Oswestry East

Oswestry East Division elects two Councillors.

Candidates:
Division Name Party Survey
Oswestry East ASPINALL, Clare Victoria Con (Did not respond)
Oswestry East BENNETT, David Matthew Grn  
Oswestry East BENNETT, Lee Kelvin LD (Did not respond)
Oswestry East BENNETT, Martin Ind  
Oswestry East CHERRINGTON, Peter Alun Ind (Did not respond)
Oswestry East HOPLEY, Carl Lab  
Oswestry East ISHERWOOD, Mike Grn  
Oswestry East PRICE, John William Con (Did not respond)
Oswestry East WOOF, Amanda Jane LD (Did not respond)
1. Will you support sufficient funding to enable all Shropshire’s Public Health programmes to continue, and to allow the development and implementation of new programmes to improve the health of Shropshire people?

Name Party Q1
BENNETT, David Matthew Grn Yes
BENNETT, Martin Ind Yes
HOPLEY, Carl Lab Yes
ISHERWOOD, Mike Grn Yes
Comments and explanations:

Name Party Comment1
BENNETT, David Matthew Grn It is vital that all health services stay fully funded and protected.
BENNETT, Martin Ind We also need to be sure that money is spent effectively. It is easy to spend money; it is harder to ensure is it spent well. We should spend on actual health and look for efficiencies in management and administration.
HOPLEY, Carl Lab This has to be one of our priorities. Even with cuts from central government, we must find ways of supporting our NHS in Shropshire
2. Will you support sufficient funding for health visiting in Shropshire to ensure the full implementation of NHS England’s recommended model: ‘The universal health visitor reviews’ – five mandated reviews?

Name Party Q2
BENNETT, David Matthew Grn Yes
BENNETT, Martin Ind Yes
HOPLEY, Carl Lab Yes
ISHERWOOD, Mike Grn Yes
Comments and explanations:

Name Party Comment2
BENNETT, Martin Ind Shropshire is a vast rural county, with lots of miles between our towns, villages and hamlets. This needs to be recognised and compensated for
HOPLEY, Carl Lab This is vital in order to provide agreed services
3. Will you support Shropshire Council commissioning and subsidising public transport sufficient to enable all patients without their own transport to access health services reliably?

Name Party Q3
BENNETT, David Matthew Grn Yes
BENNETT, Martin Ind Unsure
HOPLEY, Carl Lab Yes
ISHERWOOD, Mike Grn Yes
Comments and explanations:

Name Party Comment3
BENNETT, Martin Ind While this survey concentrates on health, there are also other services (leisure and recreation, shopping) for which some forms of transport would be essential. I should like to Shropshire Council facilitate an integrated system which both enabled people to access health and other services, and which by its viability encouraged more people to leave their own cars and use public transport. I feel this would also need the input of Parish and Town Councils to find appropriate solutions. At the core of the issue is GOVERNMENT funding: HMG wants to see 7 day/week access to GP’s and health services, but also needs to address the problems faced by rural communities in getting there. The answer therefore, involves more than Shropshire Council, it must involve the Council, Government, Parishes and local communities.
HOPLEY, Carl Lab All options should be provided, to ensure that at the point of need, patients can access transportation – essential in rural areas like ours
4. Will you support the funding of Healthwatch at a level sufficient to fully exercise its statutory role, and do you agree that it should be able to determine its own programmes of work independent of any Council veto?

Name Party Q4
BENNETT, David Matthew Grn Yes
BENNETT, Martin Ind Yes
HOPLEY, Carl Lab Unsure
ISHERWOOD, Mike Grn Yes
Comments and explanations:

Name Party Comment4
BENNETT, Martin Ind Why have a Healthwatch if it is in the pocket – or control – of the Council, or anyone else? Democracy and public accountability is lost when decisions are taken behind closed doors.
HOPLEY, Carl Lab In principle I would, but I would need to look at this in more detail before providing an answer.
5. Do you agree that the Health and Wellbeing Board should only apply the Better Care Fund on programmes that will improve health and wellbeing, rather than transferring the cost of provision from the NHS to the Council, voluntary organisations, and individual patients?

Name Party Q5
BENNETT, David Matthew Grn Yes
BENNETT, Martin Ind Yes
HOPLEY, Carl Lab Unsure
ISHERWOOD, Mike Grn Yes
Comments and explanations:

Name Party Comment5
HOPLEY, Carl Lab Again, I would need to look at the detail of its role before comment. I am not a candidate that is prepared to provide answers that I think might sound like the right ones, on my part, I have to learn much more about the detail but will support any initiative that ultimately works for the betterment of provision.
6. Will you vote against endorsement of the current Shropshire Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) in which Shropshire Council is a partner?

Name Party Q6
BENNETT, David Matthew Grn Yes
BENNETT, Martin Ind Yes
HOPLEY, Carl Lab Unsure
ISHERWOOD, Mike Grn Yes
Comments and explanations:

Name Party Comment6
HOPLEY, Carl Lab I have concerns about the current arrangements and I’m not convinced the current models are working. I would like to consider the detail and consult with all parties before determining what I feel would be best.
ISHERWOOD, Mike Grn It is far too vague a document to endorse as it is and fails to address some serious issues.
7. Will you vote against endorsement of future versions of the STP if it does not meet the following red lines: (a) no reduction of provision or access to in-County secondary care, including emergency care; (b) no reduction of hospital beds in either RSH or PRH unless bed occupancy rates have been running at 85% consistently for 12 months; (c) no reduction in acute/secondary care services that are being transferred to the community without high quality evidence based community provision being in place, fully operational, and proven to be successful; (d) no reduction in beds and service provision at our community hospitals; (e) a real increase in community mental health provision; (f) the continued provision of accessible Midwife-Led Maternity Units, in line with national guidance and with no reduction in current services; (g) a real improvement in ambulance provision to ensure NHS England target response times can be met across the County; (h) no increase in the fragmentation or privatisation of services?

Name Party Q7
BENNETT, David Matthew Grn Yes
BENNETT, Martin Ind Yes
HOPLEY, Carl Lab Yes
ISHERWOOD, Mike Grn Yes
Comments and explanations:

Name Party Comment7
BENNETT, Martin Ind The challenge here is the ambulance service: we are NOT well served in our public services when different services are working on different boundaries and often to different policies. I should like to see some effort to get the boundaries better aligned, or by giving some autonomy to ‘regions’ within the West Midlands Ambulance Service. It would be better for the Fire, Police, Health and Ambulance Services to share the same boundaries if at all possible.
HOPLEY, Carl Lab To me, the protection of these essential services, in the best way possible, is what needs to come first. I could not support STP if these provisions are put at risk.
ISHERWOOD, Mike Grn Having most of my recent experience of the health service through maternity services I know that my wife was happiest being looked after in the midwife-led unit at the RJAH near Oswestry. Compared to three times at Shrewsbury and one birth at home with no medical assistance (long story!) the experience was by far the most reassuring and fulfilling, with an almost home-like feel. We must not allow excellent local care like this to be lost through short-sighted cuts.
8. If a member of the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee, or the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, will you ensure that there is full public consultation on any proposed changes to NHS service that might negatively impact any patients, and if such proposals are subsequently agreed by the relevant NHS body, will you vote to refer the proposals to the Secretary of State for Health?

Name Party Q8
BENNETT, David Matthew Grn Yes
BENNETT, Martin Ind Yes
HOPLEY, Carl Lab Yes
ISHERWOOD, Mike Grn Yes
Comments and explanations:

Name Party Comment8
BENNETT, Martin Ind As a patient myself, with a long-term, managed condition, I do have an interest in the matter, but the patients should be at the heart of whatever we do.
HOPLEY, Carl Lab I am totally committed to full public consultation in all aspects of changes that impact on all of us, that at some point need our valued NHS