Agenda item

12.1  Malcolm Hines, Chief Finance officer, presented on the paper circulated with the agenda. He started by explaining that this project is moving on from discussing a hospital site. He explained rather than being about Dulwich Hospital, this process is talking about the best range of services for that area.

12.2  The chief finance officer referred to the slides explaining the engagement process and reported that by the summer we would expect a vision. He said that then formal consultation will be developed; once we know what the needs are we will develop a physical vision.  He went on to say that one option is that it could be on the present hospital site; but it could be on other sites or a combination.

12.3  A member asked for confirmation on the timings and asked if all the advertising in place. The chief finance officer responded that the start date is April and the end date is 8 May. He said that the initial consultation is about the service model and once that is done then there will be a consultation on the physical model.

12.4  A member asked who develops the models.  The chief finance officer explained that this is the SCCC with support of the Business Support Unit (BSU) and this then goes to the joint board of the PCT. He reported that it does depend on the scale of the change.

12.5  A member commented that in the presentation it was said that we are not starting from scratch. He asked what preplanning has occurred and what might be the constraints.  The chief finance officer responded that we have a number of sites and a range of existing provision. The document is being published soon, in next few days.

12.6  A member asked if local people are going to find one of the constraints could be the PCT becoming a private enterprise, for example, or a hospital. The chief finance officer said that we don't see those constraints; and that we want to hear what people want.

12.7  A member commented that the NHS is facing 4 % cuts year on year, the most since 1940, and that this is liberal conservative government. A member commented that he did not want to be drawn into a political discussion at the moment and preferred to focus on the plans being presented.