06.03.13
Staffordshire could have emergency care reduced
Service changes have been proposed to make Mid Staffordshire trust clinically and financially sustainable in the long term.
The contingency planning team found that the number of patients and level of staffing were insufficient to meet required standards of emergency surgery and critical care. The team recommended the trust retaining two smaller hospitals providing urgent and emergency care, specialty out-patient and day care services as well as care beds for the elderly.
Specialised and serious care would be delivered by neighbouring providers, including University Hospital of North Staffordshire, the Royal Wolverhampton hospitals and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust.
The proposals will be considered by a Trust Special Administrator, if Monitor chooses to appoint one for the trust, as it has decided ‘in principle’ to do and is now consulting on.
Professor Hugo Mascie-Taylor, head of the contingency planning team’s clinical advisory group said: “Our concern is that, given the low level of patient numbers and the temporary nature of many staff contracts at the trust, it will be difficult for the trust to maintain clinical standards in the long term.
“The Contingency Planning Team has therefore looked at how services could be reorganised in a way which would allow the Trust to protect the quality of care that patients receive.”
Dr David Bennett, chief executive of Monitor, said: “Our aim as a regulator is to ensure that patients in Mid Staffordshire get good quality services in the longer term.
“We appointed this contingency planning team to investigate what might be necessary to provide sustainable services and we would expect the Trust Special Administrators, if appointed, will use their work to develop a final recommendation for how services should be provided for the local community, including taking into account what options might be possible through joint working with other local providers.”
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