Consultation Services could be split between two hospitals
leigh.boobyer@reachplc.com
SOME specialist healthcare services such as general surgery could be split between Gloucestershire’s two main hospital sites, according to a vision laid out by the local NHS.
The proposals are part of Gloucestershire’s NHS chiefs’ plans to reorganise some services at Gloucestershire Royal and Cheltenham General hospitals.
The vision would see the two hospitals become “centres of excellence” to deliver different care services under a project called Fit For The Future.
Services such as general surgery would be reorganised, with emergency patients going to Gloucestershire Royal while patients who book an appointment would go to Cheltenham General.
The local NHS said its vision does not include any proposal to close Cheltenham’s A&E department or change its pre-pandemic opening hours.
The Fit For The Future consultation has been put forward by Gloucestershire’s NHS chiefs to ask the public for feedback on the future of specialist services, and was proposed before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Residents and NHS staff were previously asked what changes they would like to see and the new consultation, which launches later this week, will put forward those potential changes for a second round of discussion.
The services the NHS wants to survey the public and staff on are: acute medicine; gastroenterology inpatient services (medical care for stomach, pancreas, bowel or liver problems); general surgery (conditions relating to the gut); image guided interventional surgery (where surgeons use instruments with live images to guide the surgery, including following a heart attack, trauma and cancer); and trauma and orthopaedic inpatient services (diagnosis and treatment of conditions relating to the bones and joints).
According to an NHS document, the health service said “too many operations are being cancelled that don’t need to be” and it does not have “the staff to stretch” across the two hospital sites.
The consultation will run from today until December 17, 2020.
An independently run online Citizens’ Jury will be held in January 2021 to consider feedback and make recommendations, and then a final decision will be made by NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group by March.
From today, to have their say members of the public, community partners and staff can visit www.onegloucestershire.net/yoursay or email glccg.participation@nhs.net to request information.
The NHS can also send people information or arrange a telephone conversation – call 0800 0151 548 to leave a message.
On the website, consultees will find the full consultation booklet (and survey), the summary and easy-read versions and other supporting information.
Medical director at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Professor Mark Pietroni, said: “We are very fortunate in Gloucestershire. We have two large hospital sites that offer us a fantastic opportunity to provide care and services that are amongst the best in England.
“The feedback from staff and public engagement showed there is support to continue to develop a ‘centres of excellence’ approach, which reflects the way a number of inpatient services are already concentrated in one place, such as cancer care in Cheltenham and children’s services in Gloucester.
“For our hospitals, we want to see two thriving, vibrant sites with strong identities and both providing worldclass, leading-edge treatment.”