Major review of county health services approved

A MAJOR shake-up of health services across Worcestershire is underway which is likely to result in radical changes to the way hospital and community care is provided.

Health bosses have ordered the Joint Service Review as they say the cost of dealing with the county's ageing population, new drugs and technologies, unhealthy lifestyles and the fact future funding is unlikely to keep pace with demand will leave Worcestershire's health economy with an estimated gap of about £200million by 2014/15.

The review will be led by clinicians who will analyse every service provided within the county's three acute hospitals - Worcestershire Royal, Alexandra Hospital and Kidderminster Hospital - as well as community and primary care services to see how they are being delivered and what can be done differently to deliver better quality of care for patients, but in a sustainable long-term way.

Detailed proposals are expected to be brought before a meeting of NHS Worcestershire, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust in June, before being put out for public consultation in July. The aim is to complete the review by November.

Health chiefs insist currently 'all options are on the table' and - with the exception of the county's planned new radiotherapy unit - have refused to ring-fence other services which will spark concerns amongst Redditch residents who have seen previous attempts at organisational change within the county's NHS over the past decade result in proposals to downgrade A&E and maternity services at the Alex.

But Dr Anthony Kelly, chair of Worcestershire Clinical Senate which will lead the review, said failure to act would lead health services in the county into a huge financial black hole in the future. He added the current review was different to previous attempts at reorganisation as it was clinicians who were taking charge and they were committed to involving the public.

"It is a once in a generation opportunity and we do see it as an opportunity to do something we have talked about for the last 15 to 20 years and we keep setting off on the process and kind of give up halfway through because people's don't feel engaged. It is not a matter of a top down approach to this at all, it is very much listening to people at the bottom and taking that message through."

Eamonn Kelly, chief executive of NHS Worcestershire, said providing more end of life care in people's own homes rather than in hospitals was just one example of how the service could be improved but still deliver better value for money.

"This isn't about cutting. One of the things we are not going to do is salami slice which would lead inevitably at some point to poorer quality.

"It's not going to be easy and inevitably there will be some difficult decisions that have to be made, that we may not have everybody supporting, but there are things we can do to transform the way systems are working that will give better quality of care and better value for money and what the people of Worcestershire should be doing is challenging us to make sure we do that.

"I understand how strongly people are committed to their local hospital and to local services. We are committed to improving those and making those better as well but we have to face up to some of the challenges we have."

Penny Venables, chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, added: "The way we deliver healthcare needs to change. We have got an ageing population and we have got different expectations from the general public, and rightly so. A lof of people now want to be treated at home and they want more services provided in the community and we are able now to deal with a lot of people's long-term conditions in the community.

"Part of what we hope to achieve with this review is to ensure we can smooth that transition and concentrate in the acute hospitals on what we should be providing - acute and emergency care."

A series of roadshows are planned throughout the county, starting in the middle of this month, to give residents the chance to hear about the review in more detail and ask questions.