Funding for cross-Solent patient transport has been reduced ‘with a heavy heart’ after the cash pot was called into question.
The Isle of Wight Council has proposed slashing the budget available to Islanders travelling to the mainland for hospital treatment in half, leaving only £30,000 in the fund, during a budget which has been described as ‘crisis’ and ‘survival’.
The council is making the move, Cllr Karl Love, the council’s cabinet member for adult social care said, because less than half of the fund set aside was used in the last year.
The authority says it will have no direct impact on service users, as it will only decrease the fund to the money spent in the year before.
Only £17,500 was spent of the £60,000 budget, according to Cllr Love, and he has questions about why the full amount had not been used.
He says it was recommended the authority cut the fund altogether — as it is something it does not legally have to provide — but was able to save the service.
In the coming year, Cllr Love said he would like to strengthen the take-up of the scheme and extend the criteria of those eligible as Islanders need the funding now more than ever.
It comes following the news more of the Isle of Wight NHS Trust’s services will merge with Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust.
The NHS Trusts say it will ensure Islanders receive the best possible care and health outcomes as well as responding to challenges better.
However, Cllr Love says the NHS needs to explain the impact it will have on Islanders and whether it means more travelling for patients.
The council says following the first decision to move health services off the Island, the fund for cross-Solent patient transport was agreed to be matched by the NHS but it says that has never happened.
Cllr Love said the NHS should be paying for the transport but the council makes a significant contribution to help the welfare of Islanders.
The cut to the fund is among the ‘really tough decisions’ the council has had to make and was the most difficult thing Cllr Love has had to do.
He said the sad thing was, the authority would have to do it all again next year, contending with the multi-million-pound shortfall from government.
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