What are Cotswold and Vale PCT’s plans for future health care?

We are committed to reviewing all the health care we offer in order to provide better services closer to patients’ homes. Over the coming year, we will be working with health care staff, Social Services, our local councils, patient representatives, the voluntary community and members of the public to look at how our services can better meet local needs.

What are the PCT’s plans for the north Cotswolds?

We want to develop a range of local health services for patients in the north Cotswolds, with our hospitals at Moreton and Bourton, our north Cotswolds GPs and partner services (such as social services and mental health services) working together to meet a wider range of patient needs.

Are you talking about cuts to services to save money?

We do need to make cost savings in the way we operate, as we are currently spending beyond our means in local health services. However, the good news is that treating patients closer to where they live – in our community hospitals – means that patients benefit from local health care and we save on the cost of sending them to the district general hospitals for treatment.

What health services are currently available in the north Cotswolds?

Moreton is served by a community hospital and two GP practices (Mann Cottage Surgery and the White House Surgery), which form part of Cotswold and Vale Primary Care Trust. The town also has a local ambulance station, managed by Gloucestershire Ambulance Trust.

Bourton is served by Moore Cottage Hospital and the Moore Road GP surgery. GP practices in Stow-on-the-Wold and Chipping Campden regularly admit patients to Moreton and Bourton hospitals.

What is the latest proposal?

We would like to explore with our local population the idea of building a new hospital and health centre for Moreton and the surrounding area, which would work in tandem with Moore Cottage Hospital and other services in the north Cotswolds. We believe there is the opportunity to provide modern healthcare, meeting the needs of a wider range of patients, in a ‘one stop shop’ for health.

What would the new hospital site include?

The hospital would accommodate:

• inpatient beds (all single occupation with en-suite facilities)
• ouptatient rooms with capacity to accommodate 6,000 appointments a year
• physiotherapy and rehabilitation space
• X-ray department

The site would also include

• two GP practices
• six residential units for hospital staff

We have also approached the ambulance trust to suggest moving the ambulance station to the new site.

What would be the benefits?

We believe this to be a proposal that will benefit everyone involved:

• patients would benefit from a modern, purpose-built, well-equipped hospital;
• we would be able to offer more outpatient appointments to a wider range of patients;
• the new X-ray facility would offer patients privacy and dignity;
• new GP practices would be designed to accommodate the needs and growing numbers of local patients;
• patients visiting the GP practices would be able to park more easily, making the practices more accessible;
• GPs would more easily be able to care for patients admitted to the hospital, because they will share the same site;
• co-locating the hospital, ambulance station and GP practices would maximise the efficiency of all three services;
• building a new hospital site would mean that the existing site could continue to be used until the new one was ready, minimising disruption to patients and staff.

Why are you including accommodation for staff in the plans?

We have, for some time, struggled to recruit essential staff to our north Cotswolds hospitals. We are aware that, as well as being a challenge for the PCT, it is also an issue of great concern to local residents, and has been widely reported in the local media. By offering affordable accommodation on-site for staff, we believe this will make the north Cotswolds a more attractive place for staff, such as nurses to work, and will enable us to widen our recruitment drive.

Where would the new hospital be built?

We have identified a development site a mile away from the existing hospital premises. The site has been designated for light industrial use, so would require permission for change of use. We feel this would be possible to achieve, given the overriding benefits to the local community.

How much will it cost?

We don’t have figures available yet, but would anticipate that a substantial part of the cost of buying the site and building the new hospital, GP practices [and ambulance station] would be met by the sale of the existing hospital site and (if agreed) ambulance station.

What are the disadvantages?

Some patients will have slightly further to travel, although for some the new hospital site will be slightly closer to home.

Why do we need to think about change?

Moreton’s population is growing, and there are increasing demands on the two GP practices there. For some time now, Mann Cottage Surgery has been seeking new premises, and achieving this is a high priority for the PCT. The White House Surgery is willing to be based on the same site as Mann Cottage – which makes economic good sense – but so far there has been no success in finding a suitable site.

Within the hospital, the inpatient ward is becoming increasingly tired. Much of the ward area is pre-fabricated and would be difficult to refurbish. The X-ray facility is 30 years old and is situated just off a main corridor, resulting in loss of patient privacy.

We are also struggling to recruit staff, such as nurses, and the existing hospital site does not allow for any staff accommodation to be offered.

Is the PCT planning to close Moore Cottage (Bourton) Hospital?

No! Our plans for the future are to develop local health care that works for our patients and staff, and minimises the need for patients to travel – especially for routine appointments. Our hospital at Bourton-on-the-Water has a key role to play in the PCT ‘mix’ of local health care. Our intention is that, between them, the hospitals at Moreton and Bourton will offer a full range of complementary health care to local patients.

Why are you considering building a new hospital at Moreton when beds are still closed at Bourton?

The problem we face in many of our north Cotswolds services – currently a particular issue at Moore Cottage Hospital – is that we don’t have enough nurses to staff all our beds. Building new, affordable housing as part of the proposed development at Moreton will mean we can spread the recruitment ‘net’ further afield for the north Cotswolds generally – including Bourton.

Will you be closing beds?

Numbers of beds is an issue we will be looking at closely with our hospital staff and local GPs. Modern health care aims to ensure that patients spend as little time as possible in hospital, but receive the best outpatient and home care support to enable them to get back to health. We want to make sure we have the inpatient beds we need in our community hospitals – but these must be at numbers that GPs can safely staff.

At the same time, we want to increase our outpatient and diagnostic services to benefit a wider range of patients (currently 60% travel to Cheltenham, Gloucester or out of county for these appointments), and will be looking at the space we need to make available in our community hospitals to achieve this.

What happens now?

The scheme has been developed between the PCT and local GPs, so the next stage is to begin discussions with partners, staff and local people to see what they think about the plans.

How can I get involved?

We will shortly be organising a series of public meetings for anyone interested in the plans to have their say. If you would like to find out more, or have comments or questions you would like to raise now, please contact Jo Wynn at the PCT on 01285 884694, email joanna.wynn@glos.nhs.uk.