Been a somewhat very busy week – along with my wife Connie – falling down a ‘Rabbit Hole’ on her health walk some 10 days ago and having a small fracture in her ankle making our busy life even more demanding – still worse things happen at sea!
Today Saturday our centuries old ‘Fair’ comes to town and although not what it was in the 60’s & 70’s – the weather has not been very kind.
Tomorrow is our annual Whittlesey Festival – well organised but unfortunately can not control the very autumn like weather, still I’m sure a good time will be had by everyone.
What is the point I ask….. I was one of a few thousand people asked to take part in the consultation looking into Cambridgeshire planning to remove NHS support for specialist fertility services. Our own GP at NQS, GP Dr Gary Howsan heads this conglomerate ‘quango’ – some 1,800 respondents took part in the consultation of which 80% were against the removal of this service within Cambs.
Whilst when interviewed on TV Dr Howsam ‘said’ it was a difficult decision to make. The group says it can save £700,000 if it scraps specialist fertility services, making it one of only five CCGs to do so.
The point I and many who are well informed is that whilst saving a relatively small amount in their £800 million budget – they continue to spend some £1.2 million on dishing out Ibuprofen a painkiller available over the counter without a prescription. It’s one of a group of painkillers called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
Dr Gary Howsam, CCG chair, told the Cambridge News© : last July
“We have had a good response to the consultation, with over 1,000 responses received so far.
“We want to hear from as many people as possible, so I would encourage local people to give us their views on the proposal.”
“We have to make some very difficult decisions about how best to spend our allocation. We have a growing demand for all types of healthcare services, as well as a significant deficit to clear. We are now in the difficult position where we have to evaluate every service we commission.”
“Once the consultation is complete, the CCG’s governing body will consider the feedback and views given during the consultation before making a decision.”
So Dr Howsan and CCG why was No Notice taken of the 80% of those who bothered to complete the consultation paper who asked for IVF to carry on within Cambs CCG.
No wonder this and other so called consultations are seen purely as ‘lip service’ to organisations – who by staute have to ‘consult’ the public.
So besides covering the New Queen Street Patients Group meeting, there was updates on the Kings Dyke Crossing, the emotive Councillors allowances and attendances article.
Wednesday saw the WTC planning meeting and some very positive feedback on my article regarding ‘The deposit scheme’ for cans, bottles and plastics….
Overall not a bad week for ‘a member of the public’ –
Next week – kicks off on Monday with a meeting of the Community Rail Partnership meeting at Fenland Hall 6pm
A public open meeting…
