Official responses changed

Newark and Sherwood District Council and Newark Town Council have asked for their responses recorded in the consultation report to be changed.

The report, which goes to the PCT’s board on Thursday, gives summary responses of key organisations consulted during the process.

It states that both the district and town councils supported option two for urgent care — the reduced hours option.

The district council has requested the report be changed to record the option they actually supported — option one, the 24-hour model.

The PCT confirmed it would be changed verbally at Thursday’s meeting.

The trust’s deputy director of communications, Karlie Thompson, said they recognised the council’s chosen option.

Board members will have access to the full response from each organisation that took part, not just the summary.

She said the summary response reflected the district council’s original recommendation for option two to be supported. The district council changed its preference to option one at a cabinet meeting in February.

The town council said no formal response was ever given by it on the healthcare review.

Town councillors were invited to a meeting with the PCT at the Town Hall on February 16 when their views were offered.

But the council says it was clearly stated to the NHS officers present that such views would be those of the councillors present, and specifically not the views of the town council.

Karlie Thompson said as far as they were aware the meeting was held for Newark town councillors to give feedback on the proposals and the majority voted for option two.

She said they would work with the council to address its concerns.

She said they did not weight the support for any particular option based on individual organisations.

She said the issues raised by organisations were just as important and these would influence the decision made by the board.

Newark Business Club supported the closure of the unit from midnight to 7am. The club felt the resources could be better used locally.

All the GP practices in Newark and Sherwood, which responded to the consultation, supported option two.