Elstow, Stewartby and Kempston Hardwick Echo, October 2016
Ward Wide Issues:
Ward Wide Issues:
Mayor Dave Hodgson has slammed the 'scandal' of 'chronic underfunding by the Government of local health and social care services in Bedford'. The effects of this include not only the ongoing extreme pressure on Council services at a time of rising need, but also the consideration by local NHS Commissioners of drastic measures such as the deferred proposal to end all IVF treatment on the NHS in Bedfordshire.
Over 14,000 local residents have already have signed up to Bedford Borough Council's Stay Connected email bulletins since they were introdced earlier this year.
Sustainability for health and social care services can only be achieved by a real commitment to integration, not by the government's chronic underfunding and a crude focus on cuts and closures. That's the message of a forceful recent column by Mayor Dave Hodgson in the Times and Citizen newspaper.
Bedford Borough Council is taking further action to balance the books in the face of brutal government cuts in funding for local services.
Bedford Borough Council is taking further action to balance the books in the face of brutal government cuts in funding for local services.