PRESS
STATEMENT 10 FEBRUARY 2002
Following last
Wednesday’s meeting at St John’s Hall, when members of the West Cornwall
Hospital Review Team addressed Penwith District Councillors in the Guildhall,
West Cornwall HealthWatch’s Co-ordinator, Marna Blundy, has issued the
following statement. Mrs Blundy was
in St John’s Hall listening to the meeting through a sound relay system.
She said:
“It was good to witness such a strong response from the local community at St
John’s Hall, with over one hundred members of the public packed into the
Guildhall, and a further 450 people crowding out St John’s Hall.
I understand that the caretaker had to lock the doors, to prevent further
people entering, on safety grounds. The
situation was rather funny, really, with the Review Team closeted in the
Guildhall unwilling to come face to face with the vast majority of those who had
turned out. Yet such a meeting had
been publicised before Christmas. It
was reported in The Cornishman of 29 November that the District Council meeting
would take place in St John’s Hall, and that “this
meeting should provide a rallying point for the residents of the area to show in
no uncertain terms how totally opposed they are to any cutbacks“ (Cornishman
Comment). Whilst I am not of
course suggesting that the Review Team were too scared to meet the public, it is
not surprising that some people have interpreted their actions in this way.
I was privileged to see the
faces and experience the response of the gathered audience as they listened to
the Review Team outline their findings and recommendations.
Their words simply did not ring true with the people.
This community has lost many services over the years – maternity,
Rainbow Ward, Bolitho House, etc. It
lost the promise of a university, and now it is even losing its rocks from the
Geological Museum to Penryn! To
hear the same tired old words that services elsewhere would be deprived of funds
if West Cornwall had a new hospital, was just too familiar to them.
Three phrases from the Review
Team stand out in my mind:
·
We need to take a reality
check here” (Jo Yelland, Review
Manager)
The
fact is that the audience in that hall knew the difference between reality and
fiction. Many had been treated at
West Cornwall Hospital and/or Treliske, most had friends or family who had.
Many live in remote communities – did you know that Porthgwarra is
further away than Land’s End? – and know for real what travelling long
distances by bus, car or ambulance is like.
So to hear the Review Manager telling what seemed like a fairy tale about
the Heinz 57 varieties of doctors who would be needed just to maintain the
services we currently have, was anything but real.
·
I hope we have demonstrated
a sensible dialogue here today” (Gina Brocklehurst, Chief Executive, Primary Care Trust)
That
was rich, coming from a Team who would not even see, let alone talk with or
listen to, the vast majority of the members of the public who had bothered to
turn out on a winter’s evening because they were interested in the future of
their local hospital. The Team say
they want to talk to a lot of people, and they want to hear the silent voices.
I would respectfully say to that team: “550 of the people you want to
talk to were very close to you last Wednesday, and you would not even
acknowledge their presence, let alone listen to them.
How can this community therefore have confidence in your “new and open
process”? It is you who need to
“get real”!
·
There is no pre-determined
outcome here” (Gina Brocklehurst)
Yet they could not
deny reports from nursing staff at Poltair, who say they were informed in
January that their hospital would close. They
announce that staff could not be recruited to West Cornwall Hospital –
although I suspect they don’t intend to try.
Some of us have believed for a long time that the Review has been
pre-judged, so the words we heard on Wednesday rang somewhat hollow.
Co-ordinator: Marna Blundy, 4 Botallack
Moor, St Just, PENZANCE, Cornwall TR19 7QH
Tel / Fax 01736 788107
Email: westcornwallhealthwatch@yahoo.co.uk