CAMPAIGNERS BATTLE £450M HOSPITALS REVAMP PLANS
CAMPAIGNERS say a proposed £450 million transformation of Leicester’s hospitals will leave the NHS short of beds and unable to cope with Covid, writes Amy Orton.
They have also raised concerns about maternity services and say the General Hospital will effectively be “closed” under the proposals.
CAMPAIGNERS are vowing to fight against a £450 million plan to revamp Leicestershire’s hospitals, claiming it will effectively close the General and leave the NHS with a shortage of beds, lack of maternity services and not enough resources to fight coronavirus.
Health chiefs have unveiled the project, which will involve a revamp of Leicester Royal Infirmary, Glenfield Hospital and Leicester General Hospital.
The project will create a children’s hospital and maternity hospital at the infirmary, treatment centre at Glenfield and two “super” intensive care units with 100 beds in total – almost double the current number.
But campaigners believe the changes will not bring the improvements to services they promise – and will create a series of long-term problems.
They welcomed the £450 million investment, but said hospitals still will not have enough beds to cope with the growing population – and community services will not be able to pick up the shortfall.
The campaigners also claim the plan will amount to a closure of the General Hospital, that the plans do not make any reference to measures to deal with Covid-19 and they have concerns all the maternity services will be at the infirmary, as the birthing unit in Melton is set to close and plans for a midwife-led unit at the General are only listed as a trial.
The health trust has denied the campaigners’ claims that the General Hospital will close.
But Steve Score, Save Our NHS Leicestershire co-chairman, said: “The Leicester General Hospital is to be closed as an acute hospital, but will have a few non-acute services on site. Most of the land will be sold off for redevelopment.
“On this basis, the public consultation has gone to great lengths to avoid the word ‘closure’, in order to disguise what is really happening from the public.
“Don’t get me wrong, we think this is an investment that is much overdue, but this is going to be the only major investment we get in Leicester for decades with the way things are going so we’re not going to rush to fill in the consultation documents just yet, we want more information first.”
The group has been handing out flyers and banners with the message: “We have a growing population. Why is the General Hospital being closed?” and “With a second wave coming. Why is the General Hospital being closed?”
Health bosses said that the site will no longer be an acute hospital, but will still be home to a range of
services including the city’s diabetes centre of excellence.
There is also potential to relocate a midwife-led birthing centre on the site as well as some sort of primary care facility.
Observation beds and imaging facilities also feature in the forward plan. They said the overall plans will result in a 7 per cent increase on the current number of beds, making the proposals “fit for the future and the growing local population”.
A clinical commissioning group spokesman said: “The General Hospital would not close, but would be retained as a community health campus, including some non-acute beds.”
But Mr Score said: “Even if they don’t use the words, the Leicester General Hospital is being closed as an acute hospital.
“Although there are going to be some services on that site they are going to be selling off, most of the land where the General Hospital now is and dozens of services that currently take place there are going to be transferred out and into other hospitals and we think there is a danger of cramming too much into a restricted space.
“What if we need to expand in the future, and we might be talking decades ahead?
“It’s good they are increasing the number of intensive care beds but we still think there aren’t enough beds overall and if we need to expand in the future, where will we go if the General site has been sold off?”
A spokesman for the clinical commissioning groups in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland said: “Under our proposals, acute services would be concentrated at Leicester Royal Infirmary and Glenfield Hospital, including 139 more acute beds by 2023/24.
“This represents a 7 per cent increase on the current number, making the proposals fit for the future and the growing local population.
“The General Hospital would not close, but would be retained as a community health campus including some non-acute beds.
“Nowadays, modern patient care is not just about having beds in hospitals; our focus is on providing care closer to where people live. Even in a future pandemic, we do not believe retaining acute care at Leicester General Hospital is the answer. We would be better able to cope and keep services running where staff are consolidated over a smaller number of locations.
“We are also proposing to separate planned and emergency care so that when emergency services are busy, non-urgent procedures would still be able to go ahead.
“Should expansion be needed in the future, there is more developable land at the Glenfield Hospital site.”