Your Messages of Support

MESSAGES OF SUPPORT


We will publish your messages on this page as we receive them - click on the 'Join Us' tab to send yours

NAME MESSAGE
Peter Lindsay Hopefully the start of a movement which will really bring some weight to get this project off the ground at long last
John Hutcheson I wish you every success in your campaign. There has been talk for a number of years about Knutsford getting a 'central' health centre facility and now, not only are we no closer to achieving that we are probably further away based on the latest news
Jacqueline Bennett Knutsford really needs this, our G.P s and there staff are over stretched. Having all services under one roof would greatly improve things for both staff and patients.
Mr C Wilkshire I am a patient at the Manchester Road Medical Centre which is located in an old terraces building with no dedicated parking. Patient registration is at a maximum and restrained by the small size of the premises that is not suitable for modern medical provision. A new health and wellbeing hub incorporating the existing four seperate town Surgeries under one roof is essential to ensure the provision of adiquate GP medical services for Knutsdord.
Helen Smith No message sent
Philip Smith Knutsford needs a dedicated medical facility. Your campaign has my full support
Karen Wickett There is no way the existing centres can cope with so many new houses. We have been promised this for so long, it is unbelievable that the ICB have now downgraded us!
Arlette Whitehead I am totally in agreement with everything you have said and I cannot understand why all those buildings which are virtually empty (ie the community hospital and surroundings) cannot be utilised to house a medical centre, particularly as they have just re-done the car park and painted and re-furnished the reception at the hospital. It is the logical use for any of those buildings!
John Whitehead I support everything you stand for, including the obvious development of the community hospital site as a medical centre.
Rayna Jackson Knutsford�s excellent medical partnership are being stretched beyond reason by the substantial new house building. Cheshire East has a duty to liaise with the primary health care provider which it has totally failed to fulfil.
Carol Goodwin Knutsford is desperately in need of a new medical centre. Health is the principal requirement for us all so when the medical staff at the existing surgeries make such a public plea we need to listen. I have been a patient at one of the practices for nearly fifty years and know the calibre of the staff who have helped me and my family. They go the extra mile to care for people. Reaching the existing premises is far from easy with parking for disabled not always catered for. The town�s population is increasing, so do problems accessing health care. The possibility that residents will have none is certainly not why the NHS was formed. Selling the existing buildings makes sense and I hope that pressure on ICB by Esther Mcvey and HAWK residents campaign will have an effect.
Anne Holloway I read with interest the refusal of such a promising site for KMP , it seems counterproductive to say the least. May I ask , if these plans were to get the go-ahead, as I believe they should, what provision would be made for the residents of Mobberley?
James Burgess A new medical centre for Knutsford is required urgently as the existing facilities are no longer adequate and are bound to get worse
Elizabeth Burgess It is a shame that we have had to go to such lengths to get a much needed health centre for our doctors and patients. Good on Ester McVey for supporting the cause.
Sheila Ward I support this group wholeheartedly and hope Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Service change their mind. Knutsford really needs an integrated health service large enough to be able to serve the needs of our growing town
Paula Lambe No message
Aidan Rowlands No message
Paul Lawrence Should be pleased to be of help to get this serious issue resolved to a sensible/logical conclusion for the benefit of KMP team and their patients
Katy Parker No message
Paul Webster Knutsford�s medical facilities are demonstrably not fit for purpose
Joanna Rowlands No message
Caroline Wilding No message
Janet Gosling Great meeting last night. Let's hope there is a positive result this time to this on-going issue.
Arthur. Beecroft A long term problem with the surgeries should be resolved by the local authorities
Sue Mansfield I have been a patient at Toft Road surgery for 52 years and nothing has changed �.except the reception window. A new health centre has been talked about for years and now it is time for action to ensure that Knutsford has the health centre it desperately needs as soon as possible. I fully support everyone involved in bringing our Health Centre to life as soon as possible.
Pete Bowler Fully support this campaign. As requested by Knutsford Town Council (see www.knutsfordtowncouncil.gov.uk/news), we have written to Cheshire East Council and East Cheshire NHS Trust.
Reg Smith Desperate measures needed,it�s hard enough to gain clinical care currently.
Morten Lindholt We are a group of architects who have previously put forward credible proposals for a health centre. Unfortunately, this was ignored by Macc . Health Trust, even though this was a financially viable proposal in contrast to the current proposal which we believe is not financial credible.
Jacquie Grinham The PPG is keen to raise public awareness of the recent change to downgrade the need for the Centre � and we have enrolled the Town Council in organising a public meeting to be held the last week of May (delay until then because of the council elections and the need for purdah for 6 weeks!). The PPG are incensed by the persistent delays in progress towards a Health and Wellbeing Centre (many of us have been involved for nearly 20 years in trying to achieve this). Unfortunately we are also aware that it�s Knutsford�s own fault that we didn�t get one 15 years ago when we were offered the chance and the money, and this means that by now there is a weariness about fighting. So, what does this mean? I think that we are running short of ideas and energy. However, if you have some positive thoughts then I might be able to muster up a few members who will respond
John & Arlette Whitehead We are writing to you to add our very strong support for the new medical centre to be positioned on the site of the Knutsford Community hospital, including �The Stanley centre� and Bexton court. This seems to us an eminently sensible solution to a very long term problem. Knutsford as a town has been growing and would appear to be further developed for a long time and the present medical facilities have basically not changed for the last 50 years, and �are completely �outdated and not fit for purpose. Not to mention how demoralising it must be for the Doctors et Al who have to work in these damp, mouldy, old buildings. This has been an ongoing situation for many years with several suggestions for various sites , all of which have been dismissed for some reason or other. However it has always been fairly obvious to the people of Knutsford that this site would be the most sensible and we can�t really understand why it hasn�t happened. We attended a meeting on Wednesday evening chaired by the Mayor of Knutsford and supported by several Doctors and other medical workers, forefront of which was Dr Paddy Kearns who put forward an impassioned plea for the centre to be implemented, backed by our local MP, Esther McVey and Mark Wilkinson, ( Cheshire East Place Director @ Cheshire and Merseyside NHS integrated care board) all of whom backed the suggestion. Unfortunately it wasn�t a full House of Representatives as neither yourself or Ged Murphy �(Chief Executive of the East Cheshire NHS trust) were present. However plenty of Knutsford residents did attend the meeting and we are delighted that the Mayor has vowed to get everyone involved around the table and for this to finally happen. To this end we would like to formally add our support
Raimondo Dragonetti LETTER TO CEC: Dear Ms O�Donnell. I attended a packed public meeting in Knutsford last night to progress a Community Care Centre on the site of the Knutsford Community Hospital. The meeting included the Tatton MP Esther McVey, the Knutsford Mayor Peter Coast and Mark Wilkinson - Knutsford Cheshire East Place Director at Cheshire and Merseyside NHS integrated Care Board. I was saddened that Cheshire East Council (and East Cheshire NHS Trust) were not represented at what was a very useful community meeting. Knowing that Cheshire East Council owns land around the hospital and is responsible for social care in the area, I would urge you to come to the table with other stakeholders as soon as you possibly can and help to find a way to get the design and build of the Community Care Centre started. I would be very grateful for your confirmation that you are able to do so.
Dr John Hutcheson & Mrs Susan Hutcheson LETTER TO CEC & NHS; We attended the public meeting in Knutsford on 31st May to discuss the total lack of progress on the provision of a new primary healthcare facility in Knutsford, despite it being discussed for 15 years.� Dr Kearns from Knutsford Medical Practice very clearly explained the problems the Practice has in providing the current level of health care and their inability to extend their work to include areas such as physiotherapy, diagnostics etc. etc. that would enable them to provide more local services and reduce the demand on NHS facilities outside the town.� This issue is only going to worsen in the coming years with the continued degradation of the existing buildings and the increasing demand caused by the increasing population.� It is obvious that to do nothing is not an option.Mr Wilkinson (Cheshire East Place Director at Cheshire and Merseyside NHS Integrated Care Board) made it clear that the provision of a new facility in Knutsford was the top priority project for Cheshire East but it would face competition from �top priorities� in other areas of the Integrated Care Board and also that projects in metropolitan areas like Liverpool would probably get a higher priority.� From the comments he made it seemed that it was very unlikely the NHS Integrated Care Board would be of much assistance in helping Knutsford.Dr Kearns explained that Knutsford Medical Practice has developed and costed plans for a facility on a site in the town that would be cost neutral by using parts of the potential site for services that would raise money. �However, to proceed with that plan they would need to be able to purchase all the site that Bexton Hospital and other buildings are occupying.� The problem in doing that is that different parts of the site are owned by different organisations, e.g. the hospital is owned by East Cheshire NHS Trust and Cheshire East Council owns property around the hospital.There was overwhelming support for urgent action to progress planning for a new primary health care facility from the large number of Knutsford and Mobberley residents who attended the meeting.� Mr Coan, Knutsford�s mayor, committed to contacting all the relevant parties to arrange a planning meeting.� Can we please urge you both to ensure that your organisations participate in this meeting and do your utmost to ensure that the provision of a new facility in Knutsford is progressed so that it can come into use before the existing Annandale building closes in 5 years.� Any delay beyond that time would be unacceptable and could also result in an increased risk to public health in the town.
Tony Booth LETTER TO CEC & NHS: I am writing to you both, as a patient (for the last 50 years) of the Knutsford Medical Partnership (KMP), to express my deep concern that the future health care of the people of Knutsford is being ignored by yourselves and the organisations you represent. I have nothing but praise for the service KMP provided right through the Covid pandemic and beyond, but am very concerned about their ability to provide such good healthcare in the near future. On Wednesday last (31 May) I attended a meeting, convened by the Mayor of Knutsford, to outline the issues involved in delivering health care to Knutsford and district. We heard of GP surgeries in Victorian buildings becoming unfit for purpose, with no capacity to serve the occupants of the additional 1000 homes recently built and planned for the town. Also, with one surgery (of the four) reaching the end of its already extended lease within 5 years, you do not appear to be giving NHS primary care in the town its due priority. For some considerable time, there has been a proposal to build a centralised health care facility in Knutsford, to bring the GP practices under one roof and to include minor clinical procedures, which currently require hospital visits and which put administrative and clinical burdens on already overstretched facilities. It�s disgraceful that there has been no progress for the last 15 years; it�s time for the talking to stop and action to begin. We were informed that if action started today, with appropriate planning permissions and funding, it could still take over 5 years for a new facility to become operational. But can you both (as Chief Executives of the organisations who have responsibility for the buildings currently occupying the Bexton Road site, the preferred location for the joint facility) assure me that you are giving the urgency of this proposal the priority it deserves and that action will commence soon; tomorrow is not soon enough!
Mabs Taylor LETTER TO TOWN COUNCILLORS: For many years I attended meetings of Health Voice, (the service users voice) arranged by the East Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group, and they had an on-going project called Caring Together which essentially meant a joining up of Social Care and Health Care, which meant that the two bodies concerned CEC and the ECNHS Trust would have to relinquish power, and possibly cash so no progress was made at all, and the 2 bodies are still at odds to-day .Their intransigence has of course given rise to the problems of getting people out of hospital in to what is now inadequate social and after care, as CEC sold off all its facilities which are now run by private companies at vast expense to the users.Furthermore we have to look at the history of MDGH as over the years it has on several occasions faced possible closure, and in order to sustain its financial viability it would dearly love to close Congleton War Memorial Hospital and the Knutsford Community Hospital .As this would be difficult to achieve in view of public hostility it will try to achieve it by attrition, and close local services so that it will be then able to claim that these services were no longer financially viable .Same with The Stanley Centre if people are not referred there for care then the same rationale can be applied.After being involved in all of this since 2009 and having dealt with the East Cheshire Primary Care Trust, followed by the East Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group, and also having been assured by our former M.P. George Osborne some 8 years ago that developments were imminent to now see that little has been accomplished I think I am entitled to be more than cynical.
David Laycock OPEN LETTER TO CEC: Re: Health & Wellbeing Provision in Knutsford. We find it quite disgraceful that neither yourself, your deputy nor any other senior officer of the council was able to attend last Wednesday�s (31st May) public meeting to discuss future healthcare provision in Knutsford. This is especially galling given that CEC holds many of the keys that would unlock this project, namely: � Your ownership of the neighbouring Bexton Court and Stanley Centre sites. � The Council�s role in granting planning permission. � Your holding of the many thousands of pounds generated from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) given the extensive house building that is occurring within the town. This issue has been rumbling on for over 15 years and the huge turnout at the meeting demonstrated how important an issue this is for all our town�s residents.We therefore expect that you and CEC fully participate in the project board that our Town Mayor, Cllr Peter Coan, is seeking to establish and that you help make this scheme a reality. We await your commitment with interest.
Share by: