An utter shambles

May 26 2011 By Ross Crawford

THE whole shabby story of the closure of Solihull’s maternity unit came to its inevitable conclusion this week with the news that just 181 people bothered to respond to the care trust’s consultation process.

Little wonder really as the 24 week exercise had been delayed and delayed before Heart of England Foundation Trust announced it was going ahead with the decision anyway and that the ‘consultation’ could take place afterwards.

All this in the face of intense opposition not only from the people of Solihull, but from its councillors and MPs Caroline Spelman and Lorely Burt.

No wonder that everytime there’s news of cuts or ‘re-organisation’ that alarm bells start ringing over the future of Solihull Hospital.

The Trust’s health chiefs have demonstrated that they are a law unto themselves and no one, but no one, will stand in their way.

Granted chief executive Dr Mark Newbold was appointed after this fiasco had started but he has a job of work to do to re-gain the trust of the people of Solihull.

In the meantime, in a week of more NHS cutbacks, could we be told how much money was wasted on the utterly pointless maternity consultation?