A final decision on the future of urgent care services in the East Riding of Yorkshire are due to be made next week, following a twelve week public consultation which finished in January.
These decisions will be made by the NHS East Riding of Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Governing Body, when they meet in public on Tuesday 21 March.
A report has been published by the CCG which will help inform the Governing Body ahead of their final decisions.
The Urgent Care Consultation and Response Report for Consideration and Decision by Governing Body Report has been developed to provide the CCG Governing Body with an overview of the consultation process, a review of the clinical case for change and subsequent activities completed in response to feedback received.
The report is available to aid members in making informed decisions on the proposed options for urgent care centres and community beds and concludes by making recommendations to the Governing Body for their full consideration.
The report recommends the option to introduce urgent care centres at East Riding Community Hospital in Beverley, at Bridlington Hospital and at Goole District Hospital.
Together with – providing urgent care appointments for low level minor injuries at 8-8 centres at Driffield and Withernsea to be booked into via NHS111/Single Point of Access and undertaking the actions set out in the CCG’s full responses by locality.
Alex Seale, Director for Commissioning and Transformation for NHS East Riding of Yorkshire CCG said,
“We want to provide consistent and high quality urgent care that best meets the need of the whole of the East Riding.
“The urgent care centres at Beverley, Bridlington and Goole would offer consistent opening for 16 hours a day and 365 days a year. There would be a consistent range of advice and treatment available, including x-ray, for all minor injuries with no variation between centres. People would know that when they arrive at an urgent care centre it would be open and they would be seen.”
If this option is approved, the three urgent care centres would be supported by booked urgent care appointments for low level minor injuries made available at Alfred Bean Hospital in Driffield and at Withernsea Community Hospital.
Jane Hawkard, Chief Officer for NHS East Riding of Yorkshire CCG said,
“We have listened to what people have said during our consultation and take very seriously our responsibility to consider the issues raised by our population alongside local health need. This is why we are considering a range of enhancements to our original proposals.
“As part of recent changes to community health services, 8 to 8 centres are being introduced in Driffield, Withernsea and Hessle. These centres will be open from 8am until 8pm, seven days a week and will focus on providing a range of planned and proactive community care services.”
“People will still be able to access outpatient appointments and have wounds dressed in their local hospital, as they do now.”
“In addition, as a response to the consultation we are considering that the 8 to 8 centres in Withernsea and Driffield have some same day urgent appointments made available every day for people to book into if they have low level minor injury issues. This would be available to access through NHS111.”
“In addition to the low numbers of people accessing our services in some areas, our data also tells us that many people simply received advice and guidance from their Minor Injury Unit.”
“We have already improved the availability of clinical advice and guidance through NHS111 and we will be encouraging more people to ‘talk before they walk.”
“We will be considering all of the feedback and evidence received when making a final decision on Tuesday 21 March as a Governing Body.”
With regards to community beds, referred to as ‘wrap-around patient care’, the report recommends an integrated community and intensive rehabilitation centre in a single location, at Beverley supported by Time to Think Beds.
This would mean community hospital beds at Bridlington and Withernsea Hospitals would close and the CCG would be able to support more people in, or close to, their own home, refocussing resources into community teams.
Alex explains,
“This option would provide intensive rehabilitation and support for people with more complex nursing needs and would also provide Time to Think Beds to support earlier discharge from acute hospital care. Time to Think Beds would be based in residential homes and be used by people who are medically fit, whilst they are waiting for complex care packages to be put into place to allow them to return home.
“Again, we have listened to what people have told us during our consultation, as a result we are considering the temporary availability of a further 10 Time to Think Beds from our original proposals. This would mean a total of 25 Time to Think Beds rather than 15, with the location of these to include Bridlington and Holderness.”
If approved, the changes to urgent care are likely to be implemented over the next six to nine months, in a managed way to minimise impact to patient care.
Final decisions on how urgent care services will be delivered in the East Riding will be made by the CCGs governing body when they meet, in public, on Tuesday 21 March 2017.
