To receive any questions or petitions.
Notes:
1. The deadline for Member’s questions is 12.00pm four working days before the meeting (Friday 2 January 2015)
2. The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting (Thursday 1 January 2015).
3. The deadline for petitions is 14 days before the meeting (Thursday 25 December 2014).
Minutes:
1. Two questions were submitted by Borough Councillor Karen Randolph. A response to each of these questions has been received from North West Surrey Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and both the question and the response to these questions are included below.
Q1. We are all aware of how pressure on acute hospitals and community health services has increased this winter; this was anticipated. As a result acute hospitals, such as St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey, are experiencing very serious bed blocking problems caused by being unable to discharge patients back into the community. This has an inevitable impact on other parts of the health service, including the ambulance services, meaning that ultimately some patients' lives are inevitably being put at risk. In these circumstances, why is refurbishment work on the two wards at Walton Community Hospital, resulting in the consecutive closure of each of the wards, taking place at a time of maximum pressure on inpatient services?
A1. Following a CQC inspection in 2014, issues were highlighted that required necessary refurbishment of a number of wards to ensure that the facilities met Infection Prevention and Control standards. NHS North West Surrey CCG worked with NHS Property Services (the property owners) and Virgin Care Ltd to ensure the works were carried out as quickly as possible. These works will ensure provision of a comfortable, therapeutic and safe environment for patients. To maintain as much capacity as possible during the busy winter period, works have been carried out consecutively rather than concurrently.
Q2. What contingency plans were put in place in advance of this work being undertaken (including resourcing inpatient beds at alternative locations)? Information about this situation was only released in the press after one of the wards had been closed; when were stakeholders advised and what resources have they been able to call on to manage the loss of this resource at this critical time?”
A2. We have extensive plans to manage anticipated winter pressures across the system and with our providers; unfortunately this year has seen unpredictably high levels of demand. We are proud of the way our providers have responded to the intense pressures all have experienced and wish to publicly thank the frontline staff who have worked relentlessly to provide as safe and effective a service as possible in these unprecedented circumstances.
In line with our contingency plan, providers have been working together to manage demand as effectively as possible. Additional capacity has been supported to enable more patients to be treated in their homes through the rapid response and community nursing teams, additional nursing home placements to provide alternative capacity to community hospital beds, and collaborative staffing arrangements with the community provider in Ashford Hospital to streamline the patient pathway through rehabilitation beds.
North West Surrey providers, including Adult Social Care, continue to work together and with the commissioners (NW Surrey CCG and Surrey County Council) to improve patient flow in, through and out of the acute hospital. One of our priority programmes - Locality Hubs - will ensure that services for the frail and elderly are fully integrated into a proactive care offering that will support people to maintain independence for longer, and to ensure that where they are admitted to hospital their onward care arrangements are managed effectively to get them back to their usual place of residence as quickly as possible.
The Chairman of Surrey Health Scrutiny and Overview Committee was supportive of our plans when we presented them in November 2014 and we are also providing updates to Local Area Committees. Other stakeholders were also aware of the works programme for the Walton Wards and participated in planning to minimise its impact.
We continue work to raise public awareness of the wide range of NHS services available across the local area to help people choose the most appropriate service to meet their needs.