Agenda item

Health and Social Care Funding

It was moved by Councillor Mary Lea, seconded by Councillor Jayne Dunn, that this Council:-

(a)       notes the article in “The Star” newspaper dated 17th September 2013 entitled ‘Sheffield Council’s anger at £40m health funding cut’;

(b)       further notes that the article states ‘The NHS Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group’s annual budget was set at £691m last year – but last week The Star reported that a proposed shake-up of the way funds are handed out would mean that is cut by 7.6 per cent, to just over £642m’;

(c)        wholeheartedly agrees with comments by the Council’s Chief Executive that “The NHS is giving more money to places like Bournemouth because of the pressure of having ageing populations. But this money is needed here, too. It’s the equivalent of the funding settlement for local government which has seen councils in the north and cities take larger cuts”;

(d)       is appalled, but not surprised, by the motivation of a Conservative Government taking money away from cities such as Sheffield to give to some of the healthiest, wealthiest areas of the country and believes this is just the latest example of the Deputy Prime Minister failing to stand up for Sheffield;

(e)       calls on the Government to immediately scrap this unfair funding redistribution;

(f)        is further concerned of increased pressures on NHS services which are already impacting on NHS budgets before they have been cut by the Government and this is being compounded by the Government’s A&E crisis;

(g)       regrets that more than 5,000 nursing jobs have been lost on this Government’s watch;

(h)       notes findings from a recent report to the Health Select Committee stating "Staffing levels in emergency departments are an area of considerable concern to the committee. They are not sufficient to meet demand, with only 17% of emergency departments managing to provide 16-hour consultant coverage during the working week”;

(i)         acknowledges that Government cuts to funding for social care are contributing to the increasing waiting lists, producing a false economy due to the costs of increased waiting lists, and notes the scathing headline of the Independent newspaper article dated 16th August, 2013 ‘NHS Waiting List at five year high as cost cutting reforms strike’ which outlines criticisms of the Government’s health policy from a leading health journal;

(j)         fully supports the recent comments by The Rt. Hon. Andy Burnham, MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health, “There has been a massive increase in the numbers of people aged over 90 going into A&E by ambulance – up by over 100,000, an increase of 66 per cent - as £1.8 billion is cut from council care budgets. That is why Labour has said we would invest £1.2 billion of the NHS underspend, which Jeremy Hunt has handed back to the Treasury, over the next two years to ease the crisis in social care, tackling a root cause of the pressure on A&E. For older people this could make a huge difference by enabling them to stay in their own homes for longer and providing the support they need to return home after hospital.”; and

(k)        fully supports policies outlined by the Shadow Secretary of State for Health for whole person care through integrating health and social care.

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Roger Davison, seconded by Councillor Diana Stimely, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of all the words after the words “That this Council” and the substitution of the following words therefor:-

(a)       supports the Government’s decision to protect NHS spending from the spending reductions that were caused by the previous Government’s record national deficit;

(b)       welcomes the £26 million increase in the 2011-12 revenue allocation for Sheffield Primary Care Trust, the additional £27 million increase in 2012-13 and the equivalent £16 million increase in 2013-14;

(c)        praises the Government for announcing £3.8 billion in the latest spending review to improve adult social care and join up with health services;

(d)       recalls comments by the Shadow Health Secretary, the Rt. Hon. Andy Burnham M.P., in June 2010 that it would be “irresponsible” to increase NHS spending and therefore believes that a Labour government would have cut Sheffield’s allocation rather than increase it; and

(e)       supports the Government’s increases in funding for NHS services in Sheffield, as opposed to its belief that the Shadow Health Secretary would cut funding for the NHS in Sheffield.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was negatived.

After a Right of Reply by Councillor Mary Lea, the original Motion was then put to the vote and carried, as follows:-