CITY’S £450M CARE PACKAGE
HEALTH BOSSES LAUNCH CAMPAIGN FOR YOUR VIEWS ON PLANS
TODAY marks the start of a 12-week consultation and a massive campaign to find out people’s views about proposals to spend £450 million transforming acute hospital and maternity services, writes Amy Orton.
The Building Better Hospitals for the Future proposals are set to deliver a number of significant changes in improving patient care, achieving better patient outcomes, and getting staff all working in the best place to make this happen.
The money means changes will be made at the three main hospitals in Leicester, run by University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) NHS Trust, as well as services delivered at the midwifery-led unit at St Mary’s Hospital, Melton.
The planned flagship projects are a standalone children’s hospital, a dedicated maternity hospital – both at the Leicester Royal Infirmary site – and a treatment centre for planned operations and procedures on the Glenfield campus. The General’s site will become home to a number of services as a “community healthcare campus”.
The trust’s medical director Andrew Furlong said: “We have to remember the hospitals serve everybody. There will be parts that some people like and others don’t.”
A YEAR on from the news £450 million was headed to the city to transform Leicester’s hospitals, health bosses want to know what people living in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland think about the revamp plans.
Today marks the start of a 12-week consultation period and a massive campaign to find out people’s views.
The money means changes will be made at the three main hospitals in Leicester, run by University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) NHS Trust, as well as services delivered at the midwifery-led unit at St Mary’s Hospital, Melton.
The planned flagship projects are a standalone children’s hospital, a dedicated maternity hospital – both at the Leicester Royal Infirmary site – and a treatment centre for planned operations and procedures on the Glenfield campus.
The General’s site will become home to a number of services as a “community healthcare campus”.
Plans also include two “super” intensive care units with 100 beds in total – almost double the current number.
There are lots of reasons for the proposed changes but essentially the current set-up is out of date and presents a lot of challenges for staff trying to treat patients.
There are three acute hospitals for patients receiving treatment for severe injury or illness, urgent medical conditions, or during recovery from surgery – Leicester Royal Infirmary, Glenfield and the General hospitals. Health bosses want to use two sites, the LRI and Glenfield, to treat acute patients, leaving the General as a community healthcare facility with non-urgent services housed there.
Staff in some departments are currently split across three sites, presenting logistical challenges, and the trust’s buildings are old and in need of costly maintenance.
The trust’s medical director, Andrew Furlong, said: “Every day in our hospitals we achieve amazing things and our staff go above and beyond to deliver great care. But the way our hospitals are set up is a matter of history rather than design.
“We have old buildings, with services spread too thinly across three sites and in ways that make delivering care very challenging. We also have growing demand for all our services and it’s clear we need to do things differently.
“These proposals will help us to offer the highest quality, state-ofthe-art healthcare services that patients deserve, and fit for future generations.”
The plans have been in the offing for more than a decade. The consultation is the next of many steps in getting the project off the ground.
Work has already started on the LRI site. The Kensington building is being renovated to make space for the East Midlands Congenital Heart Centre, which will move there next April. Health bosses hope the public agrees with their view, that work should continue after the move to transform the building, which has been home to maternity services, into the East Midlands’ first dedicated children’s hospital.
And, a new intensive care unit has recently opened at the Glenfield after extensive building work.
The overall transformation will take between five and seven years, according to Mr Furlong.
“And that will be with a fair wind. This is a massive building project that will take some time to complete,” he said.
With artist impressions and flythrough videos the public might think that the consultation is a tick box exercise. Not the case according to Caroline Trevithick, deputy chief executive for the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland clinical commissioning groups – effectively the people who will sign the cheque.
She said: “I know sometimes people see consultation as a rubberstamping exercise, but that’s not what this is.
“These plans weren’t drawn up in a dark room by health managers and clinicians, they are the result of years of conversations with patients and the public too, so they are advanced but we want to have an
open and honest conversation. But if we get lots of people saying this isn’t how we think it should be done, we think this is what should happen, then we will revisit that.
“We think this is the best way to spend public money in the best interests of local people.”
She went on: “We would encourage everyone – members of the public, patients, carers, staff, public and patient representative groups, and anyone with an interest in the health and care of local people – to find out more about the proposals and complete the consultation questionnaire.”
Mr Furlong added: “There’s a balance to strike. In order to consult you have to have a plan to consult on. We want to hear people’s feedback but also have to remember that the hospitals serve everybody in the area. There will be parts that some people like and others don’t.
“These plans have to provide improved outcomes for everyone that uses the hospitals.”
Further information on the public consultation is available here.
To request a copy of the questionnaire to fill in at home or to arrange to complete the questionnaire with a member of staff, call 0116 295 0750 or e-mail: beinvolved@LeicesterCityCCG.nhs.uk