Exercise into future of emergency unit reststarted
A&E
AN engagement exercise on the future of emergency medical care in Cheltenham has been restarted.
An idea to remove Cheltenham General Hospital’s emergency unit to make way for specialist planned care on the site is part of the discussion Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust wants to have with the public.
Closing the town’s A&E department would mean all accident and emergency services would be dealt with at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, seven miles away from Cheltenham in Gloucester.
The trust has reiterated that no decision has been made and the public and staff will be consulted on any significant changes which follow from the engagement programme.
The trust previously said it would hold an “open discussion” with residents on any changes under the Fit for the Future plan, which would examine the future of urgent and hospital care across Gloucestershire.
But hospital bosses delayed the consultation after outcry from opposition groups and Cheltenham’s MP Alex Chalk.
Services such as general surgery - the surgery of the gut - and image guided surgery are among ideas the trust wants to receive the public’s views on.
The period of engagement will take place through summer and autumn.
The trust has called the idea of the separation of services in Cheltenham General and Gloucestershire Royal “centres of excellence”.
A public handout said creating the centres of excellence would reduce waiting times and fewer cancelled operations, ensure safe and consistent staffing levels and would improve health outcomes.
The trust said it will set up a citizens’ jury, a public hearing a survey and drop in events.
Dr Jeremy Welch, clinical lead for urgent care at NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “The county’s NHS staff are ambitious and we want local people to benefit from simpler ways to get urgent advice and experience care that is better coordinated from the moment they first make contact with the NHS.
“Together with local people, we need to look at what other same day illness and injury services are provided across our communities to meet local needs.”
Dr Amjad Uppal, joint medical director for Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust, and 2gether NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The NHS in Gloucestershire wants to continue to provide urgent same day community illness and injury services as close to people’s homes as possible, but when looking at services in GP surgeries and hospitals, there is much to think about, including local circumstances, needs and the desire to provide outstanding care.
“Together, we also need to look at the best way of providing services, like X-ray.”
“There is also a real ambition in the county to deliver truly outstanding specialist services at the county’s two large hospital sites and the engagement is an opportunity to share ideas about how best to achieve this.”
Professor Mark Pietroni, director of safety and medical director at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are excited to hear what people think of our ideas for the long term, including a Centres of Excellence vision for providing care and also ideas for the next few years.
“This period of engagement is about discussing ideas and involving people in developing potential solutions.
“This means that contrary to some reports, no decisions have been made about the future range of urgent and emergency care services in the county, including those at Cheltenham General Hospital.”