Agenda item

Report number LDS277 of the Leader of the Council.                   (Enclosure)

Report number LDS277 of the Leader of the Council informed Cabinet Members no non-Cabinet Members had submitted requests to speak prior to the publication of the agenda. Since the agenda had been published a number of non-Cabinet Members indicated that they wished to raise matters under this item of business:

Councillor Ray Wootten

Councillor Ray Wootten informed Cabinet Members that over the past week he had attended two meetings held by campaign groups for Grantham Hospital. The meetings had been called to discuss allegations about plans by United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (ULHT) to remove orthopaedic trauma services from Grantham Hospital. Councillor Wootten stated that he had contacted the Chief Executive Officer for the Trust who said that there had been conversations about all acute services across Lincolnshire as part of a review, but no decisions had as yet been made. He had also contacted Lincolnshire Health Scrutiny Committee.

The campaign groups claimed that they had information which indicated that the orthopaedic trauma service would be withdrawn in August 2018.

Councillor Wootten asked for Cabinet’s continued support and for a letter to be sent to the Chief Executive Officer of ULHT and the Care Quality Commission requesting that any proposals to make changes at Grantham Hospital be made available for public consultation as soon as possible, and for the continued opposition to the withdrawal of services.

Comment was made about the current closure of Grantham’s accident and emergency unit, and that the Trust needed to adhere to its commitment to re-open the unit on a 24/7 basis now that the required number of staff was in place. One Member stated that the failure to do this had damaged the Trust’s credibility, which would need to be restored if it wanted to build a relationship to work with Grantham residents.

Cabinet Members reiterated their support for Grantham Hospital and the Chief Executive was asked to write the requested letter, incorporating other comments made during the meeting, in liaison with Councillor Wootten.

Councillor Robert Reid

Councillor Reid referred to two combined overview and scrutiny committees of which he had been the Chairman. The first meeting he referred to had considered the Council’s emerging Corporate Strategy. He commended the approach that had been taken and the way it had been developed. He also expressed support for the way the Strategy sought to modernise the way in which the Council worked and the provisions relating to the care of personnel and management of the Council’s staff.

During the second joint meeting to which Councillor Reid referred, a recommendation had been made relating to the installation of smoke alarms in Council-owned properties. Members were advised that there had been an underspend against the relevant budget because there were some instances where the Council couldn’t gain access to properties. Members were reassured that the Council took its landlord responsibility seriously and work was underway to ensure that smoke detectors were in place, up-to-date and tested regularly. The installation and checking of smoke detectors was likened to the installation and testing of boilers and the suggestion was made that both issues could be dealt with in a single visit.

Councillor Bob Sampson

Councillor Sampson referred to the recent withdrawal of SKDC from the Procurement Lincolnshire Partnership. Councillor Sampson sat on the Procurement Lincolnshire Board as one of the representatives of all of the constituent district councils; he stated that he had not been advised of the decision to withdraw, which was made at an operational level. The Leader stated that more work needed to be done on ensuring Members were fully engaged and aware of decisions that were being made.