The council has ‘serious concerns regarding the state of health services in Hull’
Cllr Mike Ross and Wes Streeting(Image: Neil Holmes Photograph/PA)
The leader of Hull City Council has written to the Government’s Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, calling for an “urgent meeting” to discuss health services in the city. The Hull University Teaching Hospitals (HUTH) NHS Trust was recently ranked in last place out of NHS England’s 134 acute trusts.
When the latest rankings were revealed in March, the Trust, which runs both Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital, said its position “reflects the scale of challenges which the organisation has been managing for some time.” A spokesperson for the Trust added that these issues “are not new.”
In response to the rankings, and the Humber Health Partnership being placed in special measures, the council leader sent a letter to Mr Streeting. In it, Cllr Mike Ross alongside the authority’s chief executive Matt Jukes, set out the council’s “serious concerns regarding the state of health services in Hull,” and requested an “urgent meeting” with the Health Secretary to discuss ways to address the challenges.
Main entrance to Hull Royal Infirmary(Image: Humber Health Partnership)
Did you know you can make Hull Live a preferred source of Hull news in Google, which will mean you get more of our breaking news, exclusives, and must-read stories straight away? Here’s more information about what this means and how to do it – you can also do it straight away by clicking here.
Their letter added: “We recognise the Government’s ambitions, set out in the ‘Fit for the Future’ plan, to reduce bureaucracy and reinvest savings into frontline care. However, there remains a clear lack of detail on how these reforms will be sufficiently funded or how they will address the immediate pressures facing areas such as Hull.
“Hull City Council believes that high-quality, accessible healthcare is fundamental to a fair and functioning society. The current situation risks not only poorer health outcomes, but also wider social and economic harm to our city.”
A spokesperson from Mr Streeting’s Department of Health and Social Care did not directly address the council’s call for a meeting with the Health Secretary. The spokesperson told Hull Live: “This government inherited a broken NHS and patients in Hull deserve better. That’s why Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is part of our new NHS intensive recovery programme – bringing in expert leaders and targeted support to tackle long-standing challenges which have been overlooked for far too long.
“Through our record funding and modernisation, waiting lists are at their lowest levels in three years and A&E performance the best in five years. But we know there’s more to do to tackle unacceptable inequalities across the country.”
The Hull trust has been named as one of five in England that will undergo a new intensive recovery programme. Earlier this month, during a phone-in interview, Mr Streeting told BBC Radio Humberside that the programme, which is aimed at the worst performing trusts, is underway in Hull.
To find all the planning applications, traffic diversions, road layout changes, alcohol licence applications and more, visit the Public Notices Portal .