Plans to build new GP and health care facilities across Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes have been dropped, leaving a Bedfordshire MP “upset” on behalf of his constituents.
Andrew Selous, MP for Southwest Bedfordshire, told the Integrated Care Board for BLMK on Wednesday, January 11, 2023, that people had bought their homes as they believed a health facility would be built nearby.
“I have had people who’ve written to me all last night and this morning following my post after you announced this meeting quite late on Monday, saying that they bought their homes on the basis that there would be a health hub and a surgery near their home,” he said.
“They thought they could rely on that and I just want to convey the very, very deep anger about what is proposed here.”
The MP requested that the proposals were not signed off at the meeting to enable a rethink to provide some fairness and equity for his constituents and the rest of BLMK.
After the committee members approved the indicative budget, the list of schemes, and to apply any additional funding on a prioritised basis, the MP said: “I’m afraid I’m not happy with what has happened.
“As I read the paper, we are just talking about a lack of £2.915 million which is absolutely minuscule in terms of your £1.7 billion budget.
“I simply do not believe that you cannot find £2.9 million pounds out of your £1.7 billion pound budget to enable these vital primary care schemes to proceed.
“It is simply outrageous, I’m sorry to speak so strongly, but I’m speaking mildly compared with the anger of my constituents on this.
“This has not been a good meeting, it has not been a good process and there’s a lot of work to be done.
“I think you need to go back to your £1.7 billion pound budget and do a little bit of reprioritisation in it and I’m sorry to speak with such feelings… it’s very, very disappointing,” he said.
Dean Westcoff, chief finance officer, said: “The decision, which was endorsed by this committee, is to go away and look at the rest of the budgets.
“I’ll underscore there are no easy decisions, everybody is well aware of the huge demand on acute hospital services.
“But as an ICB we have committed to work with partners to transform our services for the benefit of patients that will enable us to look at how we allocate resources between the various sectors.
“I will reiterate that these are tough times [saving] £90 million pounds next year is not going to be easy.
“Our savings target for this year was £55 million, we do expect as an ICB to balance this year, which I think is good news for the residents of BLMK because that means we won’t be cutting services in future years.
“But we do that by taking responsible and sometimes difficult decisions,” he said.
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