Adur councillors unanimously agreed a motion on the NHS moved by Labour recognising that the NHS and its staff should receive “the support in resources and fair pay that it needs”.

The motion, moved by Southwick Green councillor Robina Baine and seconded by Labour Group leader Jeremy Gardner (St Mary’s) called on the council to lobby NHS Sussex to be more ambitious in its improvement plans while recognising it is limited by its Government funding and its ability to recruit and retain staff.

The motion as agreed:

The NHS was founded in July 1948, 75 years ago, by a Labour Government. Today the people of Adur benefit from the hard work of local primary care professionals, community health staff, staff providing mental health care and NHS hospital services in Worthing, Southlands, Chichester and Brighton. We thank them all for their dedication and expertise.

This council considers that those staff should receive the support they need to provide the best possible services for local people.

HealthyAW, Adur and Worthing Councils’ Health and well-being strategy sets out our aims to improve the wellbeing of our residents. The strategy draws on the Marmot Review led by Sir Michael Marmot. That review noted the decline in government spending from 2009/10 to 2018/19 to local authorities and health services and its effect on health and well-being.

This council’s ability to achieve our aim of improving the health and well-being of our community is compromised if NHS services are unable to provide timely services.

Nationally, hospital waiting lists are at record levels. According to NHS England “the maximum waiting time for non-urgent, consultant-led treatments is 18 weeks” following a GP referral. This was established in 2004.

In Sussex 14,910 people have been waiting more than a year for treatment, 452 have been waiting more than 78 weeks.

The experience for people in Adur includes the following waiting times in local hospitals:

• Pain management – 19 weeks before your outpatient appointment, another 19 before treatment
• Gynaecology – 29 weeks for first appointment, another 27 weeks for treatment
• Neurology, 34 weeks until the first appointment, a further 32 until treatment.
• Paediatrics; 32 weeks to the first appointment, 24 weeks to treatment.

Each of those statistics is a person who with their family and relatives face uncertainty, discomfort, often for more than a year.

According to the British Medical Association, England now has fewer GPs than in 2015.

In Adur, trying to find a dentist offering NHS services to new patients is difficult. According to the British Dental Association, across England, 91 percent of NHS practices are not accepting new adult patients.

In this situation, many staff members have taken strike action for better pay and funding for their services, including nurses, physiotherapists, ambulance staff, junior doctors and consultants. Radiographers have voted for industrial action.

On its 75^th birthday it is time the most revered institution on the country, the NHSand its staff received the support in resources and fair pay that it needs.

This council resolves to:

• Acknowledge that many Adur residents are facing unprecedented waiting times for hospital treatment
• Lobby NHS Sussex to be more ambitious in its improvement plans in the interests of local residents, while recognising it is limited by its Government funding and its ability to recruit and retain staff. The NHS Sussex Shared Delivery Plan for improvement has set modest priorities including:
  • people will be able to access a GP appointment within two weeks if they need it
  • no-one will wait more than 65 weeks for elective treatment
  • no more than 548 people will be waiting over 62 days for cancer treatment.
• Write to NHS Sussex to ask for urgent action to improve access to NHS dentistry services
• Lobby the Health Secretary and representatives of hospital consultants, junior doctors and other NHS staff representatives to work together to ensure staff feel valued and supported and to resolve industrial action.

The motion was agreed by councillors of all parties.
Thank you to Unison for the NHS 75 image.