Southend Council puts brakes on £118m health plan

Stroke patients would be transferred to Basildon Hospital from Southend under the proposals

Plans to reshape healthcare across Essex are in jeopardy after councillors referred them to the health secretary.

The move means £118m of NHS funding will be frozen and the proposals will be put on hold for 20 days for independent scrutiny.

Southend Council's People Scrutiny Committee decided the plans are unclear and could endanger patients.

The joint committee of five clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) has described the delay as "frustrating".

The range of proposals were approved at a meeting of the Mid and South Essex Sustainability and Transformation Partnership CCG Joint Committee in July.

They included "treat and transfer", which would see patients with conditions such as strokes and complex lung problems stabilised at their local hospital before being moved to sites with specialist teams.

But the CCGs said 24-hour accident and emergency provision would remain at all three hospitals - in Basildon, Southend and Broomfield.

Mike Bewick said the further delay was "frustrating"

Southend Council officers had initially recommended referring the decision to centralise stroke services at Basildon Hospital, but councillors chose to back an amendment calling for the whole plan to be challenged.

The amendment from Labour councillors stated the content of the consultation had been unsatisfactory.

There were concerns about the stroke services and treat and transfer plans, and it was noted the plan would not be beneficial to Southend residents as a whole.

Labour councillor Matt Dent said: "The fact is, since the beginning of this process the council has been asking questions about how this process will work, in particular the treat and transfer model and it has not stood up to scrutiny."

Professor Mike Bewick, independent chairman of the Joint Committee of the five clinical commissioning groups in mid and south Essex, said: "We are confident that our consultation process was open and transparent, and the evidence behind the models of care recommended will enhance the existing provision of hospital care for our whole population."