NHS funding concerns over Highsted Park

The Five Parishes Group is studying closely the comments shared by both statutory consultees and individuals as the Inquiry gets underway.

A widely held concern about the planning application is the ability of local services to cope with the added demand from a 8,400 new households.

The current pressure on local NHS services is felt by everyone as we desperately try to get a GP appointment or await treatment on a waiting list. 

It’s simple to understand - more people means more services are needed, and the applicant and NHS Kent & Medway have been disagreeing on where funding for this will come from.

Despite challenges from the applicant, NHS Kent & Medway have shared that current budgets are based on current population sizes, and that there is no way of getting further funds from the government. For this reason, they have requested funds from the applicant if the scheme is approved. These funds run to millions of pounds.

NHS KENT & Medway have shared evidence that in excess of 60 beds would be needed, and they have neither the equipment or the land on which to build a new facility.

Without this money, even though the NHS would pick up the bill for running the new facility, an investment in new facilities cannot happen.

In a recent submission, they put it bluntly in saying:

“NHS Kent & Medway receives a limited amount of capital funding from NHS England. This funding is allocated to the renewal of existing equipment and addressing outstanding backlog maintenance to keep facilities open. There is no further capital finding available to fund the development of new facilities that are required as a result of the additional demand created by new population growth caused through new housing developments.”

They also expressed a further concern: 

“It is important to ensure that the current population’s access to healthcare services is not negatively impacted as a result of the population growth from new housing developments.”

Whichever way you look at it, NHS Kent & Medway is issuing a stark warning about what the future holds for current residents. It’s awful to read but the reality is that our services are unlikely to get much better anytime soon, and if Highsted Park goes ahead, will get much worse.

Article from Five Parishes Group which you can find out more about here

Any s.106 should not only pay for public service infrastructure (etc), but fundamentally must provide for the ongoing costs of delivering those services commensurate with all additional demand created by population increases.

The Frank Lloyd unit is underutilised.

Is there opportunity to provide for the long term financial security of a new ward or similar here?