Shawbury

Shawbury Division elects one Councillor.

Candidates:
Division Name Party Survey
Shawbury BOULDING, Steve Grn  
Shawbury JONES, Simon Paul Anderson Con (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
BOULDING, Steve Grn Yes
Comments and explanations:

Name Party Comment1
BOULDING, Steve Grn Green Party policy is to prioritise public spending in areas which are of most benefit to ordinary people, instead of on things which only or mainly benefit large corporations and/or the wealthiest citizens, and which often also tend to be detrimental to health and the environment. We also reject the notion of the need for “austerity” – there is plenty of wealth around, but £trillions are held in offshore tax havens. We would require all individuals and corporations to pay the correct amount of tax, determined at a fair, but not over-burdensome, rate, and would thus ensure adequate funding for all beneficial public expenditure. We would also reduce the overall burden on the NHS by early implementation of policies promoting exercise, vastly more healthy diet, elimination of all environmental pollution, and reduction of poverty and other factors contributing to mental health issues, and other factors which tend to contribute to ill-health.
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
BOULDING, Steve Grn Yes
Comments and explanations:

Name Party Comment2
BOULDING, Steve Grn Community outreach in the promotion of good health is extremely cost-effective and should be generously funded to reduce illness and the burden on GP and Hospital 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
BOULDING, Steve Grn Yes
Comments and explanations:

Name Party Comment3
BOULDING, Steve Grn Green Party policy is to support and expand the provision of integrated reliable and affordable public transport in both rural and urban areas for reasons of environmental protection, social inclusivity and access to facilities and services, of which health services are a crucial component.
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
BOULDING, Steve Grn Yes
Comments and explanations:

Name Party Comment4
BOULDING, Steve Grn Healthwatch groups should be absolutely independent and properly funded, and should be given a greater role in supporting and working with NHS and other care providers where difficulties and failings are identified (which of course are largely a result of inadequate funding and/or excessive workload). As our policies feed through into better health and wellbeing generally, the level of problems will reduce significantly.
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
BOULDING, Steve Grn Yes
Comments and explanations:

Name Party Comment5
BOULDING, Steve Grn Money must always be targeted where it achieves the best outcome, but there must be a statutory requirement, as well as a moral determination, to ensure that all NHS, national government, local authority and voluntary health- and care-related sectors work far more closely together for the benefit of all. Appropriate levels of funding must be identified and permanently ring-fenced to ensure this.
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
BOULDING, Steve Grn Yes
Comments and explanations:

Name Party Comment6
BOULDING, Steve Grn It is not a Plan, it is a wrecking exercise designed to slash costs and also to soften up a desperate public for the hiving off of large parts of the NHS to private corporations, often foreign owned and non-taxpaying, and will lead to much healthcare only being available to those who are willing or able to pay for it.
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
BOULDING, Steve Grn Yes
Comments and explanations:

Name Party Comment7
BOULDING, Steve Grn The answer “yes” is sufficient in view of the unequivocal wording of the question
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
BOULDING, Steve Grn Yes
Comments and explanations:

Name Party Comment8
BOULDING, Steve Grn Obviously, an unequivocal “yes”. The important point here is that constant vigilance and bloody-mindedness will be required to ensure that certain vested interests aren’t continually trying to by-pass or subvert the scrutiny process.