Health leaders support moving towards consultation on hospital services
News from our Partners – NHS Shropshire CCG and NHS Telford & Wrekin CCG
Health leaders met last night to discuss the next steps towards providing safe and sustainable hospital services for patients from Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Mid Wales.
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They agreed unanimously to support moving towards public consultation on all clinically and financially viable options. This includes a preferred option of the Emergency Care site at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Planned Care site at the Princess Royal Hospital.
This is not a final decision on the shape of hospital services and there are a number of steps before public consultation can begin.
The decision was made by a Joint Committee of NHS Shropshire CCG and NHS Telford & Wrekin CCG. The Joint Committee was formed of board members from the two CCGs, two independent clinical panel members who are senior hospital consultants, and an independent chair. All were voting members.
David Evans, Chief Officer for Telford and Wrekin CCG and Simon Freeman Accountable Officer for Shropshire CCG, said:
“This is a clear decision we have made to move towards consultation so the views of the public can be heard.
“We recognise this is an issue that attracts strong emotions and we heard people expressing their feelings here this evening, as we have at many previous meetings.
“The NHS Future Fit clinical model has been designed by local clinicians who back the programme. We know that people want us to make decisions that move us towards a public consultation to allow them to have their say. We have done this based on the evidence in front of us, which we have considered objectively in an open and honest way.”
Following the Joint Committee, and in line with best practice, assurance will be sought from local scrutiny boards and the NHS England assurance processes prior to going to public consultation.
Independent clinical consultants on the Joint Committee have given assurance that the evidence they reviewed shows the process has been clinically led and is in the best interests of patients.
When a formal public consultation is launched, the CCGs will ask local people their views on which hospital would become the Emergency Care site and which hospital would become the Planned Care site.
Health leaders are also offering reassurance that under the proposals women and children would still receive the majority of care and treatment in the same place as they do now. It is vital however that women and children’s high risk services (when women and children need to stay in hospital overnight or need specialist care) are based alongside the Emergency Care site.
David Evans and Simon Freeman added:
“This process has always been about making decisions in the best interests of all the patients who rely upon these services, whether they are from Telford & Wrekin, Shropshire or Mid Wales.
“It is not just about emergency services, but also about planned care which accounts for the great majority of occasions when patients visit one of our hospitals.
“We would both like to pass on our thanks to everyone who contributed to the meeting. We would particularly like to thank the independent members whose expertise and experience has been greatly appreciated.”
Further information
The Independent Committee Members
Independent Clinical Panel Members:
Dr Tabitha Randell is a Consultant Paediatrician at Nottingham Children’s Hospital.
Dr Jattinder Khaira is a Consultant Stroke Physician at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.
Independent Chair
Professor Simon Brake is Chief Officer of Walsall Clinical Commissioning Group.
Biographies of the independent panel members can be found here:
The Future Fit proposal is to change the services provided at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital, Telford. This will mean:
- One of our hospitals becomes a specialist site for planned care. Adults requiring routine surgery including day case and short stay (excluding complex surgery) or procedure (e.g. routine endoscopies) will go to the planned care site
- The other hospital becomes a specialist site for emergency care. Patients with potential life or limb-threatening injuries or illnesses, such as a stroke, heart attack or severe blood loss, would be treated at the Emergency Care site. They would be taken there directly by paramedics in an ambulance or transferred immediately from one of our two new urgent care centres
- Both of our hospitals will have a new urgent care centre providing care 24 hours a day, every day of the year for illnesses and injuries that are not life or limb-threatening but require urgent attention.
- Women and children’s services would also be available at both sites including: Midwife-led unit, including low-risk births and postnatal care; maternity outpatients including antenatal appointments and scanning; gynaecology outpatient appointments; Early Pregnancy Assessment Service (EPAS); Antenatal Day Assessment; Children’s outpatient appointments; Neonatal outpatient appointments.
