Agenda item

Royston Hospital Site

Ms Margaret Allen, Royston Community Health CIC, thanked the Chairman for the opportunity to address the Committee and gave a verbal update on the progress at the Royston Hospital Site.

The Chairman thanked Mrs Allen for her presentation.

Royston University of the Third Age

Councillor Jean Green declared a disclosable interest in that she was a member of the Royston University of the Third Age. She advised that she would abstain from voting.

Ms Jackie Gellert, Royston University of the Third Age, thanked the Chairman for the opportunity to address the Committee and gave a verbal presentation regarding the grant funding application for Royston University of the Third Age.

The Chairman thanked Ms Gellert for her presentation.

Audio Recording  – 2 Minutes 52 Seconds.

Royston Hospital Site.

Ms Margaret Allen, Royston Community Health CIC, thanked the Chairman for the opportunity to address the Committee and gave a verbal update on the progress at the Royston Hospital Site as follows:

·               The aim was to create a Health Hub, consisting of Physiotherapists, clinics, GP’s and a care home;

·               The care home could be used as a transition to get people moved from the major hospitals, prior to moving back home;

·               They also aimed to introduce Social Prescribing Projects on the strip of land that accompanied the plot that would include, gardening and bird watching;

·               The NHS was constantly changing. Currently the Social Transformation Programme were attempting to form single, multi-disciplinary, ten-year plan to re-invest in care in the community to keep people well and out of hospital where possible and to enable people to leave hospitals earlier. The planning is continuing, but it could not be implemented the GP Network was formed and there was a deadline for this of May 2019.

·               They had held some very productive joint meetings.

The following Members asked questions and took part in the discussion:

·                Councillor Ruth Brown;

·                Councillor Sarah Dingley;

·                Councillor Gerald Morris;

·                Councillor Bill Davidson.

In response to the questions raised Mrs Allen advised:

·          They would like an integrated care home that was accessible by other services such as GPs and physiotherapists;

·          The land is currently owned by the NHS and the major contributors to the business model are still yet to be confirmed;

·          That this does not necessarily mean an increase in the number of GP’s, but it does mean that GPs in Royston would have the opportunity to use the hospital building to take advantage of shared help, technology and services such as phlebotomy;

·          Doctors will have the opportunity to operate out of the hospital or to run specific clinics from inside the hub;

·          The future of the existing surgeries in Royston was still uncertain.

The Chairman thanked Ms Allen for her presentation.

Audio Recording – 27 Minutes 57 Seconds

Royston University of the Third Age

Councillor Jean Green declared a disclosable interest in that she was a member of the Royston University of the Third Age. She advised that she would abstain from voting.

Ms Jackie Gellert, Royston University of the Third Age, thanked the Chairman for the opportunity to address the Committee and gave a verbal presentation regarding the grant funding application for Royston University of the Third Age as follows:

·                U3A had been running since 2015 and was aimed at older people in the Royston area;

·                Membership fees were £14 per annum;

·                They currently had almost 500 members;

·                They started in the Town Hall, but having outgrown these facilities, now met in the Parish Church;

·                Each meeting consisted of tea, coffee and a chat prior to listening to one of the guest speakers;

·                Sadly there had been a fire in the Parish Church and they had returned to the Town Hall, although the room was too small for the numbers attending.

·                They were currently renting equipment to enable presentations to be relayed to other rooms so that all of the Members could take part in the meeting;

·                The application was for grant funding to enable them to purchase webcams and equipment to relay presentations to another room in order to ensure their growing membership could take part in meetings.

The following Members asked questions and took part in the discussion:

·                Councillor Gerald Morris;

·                Councillor Tony Hunter.

In response to the questions raised Mrs Gellert advised:

·                Although there was money in the bank, most of this had been collected for specific projects and outings.

·                The members were all from the local area.

The Chairman thanked Ms Gellert for her presentation.