Hospital plans town with just
HUDDERSFIELD will be left with just 64 hospital beds if the unpopular infirmary shake-up plan goes ahead.
Downgrading Huddersfield Royal Infirmary will also see almost 500 jobs go, hospital chiefs have admitted.
The shocking figures have been revealed in the highly anticipated report for the crunch council meeting next Friday, which could see councillors refer the whole plan for independent review.
In the documents, Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHFT) reveals it plans to shed 479 staff over the next 10 years.
It also says it only needs 64 hospital beds in Huddersfield at the new ‘planned care’ site at Acre Mills in Lindley, about half of what was proposed when the plan first became known.
The Infirmary currently has more than 400 beds but the re-structuring scheme will see all the capacity moved to Halifax, which will be extended to have 676 beds. Overall, there will be a loss of 105 beds. The report for Kirklees and Calderdale’s Joint Health Scrutiny Committee (JHSC) answers many of the other questions raised by councillors and campaigners, although detailed costings have not been included for fears of “commercial sensitivity”.
It confirms the trust will seek a new Private Finance Initiative (PFI) to complete the re-structuring which would see Huddersfield Royal Infirmary lose its full A&E department and the current Infirmary building potentially demolished and replaced with a new lower level Urgent Care Centre at Acre Mills.
The papers say other financing methods have been investigated but none are suitable.
The cost of the project also appears to have plummeted from the £470m reported last year to £290m.
On the job losses, the hospital Trust says it has no plans for redundancies as the reduction will come through unfilled vacancies, retirements and other natural wastage.
The losses will include clinical, management, back office and support roles, as ‘economies of scale’ are created.
Hospital bosses predict their plan will clear their financial woes by 2025, leaving them with a surplus of £6m a year from then on.
In April they reported a £15m deficit for 2016/17 down from £29.8m the year before.
The report also confirms plans to expand the size of A&E within Calderdale Royal, complete extensions to the Halifax site and build a 600 space car park.
In an email to hospital staff, leaked to the Examiner, chief executive Owen Williams, says there had been no “high level” changes to the clinical model of having emergency care in Halifax and planned care in Huddersfield. He says: “This means that all acute unplanned (blue light) services would be provided at Calderdale Royal Hospital (CRH), together with a new multi-storey car park with 600 spaces. “Non-acute planned care would be provided at a new purpose-built hospital facility on the Acre Mills site and would complement the existing Acre Mills facility. “Across both sites there would be 738 beds and 20 theatres overall; with eight theatres and 64 beds at the new-build Acre Mills facility. “This is based on a belief by clinical colleagues that many more elective procedures will be day cases and more complex surgery will be done at Calderdale Royal Hospital where there will be access to intensive care.” On the funding for the plan he says: “HRI needs around £94m worth of maintenance to keep it going for the next 10 years. “After that it would need to be rebuilt at a cost of around £379m. “The proposed model would cost around £298m. “The most likely way that the new buildings will be funded is through PFI as we have been advised that there is no publicly financed capital funding available from the Departments of Health and Treasury. “There would be two urgent care centres – one on each site to deal with minor walk
The most likely way that the new buildings will be funded is through PFI.