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Monday, 20 July 2015

Community hospitals: when 'resilience' means 'reduction'

There has been a lot of uncertainty about health provision:
Futures Forum: An uncertain future for health care in East Devon

The Stakeholder Reference Group gave its clear recommendation:
Futures Forum: East Devon health panel recommends: keep provision local

It reported to the NHS Northern, Eastern and Western Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) 
NHS NEW Devon CCG – Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group

But it is very difficult to find any 'news' on its website:
Eastern Devon

This is the NEW CCG latest:

Doctors agree to improve resilience of Eastern Devon’s community hospitals
16 July 2015

Doctors have today agreed to consolidate overnight inpatient beds at Eastern Devon’s community hospitals to secure nursing care close to people’s homes.

Community hospital beds in Eastern Devon will be consolidated as a platform for further review and reform of community services, aiming to treat more people in their own home where it is safe and appropriate to do so.

The decision was taken at NHS Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group’s (NEW Devon CCG) Governing Body meeting today.

It will mean the number of community hospital inpatient units in Eastern Devon will reduce from 10 to seven. Community hospitals at Axminster, Crediton and Ottery St Mary will no longer have overnight inpatient beds, although Ottery St Mary Hospital will have 15 overnight stroke rehabilitation beds for now.

None of the community hospitals will close as a result of the decision. Health and social care hubs with a range of outpatient services, day surgery and other health and social care services will be developed at hospitals without inpatient beds.

Dr David Jenner, a GP from Cullompton and chair of the Eastern Locality of NHS NEW Devon CCG, said:

“This will improve the resilience of care at our community hospitals in the face of financial and workforce challenges.

“We are looking to continually improve services to support people in their local communities whether they are cared for at home or in hospital and this is one step forward on that journey.

“We want to thank all the local people and organisations who have been involved throughout the development of the plans over the last couple of years. We held over 30 public meetings or drop-in sessions and have taken their comments into consideration when making our decision today.

“Of course we understand that some people will always want to have community beds in their own area and this decision may disappoint them but making sure everyone has the same level of access to services is very important.

“Over the last few years the hospital provider Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust has had to temporarily close some community hospital inpatient units due to staffing issues. Consolidating from 10 to seven units means we will have much more robust staffing at our hospitals in the future.”

The process in which we developed the changes agreed today will now be considered at the Devon Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee meeting on 14 September 2015.

The timeline for implementing the changes will depend on the outcomes and feedback from this Scrutiny meeting.

A summary of the changes agreed today is below:
 
HospitalBeds pre-decisionBeds post-decisionComments
Exeter Community Hospital20 medical20 medicalNo change
Exmouth22 medical + 8 stroke16 medical8 stroke beds to Ottery St Mary Hospital
Crediton3 medical + 7 strokeNone7 stroke beds to Ottery St Mary Hospital. Hub also under development
Okehampton16 medical16 medicalNo change
Tiverton32 medical32 medicalNo change
Axminster10 medicalNone
Seaton10 medical24 medical
Sidmouth18 medical24 medical
Honiton18 medical16 medical
Ottery St Mary10 medical + 0 stroke0 Medical + 15 stroke
Moretonhampstead0 medical0 medicalHub under development
Budleigh Salterton0 medical0 medicalHub under development
 
Doctors agree to improve resilience of Eastern Devon’s community hospitals

The provider of hospital services is the Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust:
Welcome « Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust NDHT

The only information on-line is about Axminster:
Setback to reopening of beds at Axminster Hospital due to new staffing shortages « Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust NDHT

Ottery St Mary is to lose out almost completely, as reported in the Herald:
Ottery hospital to lose its inpatient bed unit - News - Sidmouth Herald

Sidmouth is to lose its newly-refurbished MRI unit:

Sidmouth to gain community hospital beds

13:54 17 July 2015
Save Our Hospitals- protesters at Newcourt Communtiy Centre this week. Ref sho 4589-29-15SH. Picture: Simon Horn
Save Our Hospitals- protesters at Newcourt Communtiy Centre this week. Ref sho 4589-29-15SH. Picture: Simon Horn



Sidmouth Victoria Hospital has gained six community beds under proposals agreed by health bosses yesterday (Thursday).
The decision was taken at NHS Northern, Eastern and Western Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCG) governing body meeting, where voting members unanimously found in favour of the changes.
However Sidmouth stands to lose its recently refurbished minor injuries unit (MIU) under proposals that are to go before the urgent care board in the future.
Ottery St Mary Hospital is to lose its inpatient unit, but will retain 16 stroke rehabilitation beds on a temporary basis, while Axminster Hospital’s community beds are set to close.
The decision has met with fierce opposition from campaigners and members of the public, who fought to keep the hospital’s MIU open and retain community beds across the eastern locality sites.
More than 11,000 people signed petitions against the proposals.
It also goes against recommendations from an independent stakeholder group set up by the CCG, which provided an alternative solution, allowing for provision of community beds and retention of MIUs.
Approval of the proposals means the number of community hospital inpatient units in eastern Devon will reduce from 10 to seven, with Ottery, Axminster and Crediton all set to lose beds.
Sidmouth’s total number of beds will increase to 24.
Dr David Jenner, a GP and chair of the eastern locality CCG, said: “This will improve the resilience of care at our community hospitals in the face of financial and workforce challenges.
“We are looking to continually improve services to support people in their local communities whether they are cared for at home or in hospital and this is one step forward on that journey.
“We want to thank all the local people and organisations who have been involved throughout the development of the plans over the last couple of years.
“We held over 30 public meetings or drop-in sessions and have taken their comments into consideration when making our decision today.
“Of course we understand that some people will always want to have community beds in their own area and this decision may disappoint them but making sure everyone has the same level of access to services is very important.
“Over the last few years the hospital provider Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust has had to temporarily close some community hospital inpatient units due to staffing issues. Consolidating from 10 to seven units means we will have much more robust staffing at our hospitals in the future.”
The process in which the proposals were agreed will now be considered at the Devon health and wellbeing scrutiny committee meeting on September 14.
A timeline for implementing changes will depend on the outcomes and feedback from this meeting.

Sidmouth to gain community hospital beds - News - Sidmouth Herald

The local MP is not very happy about these proposals:
Hugo Swire slams ‘short-sighted’ decision to reduce hospital beds - News - Sidmouth Herald

This is from the Express & Echo:
Anger and frustration in East Devon over plans to axe community hospitals beds to save money | Exeter Express and Echo

And from the Western Morning News:
Hospital beds closed in Devon to make hospitals 'more resilient' | Western Morning News
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