Oldham Council voted to continue to support work to build a new Health Centre for Saddleworth at the full Council meeting on the 6^th July 2023. Oldham’s Tories voted against their own motion despite Tory Group Leader Graham Sheldon, admitting during the debate that Labour’s amendment did not substantially change the meaning of the motion.

It has been clear for some time that a new integrated Health Centre is needed in an easily accessible location in Saddleworth. The health needs are changing as Saddleworth’s population ages and NHS strategy is to provide as many services in the community as possible to reduce the pressure on hospitals. The Council and residents have worked with the previous Primary Care Trust and the Clinical Commissioning Group to find a suitable site and funding for a modern Health Centre that can provide a wider range of primary care services. The Council again committed to working with the NHS to get Saddleworth the local health services residents need.

Councillor Barbara Brownridge, Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care said “Saddleworth needs a new health centre and Oldham’s Labour Council has been, and continues to be, committed to working with the NHS to deliver it. But providing NHS services is a NHS responsibility. The Council can, and will, work closely with NHS colleagues to make sure all areas of Oldham, including Saddleworth have the health services residents need. Good health care is about more than buildings – the Government needs to make sure the NHS has the resources it needs to employ the nurses, doctors and other staff to provide care. I welcome Councillor Woodvine’s admission that no-one minds where a health centre is built in Saddleworth as long as residents can easily get there, and I can assure him that the Council is looking at all the options to be able to help should the NHS come up with a clear proposal for a building in Saddleworth.

“I was astonished that the Oldham Tories, including Saddleworth Councillors, then voted against what was, in effect, their own motion. A party in shambles at Westminster and Oldham.”

Councillor Peter Dean, previously a Non-executive Director of Oldham’s Primary Care Trust added “The Tories should wake up and smell the coffee. The PCT had identified and land banked a site for a new Health Centre in Saddleworth in 2010 – the Tory-Liberal Democrat Coalition cancelled the building programme as part of austerity measures in 2011. Just like the cancellation of Labour’s Building Schools for the Future, short term decisions have stored up problems for the future and got us to the position where public services don’t work properly.”