Council calls for extended hospital consultation after Ascot residents miss out on leaflet delivery
Public consultation on the future of Heatherwood Hospital – Shaping the Future – should be extended and additional efforts made to involve Ascot residents.
That’s the call from the Royal Borough after more than 300 consultation leaflets destined for homes in the Ascot area were unfortunately never delivered.
Cllr Sayonara Luxton, chairman of the adult services and health overview and scrutiny panel, said: “We appreciate there are other ways that local people could have heard of the NHS proposals for our local hospital but this is much too important a subject to take the chance.
“We are very concerned that a large number of residents will be denied the opportunity to make their views known, especially when it would be simple to arrange for the leaflets to be delivered and a short extension to the consultation period allowed to give people time to take part.
“We also feel a further public meeting in Ascot is necessary to make absolutely sure that everyone has the opportunity to hear about the proposals at first hand.”
The Royal Borough is opposed to NHS plans to move the minor injuries unit at Heatherwood to the planned new urgent care centre in Bracknell and to permanently close the Ascot Birth Centre.
Cllr Luxton added: “A secure future for Heatherwood Hospital depends on local people making their voices heard. More than 300 people have not received vital information about the consultation and we are calling on the NHS to take urgent steps to correct this.”
NHS Berkshire (Berkshire East and Berkshire West Primary Care Trusts) and NHS South of England are asking the public for views about Heatherwood and other healthcare proposals.
Shaping the Future runs until 31st January 2013 and more information is available at www.berkshire.nhs.uk/shapingthefuture where there is an online consultation form. Questionnaires can also be printed and returned to Shaping the Future team, FREEPOST RSYL-KEKG-URGC, NHS Berkshire, 57-59 Bath Road, Reading, RG30 2BA.
CLICK HERE to see full, 58 page consultation document. A shorter version is shown in the pdf below