HILARY IS ON A WAR FOOTING
OVER
HOSPITAL
CRISIS

There was a County Council Cabinet meeting this week which discussed our new hospital. A press release below outlines the very worrying outcome. Hilary Biles our County Councillor tells us....

"I spoke at the Cabinet meeting on behalf of Chipping Norton. I begged them not to consider closure. I met with David Cameron last Friday to ask him to call a meeting of relevant parties (including Barry Norton and myself)  to include Inland Revenue and Customs and Exexcise to try and thrash this out as it will not only affect us but any other partnership in the UK – which is exactly what the government encourage. David is doing that and he dictated the letter in front of me. I am on a ‘war footing’!!!!!"

OCC PRESS RELEASE.............

Council committed to new care home for Chipping Norton - but issues stark warning

Oxfordshire County Council is determined to see through the development of a new care home and modern health care facilities at Chipping Norton. That was the commitment given by the council’s policy-making Cabinet Committee on Tuesday 19 December when the replacements for the existing care home at Castle View and the closed War Memorial Hospital were discussed. But senior councillors also issued a stark warning that the council - on advice - would be forced to withdraw from the scheme, if NHS accounting rules and VAT issues have not been resolved by the time the council’s Cabinet Committee meets in March.

Under the scheme the council would buy 20 care beds in the new development - which would also include a primary care centre - while the Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) would buy 14. A further 16 care beds would be let out to private purchasers. The council is all ready to go ahead, but the PCT is battling to overcome two major obstacles thrown up by national bureaucracy.  

The first problem is that the PCT is depending on cash from the sale of the closed War Memorial Hospital to pay for its part of the scheme. But national NHS rules say that if, as expected, the building sells for a lower price than the artificial “book price” that their finance people have determined for the building, the PCT will have to make up the shortfall. This would leave the PCT with less cash than anticipated. The second problem is that Revenue and Excise officers are at present insisting that the scheme developers, the Order of St John’s, pay £475,000 VAT - related to the PCT’s allocation of beds - on the building costs.  This would force the OSJ to increase the cost of all the beds so much that the county council could not justify spending tax-payers’ money on them.

If the county council is forced to withdraw from the scheme, it will reluctantly have to close Castle View, which is in a poor state of repair and unable to accommodate people in need of very high levels of care. Instead, it would fulfil its undertaking to buy 20 social care beds in the Chipping Norton area by buying from independent care homes.

County councillor and Cabinet Member Don Seale said: “We are totally committed to this excellent scheme which would really benefit local people. Unfortunately the powers that be at national level are making it extremely difficult for the PCT to fulfil its side of the bargain. There is a limit to the amount of time we can keep Castle View open. It’s in a poor state of repair and cannot meet modern requirements for bigger rooms and access for disabled people. At some stage we have to draw a line. We can only hope that the national bureaucrats whose rules are currently blocking progress can be persuaded to join us in finding a way around the problems.”

REASSURANCES ABOUT OUR HOSPITAL

LIBDEMS PUT ON THE PRESSURE
IN THE HOSPITAL PLANNING FARCE

We understand that the committee decided on Monday to refer the matter to a special meeting of the Development Control committee as soon as the Environmental Assessment is received. Hopefully things are now on the fastest track possible.

HOSPITAL CRISIS: DISTRICT COUNCIL TAKE UP THE FIGHT

(a) That the Strategic Director (Environment) and Cabinet Member for Health writes on behalf of the Council to the Leader of Oxfordshire County Council and the Chair of the Oxfordshire PCT expressing the Council’s serious concern that essential health and social care facilities in West Oxfordshire may be lost if a number of financial and planning issues cannot be resolved by 31^st March 2007.

(b) The letter calls for all parties concerned in the planning and delivery of the scheme, along with key stakeholders, to meet at the earliest opportunity to agree any actions that need to be resolved in order to ensure that the new care home and primary care facility proceeds in 2007.

Make no mistake - in the bureaucratic world of local government - an "expression of serious concern" - is strong stuff. But much more important is the District Council's constructive proposal to convene a round table meeting of all the stakeholders to try and thrash out a solution. That sounds like exactly the right idea. We understand that our County Councillor Hilary Biles is co-ordinating this campaign and that David Cameron is taking a leading role in the effort to try and bash heads together. We wish them every success and they need our support.

Its a very difficult time to organise anything. The Cabinet Meeting is next Wednesday - just one working day away. The resolution was only just published. But there is absolutely nothing more important than this on the Town Agenda for 2007. The Action Group AND the Town Council both need to be participating in that Cabinet Meeting on Jan 3rd to show our support and solidarity. And we desperately need a group of townspeople down in Witney showing that we haven't thrown the towel in on our hospital yet.

AGENDA  http://www.westoxon.gov.uk/council/meetings.cfm/1912

ONE LAST PUSH EVERYBODY!

As everyone will know by now the plans for a new hospital and care home have run into some last minute snags which need time to sort out. Lots of people are working hard to try and find answers. Not least a powerful Tory group consisting of Hilary Biles (our County Councillor), David Cameron (our MP) and Barry Norton (Leader of WODC).  But this is a cross-party effort. Eve Coles (Labour District Councillor)  and Stuart Brookes (LibDem Leader on WODC) are working their socks off to try and help move things forward. The Officers of WODC and particularly Cath James are all pushing for solutions. Two weeks ago the Cabinet of the County Council took an extremely unhelpful step. They imposed a deadline and said that if the NHS hadn't sorted everything out by March 31st then the County Council would be withdrawing from the Care Home part of the deal - which would effectively kill the whole thing. Hospital included. This week the Cabinet of WODC reacted angrily to this move and have written to the County asking for the deadline to be lifted (report below). Next Tuesday (9th January) the County Council Cabinet decision is reported to the Full Council. We absolutely must get this March 31st deadline lifted. David Cameron has convened a a crisis meeting for all parties to try and thrash things out. That meeting must be allowed to happen without the pressure of some stupid deadline. We know the local Tories are lobbying hard. Hilary Biles is meeting the Leader of OCC on Sunday to put the case. Have the Local Labour Party and LibDems contacted their party's county councillors to try and win their support? What are the League of Friends doing? Our vicar and Rural Dean Canon Stephen Weston (who is Chair of CHUG - the Chippy Healthcare User Group) will be addressing the Council meeting on behalf of the people of Chippy and surrounding villages emphasising our hopes that a way forward can be found - with goodwill and tolerance on all sides. The Council Meeting is at County Hall in Oxford at 10am on Tuesday. It would be good if we could try and fill the Public Gallery and let the councillors know that the people of Chippy are still on the case. The odd placard might attract some media interest!! This meeting is truly important. Please try and get there if you can.

A LAST TRY TO SAVE THE NEW HOSPITAL

But the fact is that the County Council (Social Services) led us (and the NHS) into this quagmire with an incredibly complex scheme - without having done the necessary homework or having done a proper business plan - trying to keep action groups quiet along the way with phoney consultations, half-baked and often misleading information. How is it conceivable that a department responsible for running multi-million pound projects with Private Health Care companies was not aware of basic VAT issues in public/private partnership projects? It is simply not conceivable. It is ridiculous that the County Council - who are one of the main architects of the mess we are in - should be imposing deadlines. The scheme has now come unstuck and can only be put back together with a couple of big favours from central government. And why - can someone please explain - would anyone expect the Treasury or the Department of Health to each grant a big favour to a community hospital in D. Cameron's constituency? It just ain't gonna happen folks. Its not the real political world. We are whistling in the wind.

Let David Cameron try a round table meeting. It will be a last try. But some of us are afraid that the only solution on offer will be that the whole scheme (including the hospital) should be Private and run by the Order of St John. That's when we should draw the line, dig our heels in and get back to basics - and remind ourselves that this whole thing is about keeping a real hospital and not saving the County Council's face.

What we will then need to do is to single-mindedly make the case for a new 14-bed hospital PLUS maternity beds PLUS a Minor Injuries Unit PLUS X-ray PLUS Consulting and Physiotherapy Rooms PLUS a room for minor operations PLUS a paramedic base PLUS two doctor's surgeries on the present hospital and ambulance station sites. The Hospital run and staffed by the NHS. The Building financed by WODC on land owned by the NHS. (Along the lines of Pershore - see below) If the League of Friends and the two surgeries could be persuaded to lead such a campaign I believe the town would be prepared to mount a huge fund-raising effort to help secure the best and latest equipment.  A clear-headed plan like that with strong local leadership would free us from all the bureaucratic in-fighting and get some real momentum and backing. I'm absolutely sure of it!

These are the personal impressions and views of an extremely angry Town Councillor Alcock (to whom all writs should be addressed) and not of the Chipping Norton Hospital Action Group.

PERSHORE & BICESTER FIND A WAY FORWARD ON HOSPITAL FINANCING - SO WHY CAN'T WE?

The leader of Cherwell District Council says he is happy to write a cheque to build Bicester a new hospital - if health officials want one. Campaigners have been pushing for a modern community hospital in the town for years and now Cherwell's leader Barry Wood is backing a scheme in which the council will pay for it. The authority would use money from its reserves to pay for the building and rent it to the Oxfordshire NHS Primary Care Trust at a discounted rate. However, the council would be earning more than it would from interest if the money was left in the bank. Mr Wood's comments came after two of his fellow councillors visited Pershore in Worcestershire, where a similar project backed by Wychavon District Council opened its doors last month. He said: "From Cherwell's viewpoint we still think that a Wychavon-style solution has great merit. The key is whether the new Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust actually wants a hospital at all. The Wychavon thing is a marvellous idea and Cherwell would put its hand in its pocket to secure that for Bicester."
READ THE FULL STORY

A HOSPITAL TO LEARN FROM?

Tory leader joins fight
to rescue hospital plan

By Anita Deshmukh

The meeting will include representatives from Oxfordshire County Council, West Oxfordshire District Council, the strategic health authority, Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust, the Order of St John, which will be responsible for the care home, and Revenue and Customs. Mr Cameron said: "It's an opportunity for everyone to get around the table and thrash out the financial issues involved. It would be a tragedy if the new hospital, care home and GP surgery, which people have been working and hoping for over the past few years, was allowed to fall away."

Chipping Norton Town Council is holding an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the crisis. Mayor and council chairman Gina Burrows said: "The issue is of immense importance to the community and to us as elected representatives." Canon Stephen Weston, of St Mary's in Chipping Norton, who is chairman of the current hospital users' group, has made an impassioned appeal to Oxfordshire County Council to keep faith with the new hospital. The county council, a major funding partner in the project, has set a deadline of March 31 for the financial issues threatening the plan to be sorted out. There are fears that the VAT bill will render the whole project uneconomic. The plan for the combined hospital and care home is one of the first of its kind in the country. It comes as a result of the Government encouraging health authorities to work with outside partners on major projects. The decision thrashed out will be critical to future NHS plans.


(David has been involved in the Fight since the very beginning. He's pictured here two summers ago launching the campaign with members of the Hospital Action Group)

HOSPITAL: DEAL OR NO DEAL?

The PCT told the Chipping Norton Healthcare Users Group and the Action Group on Friday 12th January that a possible way through has been found on the VAT problem which had been threatening to scupper the whole new hospital deal. But it comes at a big cost! Provided the Intermediate Care Beds are serviced and staffed by the Order of St John - who run the Care Home - and not by the NHS, then VAT can be reclaimed. Which solves the money problem. This means that the nurses who look after the Intermediate Care beds will not be NHS nurses. The NHS will be "buying in" the whole service on the "hospital" beds from the Order of St John - a Private Company. The NHS say their contract will specify service levels and ensure that standards are maintained. They will be the quality controllers. Maternity, Physiotherapy, Special Clinics etc will stay with NHS management and staff. So now the deal is clear....to make this whole thing work financially, all the residential parts of the operation (36 Care Home beds and 14 Hospital beds) will have to be handed over to a Private Company to run. Some people are very scared about that prospect. More than that two years ago, 11,000 people signed a petition demanding that the hospital nurses should be kept within the NHS.

The alternative would be to say that we should drop the whole idea of putting a Care Home together with a Hospital. The County Council would then "buy in" the 20 residential care beds it requires in local Private Nursing Homes. The NHS have told us that they would not close the present hospital. However it would soon become out of date and probably vulnerable. The town would need to work with the NHS to try and immediately develop a viable way of building a new 20-bed standalone hospital. There are several models for how this might be done. We would need the backing of the District who might be prepared to undertake the building of the hospital from their huge cash reserves (just as Cherwell are proposing to do in Bicester). The County Council would surely be prepared to see their £400,000 Chippy Fund devoted to a hospital. And every residential development in the town from now on (including the County's development of the Castleview site) would be required to make a substantial Section 106 contribution. The Hospital League of Friends will empty its coffers and chip in. On top of which we will have to mount the biggest fund-raising drive that the town has ever seen.

Is Chippy up for such a campaign or is everyone tired of the whole thing preferring to settle for what's on offer?  Time for everyone to declare.

Back in the days when Hilary supported the Petition to keep
hospital beds in the NHS. What does she think now?
 

OCC CABINET BACK AWAY
FROM THEIR DEADLINE

Uncertainty prompts public meeting

SOLID SUPPORT FOR
HOSPITAL CAMPAIGNERS
FROM THE TOWN COUNCIL

Main Speakers on Monday were Canon Stephen Weston, "Chunky" Townley and Clive Hill

About 40 members of the public turned up last night (Monday 22nd January) to a special meeting of the Town Council – convened by the Mayor Gina Burrows to discuss the latest hospital situation. Quite a cross section it was too…..members of the action groups, the League of Friends, a delegation from the local Conservative party, journalists, spies from the PCT, nurses from the hospital and many other concerned residents. There is no doubt that interest in the hospital development is still very strong and committed. All these people were there because they cared. The meeting began with presentations from Chunky Townley (Chairman of the Hospital Action Group), Stephen Weston (Chairman of Chipping Norton Health Care User Group) and Clive Hill (Secretary of the Hospital Action Group). Over the last few years these three gentlemen have performed tirelessly in front of all kinds of committees and public meetings. They are well-informed, sincere and persuasive. The Council and the public were knocked out by them. We are incredibly lucky to have advocates like this fighting for the hospital. The Vicar has god on his side which helps but Chunky and Clive have a special passion which comes from being born in the War Memorial Hospital – and having their own kids born there. All three men feel a very personal responsibility to maintain the vital role of the hospital in the town’s life. The message was the same from Chunky, Steve and Clive. After the frustrations of dealing with a succession of PCT Chief Executives in the last three years (we are now on to the fourth), of surviving a whole series of broken promises, of overcoming so many hurdles - we were now on the last stretch. A stupid bureaucratic snag about VAT remains which means that the hospital beds cannot be staffed by NHS nurses. The government have said they want partnerships. The NHS have told us that “seconding” nurses to the Order of St John is their “preferred solution” but this is being prevented from happening by daft rules. The Care Home is exempt from VAT. The Hospital is exempt from VAT. But put the two together and plan for one to supply meals to the other and you run up a VAT bill on the building costs alone of £500,000 – and then there’s a continuing charge on services. Its bonkers. The town has made it clear that it wants the hospital beds to remain in the NHS. They believe it to be the only way that the loyalty of the present staff will be retained and the highest care standards will be delivered. The Action Groups are still fighting to try and ensure this happens. Nobody is giving in yet! David Cameron has convened a round table meeting for February 16^th to see if a way through can be found. The speakers pleaded with everybody in the town to keep up the pressure, write letters, use all possible contacts.  Edwyn Stobart (Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Association) also addressed the Council and wanted somebody to explain to him why the hospital and the Care Home had been put together in the first place. It was this which had created all the problems. Every councillor – without exception – spoke in full support of the CHUG/HAG position. Pat Lake led the charge to the barricades and demanded a really tough letter from the Town Council to the VAT people telling them in no uncertain terms how we feel about their daft interpretation of the regulations. Jo Graves (Chair of the League of Friends) urged everyone to stay the course. Rob Evans was using his personal contacts in government to try and bring pressure. Keith Greenwell still wanted to explore other options if the VAT issue could not be solved but for the time being he agreed we should all continue to press for a solution.  John Grantham read some quotes from a Royal College of Physicians report which pointed out how intermediate care beds were being manipulated across the country for political purposes. Gerry Alcock reminded the council how much cash the OCC would be pocketing so perhaps they could be a bit more flexible about the prices they will pay OSJ for beds in the Care Home. Eve Coles highlighted the anxieties of staff in Castleview and the hospital while all the uncertainty continues. Eventually Martin Jarrett urging the strongest possible backing for the CHUG and HAG proposed a resolution which was seconded by Mike Dixon. It was passed unanimously……

"This Council acknowledges and is grateful for all the hard work which has gone into developing proposals for a new care Home and Hospital facility in Chipping Norton - by members of the original Stakeholders Group, by members and officers of OCC and WODC , by the directors and employees of  three different PCT s and the OSJ, by members of the Hospital Action Group and Healthcare Users Group  and not least by our MP. 

The Council is appreciative and highly supportive of the proposals currently being discussed. However,the Council is also mindful of the strongly expressed wish by the community to keep intermediate care beds within the NHS and understands how interpretations of  VAT regulations have so far prevented the scheme from achieving this "ideal" outcome. The Council urges all parties to make one further urgent effort to see if any way can be found to allow hospital beds to remain within the NHS"

'Immoral' threat
to new hospital

Friday 16th February is
D-day for new hospital

By Anita Deshmukh
 

Mr Cameron will chair a meeting at West Oxfordshire District Council's base in Witney involving the health authority, local councils and representatives from Revenue and Customs. It is an attempt by the latter to levy VAT on the project costs that threatens to scupper it. The meeting will also include representatives from the Order of St John, which will be responsible for the care home, Chipping Norton Town Council and Canon Stephen Weston, who chairs the local healthcare users' group. Mr Cameron said: "It would be a tragedy if the scheme, which people have been working and hoping for over the past few years, was allowed to fall away."

Oxfordshire County Council, a major funding partner in the project, has set a deadline of March 31 for the financial issues threatening the plan to be sorted out. Opponents of the move to slap VAT on the project argue it will render the whole scheme uneconomic. The plan for the combined hospital and care home is one of the first of its kind in the country and comes as a result of the Government encouraging health authorities to work with outside partners on major projects. As such, any decision thrashed out at the meeting will be critical to future NHS plans. Under current tax rules, it may prove impossible to keep the hospital staff and beds within the NHS.

Chipping Norton's Labour-controlled town council has enlisted the help of Labour Party chairman Hazel Blears to use her influence in sorting out the Treasury tangle. The town council held an emergency meeting to discuss the hospital crisis and issued a resolution urging all parties to make one final effort to see if any way could be found to allow the hospital beds to remain within the NHS.