'A Fantastic Victory for Common Sense'

6.20.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 18th Oct 2007

"This has been a fantastic victory for Common Sense", said Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesman for Broadland April Pond, after the amazing decision by Norfolk Health Scrutiny Committee to defer the Primary Care Trust's proposals to close St Michael's Hospital in Aylsham for 4 months.

The proposal to defer was put forward by Lib Dem County Councillor for Reepham James Joyce.

Commenting April said: "I congratulate the councillors on this extremely sensible decision which will force the PCT into proper discussion with the St Michael's GPs and Aylsham Care Trust. Even after the four months the committee still has the ability to refer to the secretary of state if they are still not satisfied."

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Transcript of April's Speech to the Scrutiny Committee:

"I read the answers to questions put forward by the Working Group with anger and amazement. Particularly those concerning Palliative Care - apparently the PCT will be developing a strategy for Palliative care in the coming months, but should commissioners wish to expand community hospital capacity in this regard, 4 of the 5 core sites can easily expand to provide this. Well I must say, how reassuring. Would it not have been more sensible to have considered this as part of the original proposal?

Why have you been given only part of the plan here? How can you possibly be asked to close beds when the PCT has not bothered to work out the whole picture?

Surely it is possible - as the PCT hasn't apparently worked out how many palliative beds are actually needed in Norfolk, that it may find it needs St. Michael's after all.

As for where Aylsham hospital patients will be treated, I was interested to hear that they could go to Norwich. To my knowledge, there is no extra capacity at all in Norwich, with Norwich patients frequently using Aylsham, and so I've heard, with 80 beds currently blocked at the N & N, it is unlikely that there would be capacity at the Norwich Community Hospital at any time, because, lets face it, the N & N would most certainly be using it.

As for those requiring a supporting bed being able to access one "most likely in a care home with nursing," where?? How completely vague.

The whole proposal is quite simply not good enough. It is vague, it is avoiding important questions, and it is full of pitfalls. I have to say I didn't realise quite how bad it was until recently.

As for St. Michael's - the haste to close a perfectly good community hospital, one that is not very old, and is constantly full, and which serves Norfolk, not just Aylsham, is obscene. Particularly when several hundreds of thousands of pounds were spent recently in updating it. The PCT is happy to close this hospital before it knows what is needed in palliative care, and before it commits to a proposal from Aylsham Care Trust. Why?

The PCT is not an elected body. It is looking at the provision of Health Services from a completely different perspective to you as elected members who want to do the best for Norfolk.

I ask you please to defer the decision to give Aylsham Care Trust sufficient time to ensure that the PCT commits properly to an alternative."