We’ve yet to hear the final settlement but it’s been suggested Walthamstow will get just £36 per person per year to address public health issues – and that includes sexual health. Sexual health clinics transfer from NHS to local authority control in April (but not GP family planning provision.) We’ve written to public health minister Anna Soubry about our concerns. We hope to raise them at a meeting set up with her on 30 January.
Here is the letter we sent earlier this week:
Dear Anna,
Prior to our meeting with you on 30 January, we are writing to draw your attention to the impact of the low level of public health settlement in Waltham Forest, and its potential negative impact on sexual health provision in this area.
As you may know, women in Walthamstow (known as Wowstow, or Women of Walthamstow) have been so concerned at the poor provision of both contraceptive and wider sexual health services in the central area of the borough that we have raised the issue with our MP, addressed the All Party Parliamentary Group on Sexual Health and successfully persuaded local health officials to address our concerns. The group has also been recognised by the Family Planning Association for its work.
But we are very concerned about the shortfall in the public health budget for Waltham Forest.
We are aware that Cllr Ahsan Khan, Health and Wellbeing Portfolio Holder with Waltham Forest Council, has been in touch with you about how the council istrying to work closely with local people like us to ensure the councils is able to deliver public health services that reflect residents’ needs.
Women of Walthamstow have successfully fought for additional contraception/sexual health provision in the central E17 area – leading to a new clinic being set up at Comely Bank Clinic in the village every Thursday afternoon. This responsibility, we understand, will transfer to the local authority from April.
We have also worked with local health officials to ensure that medical and nursing staff at a local GP practice who wished to do so should be enabled to provide family planning services for the local population (a provision that will remain an NHS responsibility under the CCGs).
But we understand that the proposed settlement for the borough is substantially lower than the amount required to meet necessary public health provision, including sexual health services. Knowing the pressure that is on that budget, we do not want to see the services we have fought so hard to secure – and which are still below what we feel is acceptable – to be eroded. We would appeal to you to ensure this does not happen.
We also understand that, due an accounting error, the council’s final allocation could be a least £2 million lower than the amount the NHS received for public health in this area for 2010/11. The council has already indicated that such under-funding risks the success of it being able to ‘fully embrace the opportunity of taking on responsibility for public health’.
We live in a borough where rates of teenage pregnancy and incidents of acute sexually transmitted infections are above the national average. Cutting the already limited sexual health provision in the borough will only worsen these serious problems.
Members of the Women of Walthamstow have fought hard not only to increase access to contraceptive services in the borough but to ensure there is adequate provision of wider sexual health services including HIV/Aids.
We would urge you to take account of our concerns in the months ahead as the impact of a considerably reduced funding allowance begins to bite. We would want to ensure that, as part of the mandate for sexual health provision, it should be made clear that there should be no reduction in the level of provision we have fought so hard for.
We look forward to the opportunity to discuss this with you further on 30 January.
Yours sincerely,
Jenny Lennox, Chair,
Wowstow, on behalf of the Women of Walthamstow campaign
Women of Walthamstow
Public health settlement – why we’re worried
We’ve yet to hear the final settlement but it’s been suggested Walthamstow will get just £36 per person per year to address public health issues – and that includes sexual health. Sexual health clinics transfer from NHS to local authority control in April (but not GP family planning provision.) We’ve written to public health minister Anna Soubry about our concerns. We hope to raise them at a meeting set up with her on 30 January.
Here is the letter we sent earlier this week:
Dear Anna,
Prior to our meeting with you on 30 January, we are writing to draw your attention to the impact of the low level of public health settlement in Waltham Forest, and its potential negative impact on sexual health provision in this area.
As you may know, women in Walthamstow (known as Wowstow, or Women of Walthamstow) have been so concerned at the poor provision of both contraceptive and wider sexual health services in the central area of the borough that we have raised the issue with our MP, addressed the All Party Parliamentary Group on Sexual Health and successfully persuaded local health officials to address our concerns. The group has also been recognised by the Family Planning Association for its work.
But we are very concerned about the shortfall in the public health budget for Waltham Forest.
We are aware that Cllr Ahsan Khan, Health and Wellbeing Portfolio Holder with Waltham Forest Council, has been in touch with you about how the council istrying to work closely with local people like us to ensure the councils is able to deliver public health services that reflect residents’ needs.
Women of Walthamstow have successfully fought for additional contraception/sexual health provision in the central E17 area – leading to a new clinic being set up at Comely Bank Clinic in the village every Thursday afternoon. This responsibility, we understand, will transfer to the local authority from April.
We have also worked with local health officials to ensure that medical and nursing staff at a local GP practice who wished to do so should be enabled to provide family planning services for the local population (a provision that will remain an NHS responsibility under the CCGs).
But we understand that the proposed settlement for the borough is substantially lower than the amount required to meet necessary public health provision, including sexual health services. Knowing the pressure that is on that budget, we do not want to see the services we have fought so hard to secure – and which are still below what we feel is acceptable – to be eroded. We would appeal to you to ensure this does not happen.
We also understand that, due an accounting error, the council’s final allocation could be a least £2 million lower than the amount the NHS received for public health in this area for 2010/11. The council has already indicated that such under-funding risks the success of it being able to ‘fully embrace the opportunity of taking on responsibility for public health’.
We live in a borough where rates of teenage pregnancy and incidents of acute sexually transmitted infections are above the national average. Cutting the already limited sexual health provision in the borough will only worsen these serious problems.
Members of the Women of Walthamstow have fought hard not only to increase access to contraceptive services in the borough but to ensure there is adequate provision of wider sexual health services including HIV/Aids.
We would urge you to take account of our concerns in the months ahead as the impact of a considerably reduced funding allowance begins to bite. We would want to ensure that, as part of the mandate for sexual health provision, it should be made clear that there should be no reduction in the level of provision we have fought so hard for.
We look forward to the opportunity to discuss this with you further on 30 January.
Yours sincerely,
Jenny Lennox, Chair,
Wowstow, on behalf of the Women of Walthamstow campaign
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