TOOTHLESS WATCHDOG’S FGH HOWL

By Dr Phil Intime

WOKEMORELAND Council’s “health and adults scrutiny committee” has just been exposed for what it is – a toothless watchdog which is all bark and no bite.

Eight elected councillors on the committee – Lib Dems, Labour and Tories – were anesthetised this week by Aaron Cummins – NHS dalek in charge of Furness General Hospital.

He appeared before them to justify unpopular bed closures and ward reshuffles proposed for Barrow’s hospital – with a report prepared by the trust’s handsomely-paid public relations spinner, Louise Jones.

The extraordinary committee meeting (extraordinary only because it’s held outside of the committee’s usual schedule rather than having any extraordinary qualities) had been ridiculously over-hyped by a local media unfamiliar with the panel’s pitiful powers.

The Evening Snail elevated the meeting to an “investigation” while BBC Radio Crumbria called it a “probe”. It was neither.

Local councillors – be they on Wokemorland Council, Crumberland Council or any other – have ZERO control over what NHS bosses decide for our local hospitals.

And rather than a grilling, these meetings supposedly holding officialdom to account are more akin to a light toasting, such is the amount of arse-crawling that goes on.

The committee’s powers are limited only to “making recommendations”, which can easily be ignored or dismissed, especially when the NHS acts as a law unto itself.

So rather than a bang, this not-so-sensational meeting at Barrow Town Hall petered out with a whimper as the committee agreed an impotent set of “recommendations”; which Cummins could quite easily incinerate in the non-clinical waste bin!

Councillors couldn’t even win a concession from him to put the brakes on the changes, which are due at the end of next month.

All councillors asked for is that he “reconsider” the timetable to allow additional engagement with the public.

Watchdog? Think of this committee more as a lapdog!