Summer consultation will focus on future of health services in Knutsford (From Knutsford Guardian)
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Summer consultation will focus on future of health services in Knutsford
2:10pm Monday 25th June 2012 in News
By James Wilson
HEALTH bosses have agreed only one public consultation exercise will take place to determine the future of health services in Knutsford.
Earlier this year a proposal was put forward to create a new ‘super surgery’ on the existing site of Knutsford Community Hospital on Bexton Road.
A plan for the site was drawn up by a firm of consultants, but the site is currently home to the hospital and the closed Tatton ward.
A consultation into the permanent closure of the East Cheshire NHS Trust-run facility is due to take place later this summer.
But at a meeting of Cheshire East Council’s Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee on Thursday health officials presented a report to councillors about the site.
Andy Bacon, from Central and Eastern Cheshire PCT and programme director for the Knutsford project, asked councillors to combine the consultation into the closure of the Tatton ward and the creation of the new medical centre as it was more cost-effective.
Councillors agreed to the recommendation from Mr Bacon, and he told the Guardian that the PCT would now be holding a period of ‘engagement’ and would be speaking to stakeholders about how the plans would develop.
He said it would take a number of months for the consultation to be formed, but said this was the best way to go forward as only the one consultation would take place.
Health campaigner Charlotte Peters-Rock told the Guardian she believed the latest news was the latest in a line of various public bodies wasting money.
She said: “At the meeting the councillors said there was a lot of confusion over the plans for Knutsford.
“But they are the ones that have created the confusion.
“They are throwing away a large amount of money on this, and it’s money that is not going towards providing care for families that need it.”
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