Quick Update

Thanks for the posts asking for an update on the council meeting.

The minutes have not been published yet but the recommendations were supported along with the the general thrust of the paper.

I understand councillors asked if an all party group could be added to the stakeholder group and this request will be relayed to the other organisations.

In the meantime we are preparing work to put before the stakeholder group and are trying to collect information from various sources to support the council view that there is a bright future for Shotley Bridge as a first class community hospital. I think everyone will be interested in the ideas coming forward and I will endeavour to publish our proposals here once they have been developed.

On the subject of sources of information you may have noticed there is a new link to the Community Hospital Association (CHA) web site on the right hand side which you may like to click on to and visit. The Council subscribe as members to the site but it is still available to everyone who wishes to find out what is happening elsewhere in the country.The Association mainly represent small cottage hospitals but they have been a great source of support for the council

CHA POSSIBLE VISIT?

There is the possibility that we could ask for a speaker from the CHA to visit Derwentside and give us an outline of how they might see a Shotley Bridge Support Group

developing.There is a small budget available set aside for this purpose which the council have endorsed.

The issues around forming such a group will be raised with the Leader of the council and the PCT to gain their help in launching a "membership drive"

If in the meantime anyone who reads the blog might wish to sign up as an interested party,please e-mail the address below and we can start collecting the names and e-mails of those to contact when we can get a launch date.

If you would wish to remain anonymous please make it clear in your e-mail that you do not want your name to be made public or appear on any form of publicly available list .

k.earley@derwentside.gov.uk