A HOPED for £29 million boost to acute health services in Worcestershire has been put on hold.
The decision, by the National Investment Committee (NIC), is a blow to health chiefs who say they will still go ahead with public consultation on the plans starting on January 3, 2017.
However the news was immediately branded as “another miserable failure” by health campaigners who have been waiting five years for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (WAHT) to put in place its vision for health care in the county.
The NIC has demanded WAHT does more work on the figures to improve its understanding of the impact the changes will have on services.
Neal Stote of the campaign group Save the Alex said: “As a taxpayer you can’t blame them really; the trust was £59 million in the red last year, is heading for a £34 million loss this year and they obviously don’t want to throw good money after bad. In other words, it’s another miserable failure by the trust.
“They’ve had all these years to work on this and after all this time they are still asking for clarifications. It’s fairly shocking really.”
The main proposed changes in the programme are:
1) Separation of emergency and planned care to improve outcomes and patient experience.
2) Creation of centres of excellence for planned surgery.
3) Urgent care centre for adults and children at the Alexandra Hospital.
4) A&E remaining at the Alexandra Hospital (adult only).
5) Centralisation of inpatient care for children at Worcester.
6 ) Centralisation of consultant-led births at Worcester.
7) Centralisation of emergency surgery at Worcester.
And Mr Stote also voiced fears of what might happen if none or only some of the money was forthcoming.
“The question is, what didn’t the NIC like? What is the trust’s plan B? And if the money doesn’t come forward where does that leave local residents.”
A spokesperson for the Future of Acute Hospitals in Worcestershire Programme said:
“Overall the comments from the committee were very positive and they thought that our paper and presentation was an exemplar.
“The National Investment Committee has supported the start of public consultation on the plans but has asked for additional work to be undertaken to understand the details of some of the impacts the changes will have. We will work with NHS England to answer their concerns before starting consultation at the beginning of January.”
