At its board meeting today (Tuesday 10 January 2006), the Cotswold & Vale Primary Care Trust approved a proposal to rapidly explore the possibility of developing a new health and social care campus in Fairford. The board also received an updated version of its overarching strategy designed to deliver better healthcare closer to home for the people of Cotswold & Vale.
The updated strategy document sets the context for decisions about the provision of healthcare in Cotswold & Vale for some time to come. It sets out:
- Proposed changes to local community hospitals
- The financial context for decision making
- Practical proposals to make 'better healthcare closer to home' a reality
- A new proposed relationship with Social Services and the private/voluntary sector to help develop community hospitals
It is intended that the new proposed relationship with the private/voluntary sector will deliver a number of new health facilities in Cotswold & Vale such as the recently announced new proposed health facility at Tetbury.
The board decided to significantly enhance outpatient facilities at Fairford and to speed up work on exploring the development of a new health facility in the town to be developed in conjunction with the private/voluntary sector.
These decisions were made at a board meeting held in public in the Corn Hall, Cirencester and attended by 300 members of the public. The board heard representations from local district councillor, Malcolm Berry; Chair of the Fairford Hospital League of Friends, David Phillips; Fairford GP, Dr Guy Knights; the Mayor of Fairford, Christine Roberts; and the Mayor of Lechlade, Michael Cawsey. Board members then carefully considered the formal report of the recent Fairford consultation exercise. The report said the consultation had largely supported the view that more outpatient services should be developed at Fairford.
The board approved the report's proposal that "the PCT should pursue the opportunity to develop a health and social care facility, alongside an independent development." The report said this particular option had won strong public support and the feeling of the meeting was clear that the opportunity should be pursued quickly and energetically. The board also decided that patients should be admitted for enhanced rehabilitation and acute medical care to Cirencester Hospital. A rapid implementation plan was called for that would describe the next steps in taking forward the board's decisions. This should closely involve local GPs, Leagues of Friends and key stakeholders
Cotswold & Vale PCT Chief Executive Richard James said: "The PCT sees our community hospitals at the heart of a new model of healthcare we are developing to deliver better healthcare closer to home. In this new model the community hospitals will provide a much wider range of healthcare services to a greater number of patients. This is better for patients, is what patients tell us they want and will help us live within our means."
In addition to the new development in Fairford the updated strategy document also outlines plans for other community hospitals in Cotswold & Vale. It says:
- The Trustees of Tetbury Hospital and local GPs recently agreed that in the medium-to-long term the people of Tetbury would be best served by the development of a new integrated treatment and primary care centre which they would like to build on a new site in Tetbury within the next two years.
- At Moreton two GP practices are coming together to share a single building including reception, heating, maintenance etc. To that the PCT is adding NHS outpatient facilities (which could share the same reception facilities) and the provision of semi-acute medical beds, though fewer than at present, reflecting a move towards improved provision of social and domiciliary care.
- At Bourton the PCT has begun discussions with local GPs about the future of the community hospital. Adjacent to the site is a residential home owned by the County Council and run by the Orders of St John Care Trust. The PCT, Social Services and the Trust will be discussing what options for shared development will produce the optimum range of NHS and social care services on this whole site to offer best possible care to the local community.
- At Stroud & Cirencester the PCT is well advanced in the process of expanding and enhancing services at these hospitals enabling 24 hour medical cover. The two hospitals now provide consultant-led accident and emergency services and account for approximately 80% of total casualty attendances in the Cotswold and Vale area.
The strategy document also outlines the financial context in which the PCT is operating. It says the Cotswold & Vale PCT is not alone in facing a particularly tough and challenging financial environment. Across the country NHS organisations are making strenuous efforts to live within their means. One in three primary care trusts are currently predicting year-end deficits and many of these are in affluent, rural areas like Cotswold & Vale.
Cotswold & Vale PCT Chief Executive Richard James added: "Over the course of 2005 we made considerable progress in addressing the PCT's overspend but more needs to be done. Alongside substantial increased investment in the NHS at national level we are also seeing a government readjustment of health spending away from affluent areas like Cotswold & Vale towards areas of greater health need. According to national government assessments Cotswold and Vale receives about £12m a year more than it should given the size and make up of its population. Accordingly planned annual funding increases in this area are lower than in PCTs in other parts of the country. This makes our financial position very challenging but like every other public sector organisation we must do everything we can to live within our means."
