PLANS to overhaul local health care services have come under fire from the Green Party.

The South East Essex Green Party has published an open letter on its website raising concerns about the the Mid & South Essex Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP) plans to reconfigure services at Southend, Basildon, and Broomfield Hospitals.

The party says it has scrutinised a lengthy consultation document and wants answers on aspects of it, including the extra burden it says will be placed on the social care sector. The plans include bolstering health education, GP surgeries and social services and community care teams to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions.

The letter said: “We have read that part of the forward plans are to transfer a number of services to the social care sector; however, at present, this sector lacks the necessary resources to take on the extra responsibilities.

“There is also a lack of financial resources in this sector and there is nothing to suggest extra funding will be made available. In our opinion the plans are short-sighted as they are based around non-existent resources; we fear that this will put patients at risk as services required by some will be unavailable.”

The letter adds: “Throughout the consultation, there is a huge reliance on pre-hospital care and prevention of attendances. As Southend has the second highest vacancy rate for GPs in the UK at present and the second highest number of GPs due to retire within the next five years, why is there such reliance on primary care to prevent hospital admission? What will happen if results are unable to be delivered?”

Jo Cripps, interim programme director for the Mid and South Essex STP, said: “We are pleased to receive the views of the South East Essex Green Party and we will respond directly to the issues the Party has raised.

“In particular, we can clarify that there is no specific proposal to transfer NHS health services to the social care sector. What the broader five-year plan talks about is an intention for health and social care services to continue working more closely together, where this helps people to stay well for longer.”