Extra health scrutiny meeting planned amid concerns of ‘critical situation’ in Nottinghamshire healthcare

It follows calls from two Labour councillors to hold an all-day scrutiny meeting to ensure the authority is able to examine all the problems currently facing patients and NHS staff in Notts.

The council’s health scrutiny committee met on January 10, but only one item was on the agenda, the £5.6 million planned for extra surgery and diagnostic capacity at Newark Hospital, which is due to roll out in April.

However, the initial plan was for the meeting to also scrutinise issues with access to GP surgeries and potentially NHS dentistry across the county.

Neither of the discussions was able to take place due to scheduling issues, meaning they have been pushed back until at least the next meeting on February 21.

The February meeting is also due to include a talk from Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust about current winter pressures and maternity.

The inclusion of potentially all three items on the same agenda led to concern councillors will not have enough time to scrutinise everything in detail.

Coun Mike Pringle and Coun Michelle Welsh called for a separate meeting to be scheduled so politicians have more opportunity to discuss all items in full.

Coun Pringle, member for Ollerton, said: “Because of the critical situation we find ourselves in, I’d ask we call an extraordinary meeting.

“Whether it takes until 3pm, 5pm, it’s important we are able to scrutinise things at this moment in time.”

It led to council officers agreeing to try to schedule a separate meeting between now and next month to discuss access to GP services.

The February 21 meeting would only include NUH to give councillors enough time to scrutinise hospital pressures and maternity.

The meeting scheduled for March 28 would then look into NHS dentistry across the county.

After the move was agreed, Coun Sue Saddington, committee chairman, said: “We know what you are trying to say.

“If we are getting outside people in – which is what this committee does – we have to go with their availability.

“We will do our best. The February 21 meeting will include maternity and winter pressures and if we can pull in a meeting before that, we will look at access to GP surgeries.”