Fewer than one in four councillors believe that plans to overhaul health and social care in regions across England will work to create a more sustainable NHS.
According to a survey by the Local Government Association, less than 25% of councillors said they are confident that their sustainability and transformation plan ‘will deliver on its objectives or bring benefits to their local communities’.
Fewer than one in four councillors believe that plans to overhaul health and social care in regions across England will work to create a more sustainable NHS.
According to a survey by the Local Government Association, less than 25% of councillors said they are confident that their sustainability and transformation plan ‘will deliver on its objectives or bring benefits to their local communities’.
The survey also found none of the respondents felt their council had been ‘very engaged’ in their STP, while 21% said they felt ‘sufficiently engaged’ in their plan.
Of the 44 STPs, council representatives lead on only four plans in Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Somerset and Surrey Heartlands.
Cllr Izzi Seccombe, chairman of the LGA’s community wellbeing board, said councillors have felt ‘excluded from the STP planning process’ because of the ‘top-down approach of the NHS’.
She said: ‘If local politicians and communities are not engaged then we have serious doubt over whether STPs will deliver on their objectives and bring benefits to communities.’
She added that STPs will only work if there is ‘a genuine partnership between clinical, professional and political leaders’.
At the LGA’s annual conference in Birmingham, the association called for councillors to be seen as equal partners in the STPs.
