It’s a week since Cornwall was hit by Storm Emma, with
Mid-Cornwall seeing a lot of snow as well as dangerous conditions on the coast
with flooding and extremely high winds.
I’d like to pay tribute to the hard work of the emergency
services, Cormac, the Environment Agency and numerous volunteers who came
together to keep our communities safe and running during this time, as well as
already doing a great job with the clean-up in the aftermath.
In the midst of the blizzard conditions on Thursday night
Cornwall Council sent out a bizarre email to councillors and stakeholders
declaring that it had decided not to proceed with an Accountable Care System
model as part of its work with Cornwall’s NHS, and apparently decided to do
nothing instead.
This is a crucial decision about the future of Health and
Social Care in Cornwall and the pressing need to integrate the services in
order to provide a better coordinated and more efficient approach to meeting
the ever-growing needs of the people of Cornwall.
This email was odd because Cornwall Council this year has
dedicated considerable time and taxpayer money on holding an inquiry on whether
it should proceed with a model like this, among several options, and Cornwall
Council’s Liberal Democrat-led Cabinet had been due to meet on 28 March to
consider a formal decision on the outcome and recommendations of the Inquiry.
To make a rushed decision like this was both against the council’s own
procedures, as the Cabinet had not actually met and voted one way or another, but
also, to do nothing, which is what it appeared was what the council was
deciding to do, was against the recommendations of both the NHS, Cornwall
Council’s own Health Scrutiny Committee and the Inquiry Panel.
This was bad enough, but on Friday, the Cabinet member
responsible, Cllr Rotchell sent out another press release apologising for the
content and timing of the previous one, but still talking about ‘the Cabinet’s
position’, this despite the Cabinet not having met yet to decide anything. A
lot of people went into the weekend very confused about what Cornwall Council’s
position on all of this was. Clearly ruling by press release does not seem to
be working very well for the Cabinet, and events also seem to bring up the old
question about who really runs Cornwall Council, the officers or the
councillors.
The Conservative Group on Cornwall Council, whose Health
Spokesperson, Fowey’s Andy Virr, is also the Chair of the ACS Inquiry Panel and
a senior A&E Consultant at Treliske, was quick to flag up these apparent
errors in procedure and put out his own firm statement against this chaotic
cabinet on Friday afternoon. Cornwall Council’s Lib Dem Leader, Adam Paynter,
wrote to Andy Virr on Monday saying the first press release had been
‘misinterpreted’ and that the Cabinet still did want to integrate health and
social care services. Again, it is unclear how this decision has been made as
the Cabinet has still yet to meet.
So, after a busy end to last week and weekend where many of
us have been clearing up after the snow and storms, the situation regarding
Cornwall Council and its position on health and social care integration appears
to be as clear as mud. One thing is clear though, and that is that no matter
how bad the weather gets, that’s nothing compared to the unique brand of chaos
that seems to be the rule at County Hall right now!
If this matter was not so serious we could laugh this off as
the Cornwall Council Cabinet having a bad week. However, this is one of the
most important decisions facing Cornwall right now that will determine how our
health and care services are run in the future. Doing nothing is not an option,
however neither is making knee jerk reaction decisions or playing politics with
our health and care provision. I hope now that the Cabinet at Cornwall Council
will work with the NHS and other agencies to make a fully informed and
carefully considered decision that is in the best interest of the people they
are elected to serve.
