27.11.17
Firm offers Canterbury new hospital in exchange for housing permissions
A housing development firm in Canterbury has offered to construct and pay for a new hospital in exchange for permission to build 2,000 homes.
Currently, commissioners are in the early stages of considering options to open an A&E hub in the city as changes to the current services mean some patients have to travel further to receive important emergency treatment.
Changes are being considered because the current system of work stretches services two thinly across the three local hospitals, and the trust is looking for a more sustainable way of providing care.
In a statement released last week, East Kent Hospital University NHS FT said the hospitals were considering two options for reorganisation plans.
Either the three hospitals will see reorganisation, leaving two hospitals (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and William Harvey hospitals) with A&E services and the third with a GP-led urgent care centre, or there will be a new development at K&C which would open a single major emergency treatment centre for the whole region.
Simon Perks, accountable officer for NHS Ashford and Canterbury and Coastal CCGs, said growing demand for services alongside changing and more complex needs has meant that east Kent services are not meeting national standards.
“Over the last 18 months hospital consultants, GPs and nurses have developed proposals for a different approach to urgent and emergency care, acute medicine, specialist services and planned inpatient orthopaedic services in east Kent,” he explained.
“We have tested this with patients, carers, the public and communities and now have a list of potential options. If agreed this list will undergo further testing and evaluation by health professionals and patient representatives over the coming months, to reach a shortlist which, subject to agreement with NHS England, we will consult the public on next year to get their views and feedback on our proposals.
“We are sharing our progress so far with the public so people can be confident we are giving due and proper consideration to the different potential options. However, it is very important people understand that there may well be changes to what we are announcing today by the time of the public consultation.”
If the CCGs were to decide on the second option going forward, it would mean agreeing to the development of 2,000 new homes adjacent to K&C Hospital – reportedly for local firm Quinn Estates.
This would mean the hospital would become a central hub for most emergency services and the other two facilites would be reduced to GP-led emergency services.
Have you got a story to tell? Would you like to become an NHE columnist? If so, click here.