THE West Midlands Clinical Senate (WMCS) has approved the model for acute hospital services in Worcestershire, including Redditch, put forward by the Future of Acute Hospital Services in Worcestershire (FOAHSW) Programme Board.
The main proposed changes proposed are:
1) Separation of emergency and planned care
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) with arrangements for managing a seriously sick child
5) Centralisation of inpatient care for children at Worcester
6) Centralisation of consultant-led births at Worcester with ante-natal and post-natal care remaining local
7) Centralisation of emergency surgery at Worcester
8) The model will now be scrutinised by NHS England before it is put to public consultation later this year.
The FOAHSW Programme Board has welcomed the news.
Jo Newton, the body’s chair, said: “We are pleased that the West Midlands Clinical Senate has confirmed the clinical model. Their support enables us to move to the next stage of the process.”
However, Neal Stote, chairman of the Save the Alex campaign, voiced concerns over the capacity of Worcestershire Royal to accept the expected influx of patients, and how financially sound the model was, given that the Trust recorded a £55 million deficit last year.
He also expressed his worries over the confusion the public would face given the lack of information about where residents should go in an emergency.
“We still have grave concerns for the new model and we have seen no financial model that this will help the Trust to break even either,” he said.
“On paper it’s a step forward, but actually delivering it? And how will you get it through to parents what is and what isn’t done at the Alex?”
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