Cllr Jon Hubbard

Liberal Democrat councillors reacted with shock at a council meeting today when the full extent of the cuts to NHS Wiltshire were unveiled. The cuts, which will see reductions of up to £40m per year for the next three years were confirmed in response to a question from Cllr Chris Caswill.

“Reductions on this scale can only be made at the expense of services to Wiltshire residents,” the Lib Dem Spokesperson on Health and Adult Social Care commented. “Already we see five areas of service delivery classified as being areas of grave concern as a result of the £17m of cuts in the current year. Now we are looking at further cuts of 2-3 times that size every year.

“I will be writing a letter jointly with the Leader of the Lib Dems in Wiltshire, Jon Hubbard, to Wiltshire’s five MP’s asking them to lobby on behalf of Wiltshire residents to minimise the level of savings required and therefore lesson the impact on service delivery.”

Wiltshire Lib Dems are calling on Wiltshire Council to work with NHS Wiltshire to open a genuine dialog with Wiltshire residents to explore how the changes imposed as a result of these cuts will affect the county.