vision of the site, and this has not happened.

·               As a result of this, HaNSAH have carried out their own research and believe that the plans presented for St Ann’s hospital do not meet the current needs, let alone future needs.

·               18 months ago, it had been announced that it would be in the best interests of Haringey residents for the mental health inpatient wards to be moved to Chase Farm.  This was challenged by service users and reviewed twice by the NHS, and was found in favour of the service users each time.  The decision to move the wards was then changed.

·               One year ago, BEHMHT decided to close Haringey ward, despite reports from CQC that seclusion rooms were being used inappropriately as there were no available beds for patients on the wards.  This was recorded 29 times in one month.  Haringey has the 3^rd highest referrals for acute care – closing wards and planning to reduce the number of beds down to 36 was not acceptable.

·               The Haringey JSNA states that 43% of acute admissions were people who were not registered with a GP – HaNSAH requested to know how these people would be reached after services were changed.

·               36 beds on St Ann’s will not meet the future need.  The Health and Social Care Act says that it should be demonstrated that the JSNA has been used in the planning and commissioning of services.  How has the JSNA translated to 36 beds?

·               HaNSAH requested answers to the following:

-       What is the vision?

-       Where are the integrated services?

-       Where are the care pathways?

-       How will patients benefit from this redevelopment?

-       Will it reduce inequalities in health?

The Chair invited Rod Wells to add any comments.  Mr Wells stated that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 256