Axed NHS beds 'not significant'

THE Health Secretary will not revisit the decision to close NHS-funded and operated beds in Henley because they are “not significant”.

The seven “step-down” beds were removed from the Chilterns Court care centre, next door to Townlands Memorial Hospital, in December without a public consultation.

Henley MP Freddie van Mierlo wrote to Wes Streeting, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in July asking him to use new powers to retake the decision.

Under the legislation he can intervene in NHS service configurations but this can only be done in “exceptional” circumstances when a “local resolution” has not been reached.

Minister of State Karin Smyth, on behalf of Mr Streeting, has now written back to Mr van Mierlo to say the Chilterns Court beds did not meet the required threshold for action.

She did not consider the loss of the beds to be a “regionally or nationally significant” NHS reconfiguration and that their removal supported the government’s care in the home policy. But Ms Smyth added that the way the beds were funded does not impact the duties of the authorities to engage and consult with the public on changes.

Ms Smyth said: “While we appreciate how patients and the public may feel about the decision, we do not consider this change in particular to be a regionally or nationally significant NHS reconfiguration.

“I would like to clarify that a service being funded from the Better Care Fund does not impact duties on NHS commissioners or local authorities to involve patients and the public, through engagement or consultation.

“This change also supports Home First Discharge to Assess for people who are admitted to hospital, which is a key objective in their 2023-25 Better Care Fund plan, by increasing the number of people going home from hospital.”

Ms Smyth added that part of the condition of the better care fund was to ensure that money was spent enabling people to “stay well, safe and independent at home for longer” and provide the “right care in the right place at the right time”.

The response was received on Wednesday last week, the day after Oxfordshire County Council unanimously decided to review the decision.

This followed 11 months of campaigning by Henley councillor Stefan Gawrysiak and others to force the council into holding a public consultation on the decision after it was proved the beds were NHS funded.

In 2016, the NHS Oxfordshire clinical commissioning group asked the county council to commission the beds from the Orders of St John, which runs the centre.

It said they were to support the rapid access care unit, an ambulatory model of care at Townlands, for which it asked for four more beds to be commissioned. The beds were then removed from the Chilterns Court care centre in December.

The Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board and Oxfordshire County Council said no consultation was needed as they were not NHS beds.

But, as the Henley Standard revealed in March, the commissioning group increased its contribution to an NHS Act pooled budget to cover the costs of the beds at Chilterns Court in 2016.

Some of the beds were purchased directly by the Oxfordshire University NHS Foundation Trust.

The beds, like the four for the rapid access care unit, were overseen by a “liaison hub” team which was hosted by the university trust.

In November 2019, the beds at Chilterns Court were re-procured by the council but their purpose did not change. All the beds became jointly funded by the Better Care Fund, which included the Oxford University Hospitals Foundation Trust, the commissioning group and the council.

Mr van Mierlo said he will continue to fight for high quality reablement care.

He said: “It is disappointing overall that the Secretary of State has not chosen to use his call-in powers.

“I note and welcome the minister’s comments that a service being funded from pooled funding does not absolve NHS commissioners — the integrated care board — or local authorities from duties to involve patients and the public through engagement or consultation.

“I will continue to hold both the care board and council to account for the delivery of high-quality step-down care in South Oxfordshire.”

Cllr Gawrysiak described the response as “unfortunate” but held the county council responsible.

He said: “The minister clearly says that a conversation should take place and that’s all we have been asking for over the past year — a clear statement that these were NHS beds and do warrant a consultation.

“The whole of the south of Oxfordshire has no beds at all, therefore there should be some provisions for some beds for the population of Henley and the surrounding area.”

• If you live in the Henley area and have been impacted by the loss of the step-down care beds at the Chilterns Court care centre, contact the Henley Standard newsroom on (01491) 419444 or email news@
henleystandard.co.uk