Health Matters column: New Neighbourhood 10 Year health plans revealed

Last month was the first opportunity for residents to preview how the newly formed Central East Health Boards - Neighbourhood Plan will deliver the Government strategy aimed at moving health and care services closer to local communities for this region over the next 10 years. 

Regardless of your personal politics the 10 Year Plan would be a positive response to the issue highlighted in the Darzi Report that “too great a share of the NHS Budget is being spent in hospitals, too little in the community”.

This aligns with the concerns expressed by over 5,000+ Leighton Buzzard residents who responded to the Patient Survey co-ordinated by the town's Patient Participation Groups in April 2023.

And considering the strategic shift is designed to deliver joined up care seamlessly to populations of around 50,000 via Integrated Neighbourhood Teams and a Programme of Neighbourhood Health Centres designed to be "one-stop shops" that house GP practices, diagnostics, minor injuries, and preventative services, you would think that Leighton Buzzard would be at the top of list now that the Care Board has designated our Town one of 4 Neighbourhoods for Central Bedfordshire all on its own? 

Sadly no.

At the same time as the plan has been unveiled Central Bedfordshire Council has quietly removed its previous commitment for a £10m Budget allocation for future Health Infrastructure because they say the ICB doesn’t identify a need?

The ICB is telling us that the seven remodelled rooms at the 1970’s clinic plus maybe an extra 3 shoehorned into a future Community Centre at Clipstone is all the extra capacity we will need for the next 10 years!

So I will be speaking at the next Central Bedfordshire Council meeting to ask why they are so ineffective in working with the ICB ,why if they are so financially prudent did a cash strapped Bedford Bough Council become the primary negotiator of a £5m investment from Central Government to deliver a new Surgery for Wixams in less than 2 years, when residents saw no progress by Central Bedfordshire in the previous 14 years, ultimately contributing only iro £560,000 of Section 106 funding? 

I have also written to the new Director for Neighbourhood Health and Partnerships at the Care Board to challenge their assumptions as extra capacity only addresses future population growth not the fundamental problems patients experience with access to their GP , distances they have to travel and the complete lack of transparency on data they claim supports these decisions.

I will provide updates via our Facebook Group – Leighton Linslade Health Matters and our Youtube Channel – Leighton Buzzard Health.

We will be at the Community Market on Saturday 6th June, why not come along and a chat with us. Your views are important.