Health services face fresh review

A MAJOR review of healthcare services has been launched as health bosses attempt to plug a £200million funding gap.

The focus of the Joint Service Review will be on services provided within the county's three major hospitals - including the Alexandra - to look at ways of delivering better quality care, more efficiently. One of the main aims is to provide more care within the community or patients' homes.

Health bosses say the move is in response to the rising cost of dealing with the county's ageing population, new drugs and technologies, unhealthy lifestyles and the fact Worcestershire's health economy is facing an estimated funding gap of about £200million by 2015.

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 they will be guided by clinical evidence. But the move is likely to concern Redditch residents who have seen past attempts at organisational change by the county's NHS 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, called it a 'once in a generation opportunity' and failure to act would lead health services in the county into a huge financial black hole in the future. He added the public would be fully involved so they did not repeat mistakes made in the past.

Penny Venables, chief executive of WAHT which runs the Alex, said there was growing demand from people to be treated within the community which advances in modern medicine had made possible.

"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."

But Peter Pinfield, chairman of Healthwatch Worcestershire which represents patients, warned health bosses they would have to work hard to convince a Redditch public who 'have had reason to mistrust what the Government and the NHS says'.

"All of us were around in 2003 when we went through this process before and it split our communities, it split districts, it split staff and we shouldn't allow it to happen again, it was a very destructive process," he said.

"People must get involved in this process. They must say loud and clear what they want for their communities."

Eamonn Kelly, chief executive of NHS Worcestershire, admitted some of the changes would need explaining to the public.

"I am sure there will be times there will be issues being discussed which are very difficult for people, but we have got to have that discussion in a mature way."