Chapter 5. Social Infrastructure
The prevailing theory underpinning improvements to healthcare services and cost savings in the NHS London STPs is that 40% of those in hospital beds should not be there. The proposed STP ‘replacement’ treatment venues include community health day care centres, enlarged GP surgeries and in bed at home. Proofs to ‘prove’ this theory do not exist.
The number of Emergency admissions to hospital (so called Non-Elective admissions – NELs) continues to rise throughout London. The current programme of planned hospital A&E unit closures and District General Hospital (DGH) closures in London has been delayed. In North West London (NWL), for example, two hospital A&Es were closed in September 2014 and A&E performance throughout the region fell dramatically and has never recovered. Plans to fund the closure of another NWL DGH and its A&E unit were rejected by NHS London regulators in November 2017.
16 November 2017 Mayor Khan announced devolved care in London. He stated that London’s population would rise by 1.3 million by 2024. At 2.1 million the eight London boroughs which make up NWL contain over 20% of London’s population. This suggest a population growth in NWL of over 260,000 by 2024.
In the Mayor’s new draft London Plan, the eight NWL boroughs are expected to build 139,950 new homes between 2019 and 2028. In addition to this the OPDC, situated in Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, is required to build 13,670 new homes during this period. This would give us an increase in population in NWL of 461, 982 people by 2028.
In order to successfully treat all these residents in NWL, NHS DGHs, hospital A&E units, community health day care centres and GP surgeries will have to be retained and expanded. By 2028 it’s likely that a new DGH will need to be established in the region.
S1 E ‘new facilities should be easily accessible by public transport, cycling and walking’.
This statement excludes those who are challenged in an ambulatory fashion who will need easy access by private transport. ‘Private transport’ needs to be added to the list.
5. 1. 1 The social infrastructure listing should include ‘social care provision’
5.1. 7 Add ‘including social housing’ after ‘affordable housing’.
S2 C Add ‘private transport pick-up and drop-off’ to the list
5.2.1 London’s social care population is excluded for this planning guideline. (With 1.5 million social care workers in England as opposed to 1.3 million healthcare workers, London’s social care staff population is almost certainly larger than that of London’s healthcare population).
5.2.2 For ‘healthcare’ replace with ‘care’.
In 5.2 a whole new section is required on social care infrastructure provision which should ‘mirror’ the healthcare infrastructure guidelines at 5.2.3, 5.2. 4 and 5.2.5.
5.2 7 Add ‘social care’ references
2 March 2018
