City’s Royal to be ‘hub’ for vascular treatment
HOSPITAL WILL BE ONE OF THREE SITES IN THE NORTH EAST UNDER NEW PROPOSALS
Sunderland’s Royal Hospital will be one of three ‘hubs’” for vascular services in the North East, under new proposals from NHS bosses.
A strategic review concluded that the region’s vascular service should be re-configured to a maximum of three vascular hubs – centres that provide a full, highquality service.
Bosses say that centralising helps clinicians to work together to gain the best possible experience in providing care to patients.
At the moment, vascular services are provided from four sites in the North East – James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, the Freeman Hospital, in Newcastle, Sunderland Royal Hospital and University Hospital of North Durham.
James Cook and the Freeman are major trauma centres, so must continue a full vascular service.
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust and City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust requested an independent clinical review, which was carried out by the Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland in 2015.
The review also advised that there is a strong case to remodel vascular services in the North East and that there is only sufficient specialised vascular activity and clinicians to support three centres.
It recommends full vascular services delivered from Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Newcastle. The recommendation means that about 12 patients a week, who live in County Durham, would have their vascular surgery done at the Royal instead of University Hospital of North Durham.
Professor Chris Gray, NHS England’s medical director in the North East, said: “All NHS organisations involved in this reconfiguration support the recommendation that Sunderland Royal Hospital should be the third vascular centre in our region.
“It is vital, as always, that high-quality, safe and sustainable patient care remains at the core of reconfiguration decisions.”