Minutes:
(Councillor L Bartoli left the meeting for this item)
It was moved by Councillor L Bones and seconded by Councillor O Scargill that:
NHS healthcare is at the top of residents’ priorities and the Government are committed to reducing NHS waiting lists, with over £3 billion extra per year to help tackle the backlog caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. However locally residents are still forced to travel out of North Tyneside to access 24-hour emergency care, which is particularly difficult for residents that do not drive.
North Tyneside Council believes that our residents would receive better healthcare provision within the borough if 24-hour accident and emergency care was re-instated at Rake Lane and the walk-in centre at Battle Hill reopened.
North Tyneside Council notes that it was a conscious decision taken by the NHS trust to relocate these services out of the Borough.
North Tyneside Council asks the Mayor to :
- Write to the NHS Trust asking them to set up a taskforce, with local authority involvement, to improve access to emergency care in North Tyneside, with a particular focus on restoring 24-hour accident and emergency at Rake Lane and walk-in services at Battle Hill
- Write to the Secretary of State for Health to commend the additional investment that has been given to clear the NHS waiting lists, and outline our priorities for returning these two care services to North Tyneside.
An amendment was moved by Councillor W Samuel and seconded by Councillor C Johnson that:
- Paragraph 1 - That ‘and the Government are committed to reducing NHS waiting lists, with over £3 billion extra per year to help tackle the backlog caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.’ be removed from the first sentence and the following sentence be added to the end of the paragraph ‘This is compounded by the consistent failure of ambulances to respond within target times for call outs including heart attacks and strokes and having to waste valuable time queuing to discharge their patients to A&E.
- Paragraph 2 – the following be added: ‘and if the Conservative Government provided the resources to allow this to happen.’
- Paragraph 3 be amended to read: North Tyneside Council notes that it was a conscious decision taken by Northumbria Healthcare Trust to relocate these services out of the Borough and to refuse to reverse that decision despite repeated requests.
- To add at paragraph 4 – ‘It is widely accepted by experts that to deal with the ever-increasing number of the population over 65 that NHS spending should rise every year at inflation +4 percent as it did during the last Labour Government, The Conservative Government have only done this once in their 13 years in power.’
- Paragraph 6 – to delete ‘commend the additional investment that has been given to clear the NHS waiting lists, and’ and add ‘and to ask him to provide the resources to do it.’
The amended motion therefore read:
NHS healthcare is at the top of residents’ priorities. However locally residents are still forced to travel out of North Tyneside to access 24-hour emergency care, which is particularly difficult for residents that do not drive. This is compounded by the consistent failure of ambulances to respond within target times for call outs including heart attacks and strokes and having to waste valuable time queuing to discharge their patients to A&E.
North Tyneside Council believes that our residents would receive better healthcare provision within the borough if 24-hour accident and emergency care was re-instated at Rake Lane and the walk-in centre at Battle Hill reopened and if the Conservative Government provided the resources to allow this to happen.
North Tyneside Council notes that it was a conscious decision taken by Northumbria Healthcare Trust to relocate these services out of the Borough and to refuse to reverse that decision despite repeated requests.
It is widely accepted by experts that to deal with the ever-increasing number of the population over 65 that NHS spending should rise every year at inflation +4 percent as it did during the last Labour Government, The Conservative Government have only done this once in their 13 years in power.
North Tyneside Council asks the Mayor to : -
- Write to the NHS Trust asking them to set up a taskforce, with local authority involvement, to improve access to emergency care in North Tyneside, with a particular focus on restoring 24-hour accident and emergency at Rake Lane and walk-in services at Battle Hill.
- Write to the Secretary of State for Health to outline our priorities for returning these two care services to North Tyneside and to ask him to provide the resources to do it.
The amendment, on being put to the meeting was approved by 40 votes to 7.
A recorded vote on the amended substantial motion was requested by two members present:
Votes for the motion:
Dame N Redfearn, Elected Mayor and Councillors L Arkley, K Barrie, G Bell, L Bones, B Burdis, C Burdis, D Cox, N Craven, J Cruddas, E Darke, C Davis, D Drummond, P Earley, S Graham, M Hall, T Hallway, J Harrison, Janet Hunter, John Hunter, V Jamieson, C Johnson, H Johnson, C Johnston, J Kirwin, F Lott, W Lott, G Madden, L Marshall, A McMullen, J Montague, T Mulvenna, M Murphy, A Newman, P Oliver, R O’Keefe, E Parker-Leonard, J O’Shea, S Phillips, B Pickard, W Samuel, O Scargill, J Shaw, M Thirlaway, J Wallace, G Westwater and M Wilson.
Votes against the Motion:
None
The motion was agreed by 47 votes to 0.