If there is such a thing as ‘the centre of the NHS' for Newark and its surroundings, it is surely Newark Hospital. If the current changes going on in the Health & Care sector as a whole are to be successful, then any change at Newark Hospital is of interest to us all.

On 12th December 2023 Notts County Council Health Scrutiny Committee considered plans to make permanent the overnight closure of Newark Hospital's Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) during COVID.

Permanent loss of a 24/7 hospital provision was always bound to be a matter of public concern and, as a member of the Newark PCN Local Design Team at the time, I felt it was our responsibility to engage with the ongoing debate about the hospital's future.

After reading the papers produced for the meeting, I listened in to the YouTube stream and submitted a report and recommendation to the LDT, having already alerted members that the public survey results meant the issue 'would not go away'. 

Faced with puzzling, and still unexplained and unjustified, NHS opposition to my recommendation that this was something the LDT should engage with, I resigned from the LDT on 19th February 2024.