Thank you to everyone who has contributed to my CrowdJustice fund. I am pleased to share that we exceeded the stretch target of £2,250 to support the legal challenge against the ICB’s decision to close Fowey Community Hospital.

Below is an important update from my lawyers about the case.

Update on the case 

As shared on the fundraising page, we had previously issued judicial review proceedings in the High Court challenging the ICB’s decision to close the Hospital in August.

Since then, we have been in much back-and-forth correspondence with the ICB (as the Defendant in the case) to obtain evidence and unpublished information that we believe is necessary to advance the challenge. Unfortunately, the ICB have continually refused to provide the information we have requested for various reasons.

In September, the ICB proceeded to file their Summary Grounds of Defence, defending all aspects of the claim. They argue that there was a detailed engagement process and that even if there was an error of law, the outcome would not have been substantially different i.e. the Hospital would have permanently closed anyway, lawful community consultation or not.

In October, we repleaded the claim in response to the ICB’s defence and their refusal to provide the disclosure we have repeatedly requested and prepared detailed witness statement to support the claim.

The ICB have objected to us being allowed to make further arguments, but have said that if we are allowed, then they want to be able to be given permission to file amended Summary Grounds of Defence.

Our extensive efforts to try and obtain the necessary information from the ICB also continues, including making Freedom of Information Act requests and recently, taking the very unusual step for judicial review proceedings of asking the Court to order the ICB to disclose the information we have sought.

What we argued in the repleaded claim

In summary, we argued six grounds of challenge in the case against the ICB including the following:

• Failure to conduct a lawful consultation in respect of their decisions;
• Failure to comply with their legal duty to involve the public in decision-making; 
• Failure to make a lawful decision because they had pre-determined the outcome;
• Failure to make sufficient and reasonable enquiry when making their decision;
• Failure to comply with their legal duty to consider the equality implications of their decision; and
• Failure to comply with NHS England Service Change guidance.

We have asked the Court to declare that the ICB’s decision was unlawful; for an order to “quash” (e.g. cancel) the ICB’s decision and to order the ICB to remake its decision following a lawful full consultation exercise.

Next steps

We are now waiting to see whether the Court will allow us to rely upon our further legal arguments and order the ICB to give us the documents we have asked for.

We are also waiting to hear whether the High Court will grant us “permission” to proceed with the claim. In judicial review proceedings a judge has to decide whether you have an arguable case and allow you permission to proceed to a full trial. We hope to receive a decision on permission in the next couple of months.

Thank you once again for all of your support, for making a difference to the local community and for ensuring Fowey’s voice is heard. I will keep you updated with any decisions from the Court!