Tim Goodson
Chief Exeutive DCCG
Dear Mr Goodson,
Below in reply to your letter in Bournemouth Echo today – most posted in the Echo website : Tim Goodson letter to Echo. I have sent you references for all below time and again all on record for anyone who wants to read the documents :
Mr Goodson in his letter is egregiously misleading us all. Words chosen to obfuscate : to enormously mislead. Most critical of all not what Mr Goodson says, but what he avoids saying.
He speaks about “funding” but then does not distinguish critically between operational budgets, and capital investment budget.
The target of Dorset NHS is to reduce operational funding by £147 million a year, year-on-year. This is stated repeatedly time and time again in DCCG public documents : “The need to plug the estimated £157 million funding gap by 2021”. “National funding has not kept pace with rising costs and demands”.
And it is stated in public video by, for instance, Tony Spotwood Director of RBH : “The need to manage financial constraints and shortcomings”.
As for the offer of meetings, I have written repeatedly (ten times over the past two months) to Mr Goodson posing specific questions to which he never replies (one reply in two months). For instance on specifics it is hugely misleading to claim 80% of current visits to Poole A&E will be dealt with by new urgent care centre when the figure is 45% : the majority of A&E patients (37,000 out of 68,000) will have to get out to RBH.
And added to this the claim in Mr Goodson’s letter “of national reports” supporting DCCG claims that downgrading an A&E to an urgent care centre is all to the good when the fact is the professor running the one national study, Professor Jon Nicholls at Sheffield University, concluded “there is no evidence of improved outcomes”. And in any case towns involved in this research with close-down of A&E units were as small as 18,000 populations. But time and again Mr Goodson roles out the same claims but refusing to address the facts.
And travel times, Mr Goodson telling us all is fine as DCCG experts have analysed data. But then the truth, what Mr Goodson will not spell out : analysis was of 34 cases looked at in fine detail out of 650 cases from 2017 known to be life threatening cases with longer journeys. And why only 34 ? – because DCCG have not had the time, and secondly this travel time issue is the huge flaw in their plans they will not face up to.
Just ask yourself, in a major traffic accident with concussion, bleeding, broken limbs – how will you fair if in Christchurch or Bournemouth, one or two mile from RBH A&E, compared to the Poole area out to Upton or Hamworthy, or the Purbecks, 30 miles from the RBH.
The issue is having realistic A&E catchment areas where we can be confident ambulances can get patients into an A&E (for at least stabilising medical treatment) within the golden hour (and that is two-way journey, ambulance out to incident, and back, within the hour). That is how critical this issue is.
In all these respects what value in attending a meeting with DCCG staff when their position is clearly cast in stone. The issue is public information, DCCG addressing specific key points in public. Notably for the first time now in two years this issue has been running a letter in public media from Mr Goodson.
And that said make no mistake about it Dorset NHS operational budgets (as nationally) are being hugely cut. Yes there will be investment in centres of excellence but this is no compensation when the one A&E centre is up to 30 miles away from patients. No compensation for reducing from two A&Es to one A&E. And likewise for maternity – two are needed with a 460,000 conurbation and growing.
Bottom line, contrary to Mr Goodson’s grossly misleading claims, DCCG are running a huge operational funding reduction plan “to take down operation budgets by £157 million a year by 2021”. THAT IS THE FIVE YEAR PLAN.
This is often reworded as “underfunding deficits” or “overspending inefficiencies” but it all points to the same issue : DCCG is massively cutting operational budgets to fit government targets. Hence the close-downs of whole departments and NHS generally in overloaded melt-down before out eyes.
But Mr Goodson will not reply to any of the specific points as above. He has not done so in repeated requests in two months. DCCG do one-way delivery marketing and presentations – as all corporations. And in this respect capital investment is highlighted whilst for the rest, the huge operational funding reductions and close-downs of whole departments, we have rock silence.
But then Mr Goodson is deeply concerned that referral back to the Secretary of State could collapse the whole plan. £147 million capital investment is contingent on cutting operational budgets (similarly £147 million, hence confusion exploited by DCCG), and that then with closure of Poole A&E and maternity. It all goes back bottom line to government funding policy. We either accept it, or we demand fully funded A&Es and maternity for all our major towns – no-one gets left behind.
As I’ve said to you repeatedly Mr Goodson in every email for two months any specific points inaccurate or wrong then do reply and correct. But you have not done so have you in two months. Time and again refusing to lay out the public budgets in terms we can all understand, starting with distinguishing NHS operational budgets from capital investment budgets – including sale of land and buildings vacated by the close-downs, i.e. Poole maternity building and community hospital land and buildings.
Jeff Williams
Parktone
Poole
