Agenda item

(Note: Councillor C J T H Brewis wished it to be noted that he would leave the Chamber for the debate and the vote on this motion due to his position as Vice-Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire which would be considering the issues raised at the meeting due to be held on 19 July 2017)

Motion by Councillor R B Parker

It was moved and seconded:

On 12 June Lincolnshire West Clinical Commissioning Group (LWCCG) launched a public consultation on the future of the Walk-in Centre in Lincoln with a closing date of 6 August 2017. The proposals are set out in 'Have your say' document produced by LWCCG and can be captured in a statement in the document which reads 'Walk-in centres create demand for self-limiting, minor conditions and NHS resources would be better spent on other healthcare priorities.' The ''Have Your Say' document and a 'Frequently Asked Questions' sheet produced by LWCCG, accessible here, states that the centre opened in 2009, is used by about 100 people a day and in 2016 cost over £1 million to run.

Because the LWCCG in their consultation document

1.    have not demonstrated that alternative services have the extra capacity and are readily available currently to deal with the extra demand caused by the cessation of services at the Walk-in Centre;

2.    have not provided statistical information to support the assertion that the 35,000 or so users of the service can be seen by a mixture of GP practices, NHS 111 and pharmacists if the Walk-in Centre closed; and 

3.    have made no financial case to support closure to show that future delivery of services can be delivered more economically than the services provided at the Walk-in Centre, which worked out at less than the £30 a visit  in 2016 (£1 million expenditure divided by the number of annual users at 35,000 a year)

I move that the Chief Executive writes to Lincolnshire West Clinical Commissioning Group opposing the closure of Lincoln Walk-in Centre. 

An amendment by the Conservative group was moved and seconded as follows:

To delete the final paragraph and replace with the following:

The Executive Councillor for Health be requested to take into account the proposition and subsequent debate in this Council meeting, and the deliberations of the Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire, before determining the Council's response to the public consultation on the future of the Walk-in Centre in Lincoln.

Following the debate, the amendment was accepted by the mover of the original motion.  This then became the substantive motion.  Upon being put to the vote, the motion was carried.

(Note: the following councillors abstained from voting Councillors C S Macey, Mrs K Cook, M T Fido, R J Kendrick, R A Renshaw, Dr M E Thompson and R H Woolley)

Therefore, it was

RESOLVED

The Executive Councillor for Health be requested to take into account the proposition and subsequent debate in this Council meeting, and the deliberations of the Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire, before determining the Council's response to the public consultation on the future of the Walk-in Centre in Lincoln.