{"id":49,"date":"2019-04-03T20:58:49","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T20:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/?p=49"},"modified":"2019-04-03T21:08:26","modified_gmt":"2019-04-03T21:08:26","slug":"have-you-heard-about-cbc-plans-for-a-biggleswade-healthcare-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/?p=49","title":{"rendered":"Have you heard about CBC plans for a \u2018Biggleswade Healthcare Hub\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Biggleswade residents often mention to me that poor access\nto healthcare is a major, growing, issue in the town. CBC acknowledge this\nsaying \u2018Currently the provision of health and social care across central beds\nis fragmented, of variable quality, uneven access to good care and the supporting\nrange of health and social care options available to people\u2019. CBC recognise\nthat if they fail to \u2018reconfigure health and care services in anticipation of\ndemand it will put a significant pressure on already vulnerable hospital\nservices and fundamentally undermine the quality of care provision\u2019. So what\u2019s their plan?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The population of central Bedfordshire is currently 278,900\nbut CBC predict it will rise to at least 282,000 by 2021 with an increase of\nalmost 53% in the over 65\u2019s. CBC sees its role as a \u2018space shaper\u2019 to influence\nhow health and care services are delivered and the plan is to develop\nmultidisciplinary, health and care hubs to deliver more joined up service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what does this\nactually mean for Biggleswade?<\/em> The current Biggleswade Hospital site is\nproposed as the site of the \u2018Ivel Valley Hub\u2019 where healthcare such as\ndiagnostics, day procedures, access to therapists and geriatricians as well as\nco-location of social care services including community and voluntary services\nis planned. Bringing these services together at one site will make them more\nefficient and allow them to work together more easily which will mean better\nhealthcare for residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Will it make any\ndifference?<\/em> Providing healthcare via a multidisciplinary team has been used\nacross the NHS for many years and certainly improves the patient experience. It\nshould be more efficient so as a result capacity should increase. However, CBC\nmay see this as an opportunity to make cost savings and \u2018rationalise\u2019 services\nwhich I would strongly oppose if I were elected as councillor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When will this happen?<\/em> As has been widely publicised<\/a> the timescale has slipped for this plan, largely due to discussions about the site and how appropriate it is for housing the proposed hub. Although CBC are suggesting a very optimistic timescale (work completed by the end of 2021) it is still far from clear exactly what services will relocate to the new site and this will undoubtedly lead to further delays. However, Biggleswade and the Ivel Valley Hub has been the test bed for developing the multi-disciplinary approach so when the infrastructure is in place Biggleswade should be in an ideal position to move forward quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given we’re heading into election period with CBC’s election on 2nd May, the following details are known as an election ‘imprint’ and are added to ensure people realise I am a candidate and all is transparent:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Promoted by Hayley Whitaker, 3 Sutton Road, Eyeworth, SG19 2TP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Biggleswade residents often mention to me that poor access to healthcare is a major, growing, issue in the town. CBC acknowledge this saying \u2018Currently the provision of health and social care across central beds is fragmented, of variable quality, uneven access to good care and the supporting range of health and social care options available to people\u2019. CBC recognise that if they fail to \u2018reconfigure health and care services in anticipation of demand it will put a significant pressure on already vulnerable hospital services and fundamentally undermine the quality of care provision\u2019. So what\u2019s their plan? The population of central Bedfordshire is currently 278,900 but CBC predict it will rise to at least 282,000 by 2021 with an increase of almost 53% in the over 65\u2019s. CBC sees its role as a \u2018space shaper\u2019 to influence how health and care services are delivered and the plan is to develop multidisciplinary, health and care hubs to deliver more joined up service. So what does this actually mean for Biggleswade? The current Biggleswade Hospital site is proposed as the site of the \u2018Ivel Valley Hub\u2019 where healthcare such as diagnostics, day procedures, access to therapists and geriatricians as well as co-location of social care services including community and voluntary services is planned. Bringing these services together at one site will make them more efficient and allow them to work together more easily which will mean better healthcare for residents. Will it make any difference? Providing healthcare via a multidisciplinary team has been used across the NHS for many years and certainly improves the patient experience. It should be more efficient so as a result capacity should increase. However, CBC may see this as an opportunity to make cost savings and \u2018rationalise\u2019 services which I would strongly oppose if I were elected as councillor. When will this happen? As has been widely publicised the timescale has slipped for this plan, largely due to discussions about the site and how appropriate it is for housing the proposed hub. Although CBC are suggesting a very optimistic timescale (work completed by the end of 2021) it is still far from clear exactly what services will relocate to the new site and this will undoubtedly lead to further delays. However, Biggleswade and the Ivel Valley Hub has been the test bed for developing the multi-disciplinary approach so when the infrastructure is in place Biggleswade should be in an ideal position to move forward quickly. Given we’re heading into election period with CBC’s election on 2nd May, the following details are known as an election ‘imprint’ and are added to ensure people realise I am a candidate and all is transparent: Promoted by Hayley Whitaker, 3 Sutton Road, Eyeworth, SG19 2TP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53,"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drhayleywhitaker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}