Stockport Liberal Democrats

Stockport Liberal Democrats have tabled a motion to the next meeting of the Full Council to congratulate our Olympians for their successes in Rio and anticipating further medal success at the Paralympic games, which start on 7^th September.

Cllr Mark Hunter, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Stockport Council, said: “It is with immense pride we note that Team GB came second in the medal table at Rio, with a record haul of 67 medals including 27 Golds.  This is the fifth consecutive Olympics where our medal haul has increased and we won Gold medals in 15 sports, more than any other nation.

“Special mention must be made of Stockport’s own Kate Richardson-Walsh, who led the women’s hockey team to victory and became Team GB’s flag bearer for the closing ceremony.”

Cllr Lisa Smart, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Bredbury Green and Romiley, said: “It is not just the athletes but also their support teams and families who have done so much towards this great achievement.

“A large number of our elite athletes live, work or train in and around Stockport and we want to mark their achievements and recognise the example they set by inviting them to a special reception with the mayor.

The Paralympics look set to bring yet more exciting sport and medal success over the coming fortnight.”

Stockport Liberal Democrats have continued their campaign against cuts to our Health Service by tabling a motion to be debated at the meeting of the Full Council next week.

Cllr Iain Roberts, Leader of Stockport Liberal Democrats, said: “Having raised the issue of increases to staff car parking charges, the wider cuts to hospital services and, most recently, the increased patient and visitor parking charges at Stepping Hill Hospital we are bringing a motion to the Council which highlights our concern about the way the Conservative Government is failing to provide fair and transparent funding for our health service.

“A key issue is the continual cuts to preventative budgets including Public Health, which will only lead to ever more demand for expensive and unnecessary hospital admissions.”

Cllr Keith Holloway, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Stockport Together, said: “The under-investment by the Conservative government in both NHS and non-NHS Health Spending puts at risk our efforts to save money by pooling our budgets with the Clinical Commissioning Group to deliver preventative health care and makes it more likely that the NHS will face a major crisis in the near future.”

The text of the motion follows and will be debated by the Full Council on Thursday 15th September:

Health Service Cuts

This council meeting notes with grave concern:

•  Stepping Hill Hospital’s budget deficit, which has led to proposals to close a ward, to lose 350 full-time equivalent staff, to increase parking charges for staff, patients and visitors and to sell off part of the hospital site;
• The £30bn black hole in NHS funding, acknowledged by all parties in the run up to the last election; 
• That £22bn of this funding gap is to be tackled through spending cuts in the NHS;
• That KPMG have been brought in to Stepping Hill Hospital and University Hospital of South Manchester Foundation Trusts under the NHS Improvement Programme to support local managers to find savings, at a reported cost of £2m per hospital;
• The draft Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs), which are likely to result in further cuts to services in hospitals; and
• The Conservative government’s cuts to the local public health budget, including in-year cuts totalling well over £2m for the current and previous financial years, with a further 2.5% cut announced for next year.

This council meeting believes:

• The medium-term solution to these issues is the Stockport Together approach of local services delivering preventative health care and avoiding unnecessary hospital admissions;
• To achieve this, it is imperative that in the short-term we have sufficient investment for both the hospitals and the local provision; and
• That under-investment by the Conservative government in both NHS and non-NHS Health Spending such as Public Health makes it less likely that the Stockport Together-style approach will work and makes it more likely that the NHS will face a major crisis in the near future.

This council meeting resolves:

• To reaffirm its commitment to Stockport Together and the use of pooled budgets with the Clinical Commissioning Group; and
• To ask the Chief Executive to write to the Health Secretary, calling for fair and transparent funding for our NHS and non-NHS Health Spending.

Moved: Cllr Iain Roberts
Seconded: Cllr Keith Holloway

Liberal Democrats are deeply concerned by Stepping Hill Hospital plans for huge increases to car park fees for patients and visitors. These changes have been quietly slipped out on the hospital’s website and show as taking effect from the 1st September.

Patients parking up to 2 hours will pay £3.50 – a 40% hike. Those who park for more than 2 hours will pay 33% more than at present. The price for parking for more than 4 hours will increase to £8.

Cllr Lisa Smart, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson for Hazel Grove and Councillor for Bredbury Green and Romiley said: “The NHS should be free at the point of delivery. We acknowledge that the hospital is facing a financial crisis but this is asking patients and visitors to plug the gap in NHS funding. The NHS should be properly funded from general taxation, reflecting the increasing costs and demand they face. The increase will mean Stepping Hill Hospital will have one of the highest hospital parking fees across Greater Manchester.”

Cllr Mark Weldon, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Stepping Hill said: “Residents who live near the hospital already suffer from their roads being parked up by hospital staff and visitors. These price hikes, along with higher staff parking charges, will make the situation even worse. It is disappointing that the hospital didn’t mention any of these increases at the recent public meeting about parking I organised with local residents.”

Details of the increases to parking charges can be found on the Stockport NHS Foundation Trust website here.

Stockport Liberal Democrats have called for a joint campaign with people from all parties and none to oppose the Conservative cuts that have led to job losses and a ward closure at Stepping Hill hospital.

You can join our campaign and sign the petition here.

“At the last election the Conservatives promised billions of pounds more for our NHS,” said Cllr Lisa Smart, Hazel Grove Parliamentary Spokesperson. “We now know that Stepping Hill is having to close a ward, lose over 400 staff, sell off part of their site and make other savings to balance the books. And that’s just for this year – more cuts may be needed next year.”

“It is vital that we have a properly funded health service,” said Cllr Mark Hunter, Parliamentary Spokesperson for Cheadle.  “Within the last few days we have held a top-level meeting with the hospital, and we will work with people from all parties and none to save Stepping Hill.”

Refuting Tory and Labour claims of a leak and breach of confidentiality, Lib Dem leader Iain Roberts said “Along with other parties, I received an email from the hospital via council officers on Wednesday 27th July. The email was not marked as confidential. There was nothing suggesting that it was confidential. It stated that staff at Stepping Hill had already been informed of the proposed cuts. I make no apology for fighting to save our hospital and for informing the public of plans to close an entire ward at less than two days notice. It is astonishing that the Labour and Conservative parties think that big cuts to our hospital matter less than keeping those cuts a secret.”

Lib Dems launch SOS Stepping Hill campaign.

Stockport Liberal Democrats have reacted with shock and anger at news that Stepping Hill hospital is to slash hundreds of jobs and close a whole ward in an attempt to balance the books.

Stepping Hill hospital has admitted it has a deficit of over £40 million and every minute of every day it is losing £75.

Our SOS Stepping Hill Campaign calls on the Conservative government to properly fund the hospital – you can sign our petition here.

To deal with this, the hospital has briefed staff on a whole series of cuts. These include:

A campaign against big increases to the cost of staff parking permits at Stepping Hill hospital has gathered more than 500 signatures in just a few days.

The campaign by Stockport Liberal Democrats began after information was received from a member of staff that the hospital were planning to triple staff parking fees. The hospital initially declined to comment, but later said that the proposal was to nearly double the cost of parking.

“Thank you to everyone who has supported our campaign so far,” said Mark Weldon, Lib Dem councillor for Stepping Hill. “Getting 500 signatures so quickly is amazing. Our next target is to get 1,000 and send a strong message to hospital management. We all know the Government is under-funding our NHS, but it should not be up to hospital staff to fund that gap by paying more for parking at work. Hospital management needs to think again.”

“Hospital staff who can’t afford the higher fees will end up parking on local residential roads, already crammed with cars,” added Jon Twigge, Lib Dem councillor for Hazel Grove. “That’s unfair on residents. We are calling for Stepping Hill hospital to scrap this proposal and instead work with us and the Council to find better alternatives. The Lib Dems will continue to campaign for fair NHS funding from the Government.”

The Liberal Democrat campaign has attracted 500 signatures in less than five days. People can sign the petition at https://goo.gl/nu6hL3