Below is an update from North West Surrey Clinical Commissioning Group on plans for health services locally following the Weybridge Hospital fire, dated June 2018. Headlines?
– Commitment to retaining the site for health services
– No commitment to replacing the Walk-In Centre
– Consultation on NW Surrey urgent care provision
As NW Surrey CCG said at the well attended public meetings, their responsibility is to look at the provision of urgent care services across North West Surrey — to decide what these should be and where they should be, in order to be most effective in serving the population of NW Surrey.
Here is the NW Surrey CCG update:
Weybridge Site Update for Stakeholders – Issue 2 1
Weybridge Site Update
June 2018
What is happening with the walk-in centre in Weybridge?
The walk-in centre was located in the same building as a wide range of GP and community services. Since the devastating fire in July 2017, we have managed to ensure the continuation of primary care services by getting the existing two GP practices back on the site along with a range of community clinics provided by CSH Surrey e.g. phlebotomy clinics.
It has not been possible to provide the facilities required for a walk-in centre to operate fully. The nearest alternative urgent care centre is a few miles away from Weybridge at St. Peter’s Hospital (next to the A&E department). We appreciate this is not preferable for people who used and valued the previous walk-in centre in Weybridge.
The local NHS has committed to re-developing and maintaining local health services on the Weybridge site and we are currently considering options for their future composition. We fully intend to involve members of the local community with development of these options and details regarding ways to get involved will be shared soon.
Is it possible to have a temporary walk-in centre for Weybridge?
A walk-in centre requires certain infrastructure that cannot be provided in temporary buildings e.g. X-ray facilities. There were also restrictions on space that meant it would not be possible to accommodate all elements of a walk-in centre. Finally, there was a need to prioritise those services used most regularly by the local community, these being the GP services and community clinics.
Is the local NHS going to sell the site?
No. We recognise the value of having services provided locally to the people of Weybridge and as such we are committed to delivering comprehensive health and care services at this location. Our long-term aim and commitment is to extend these services on this site.
NHS policy is clear that we only sell sites that are surplus to requirement. There are therefore no plans at present to sell the site of the old Weybridge hospital.
Will there be another walk-in centre in Weybridge?
The NHS across England has received a national directive to expand and improve all previous forms of community based urgent care (Walk-in-Centres, Minor Injury Units etc.) to become Urgent Treatment Centres. All of these centres across the country will have a standard service offering that will include:
- access to urgent care appointments with highly trained practitioners, under GP leadership
- diagnostics such as X-ray and basic blood testing
- convenient access to appointments bookable directly online or through NHS111, which will reduce waiting times for patients
As a result of this directive and prior to the fire, the CCG was already planning how this type of care would be best provided for patients across North West Surrey as part of the overall provision of urgent and emergency care.
We will be entering into a formal public consultation to agree the design, location and deployment of these key services and we hope the public will help us by taking part and sharing their views on the different options.
We want to work with the local community and we are committed to making sure local people get the right kind of local services.
Are there any plans to involve patients in discussions about what will happen to these services in the future?
Yes, the CCG is finalising its plans to involve patients and the public in discussions. We plan to hold a public consultation on where urgent treatment centres would be best located across North West Surrey to meet the urgent and emergency health needs of our patients. We are aiming to start this consultation in September, to run for a 12-week period through to December 2018.
There will be multiple opportunities to get involved with the consultation, to join the conversation about urgent and emergency care provision and to let us know your views on the different options.
Once we have reached a decision regarding the provision of urgent treatment centres in North West Surrey, following the public consultation, we will have a better idea of the full range of services to be developed and built on the Weybridge site.
As well as these plans for the public consultation, you can already get involved with future health service planning in a number of ways:
- Many of our GP practices have patient participation groups (PPGs), including Weybridge GP practices. These forums discuss local health matters. North West Surrey CCG has a PPG Chairpersons’ group that meets regularly.
- We have a Patient and Public Engagement Forum (PPEF) which brings together patients and local health interest groups in North West Surrey on a regular basis to develop our engagement plans.
- We are establishing a specific Patient Reference Group to focus on this programme of work
How will the rebuild be financed?
NHS Property Services are responsible for funding any re-build. Money has not been taken from local health service provision for building works.
What we had before worked really well. We know there are funding pressures in the NHS so are you looking to reduce those services because of that?
No. As a CCG we are of course obliged to meet our financial obligations but equally important are quality of care, patient experience and clinical safety.
That means having the best patient outcomes, meeting the latest standards for clinical safety, providing a good experience for the patients who rely on them and services that are easy to access when needed.
We need to make sure we have the right mix of local health services, that’s why we will be consulting people locally and across North West Surrey.
We have a petition signed by almost 3,000 local people to keep the same health services here, what do you say to those people?
Our planned engagement and consultation will allow everyone to join the conversation about our suggestions across North West Surrey and let us know their thoughts. Where we can we will contact the people who signed the petition and send everyone a consultation document.
We hope the local community will participate in the varied events and activities that we are planning to take place during the public consultation and let us know their views.
Are there any updates on the cause of the fire?
Following the fire at Weybridge Hospital, NHS Property Services (NHSPS) commissioned an investigation into the cause and extent of the fire. You can request a copy of the report from NHSPS at the following email address:
customer.service@property.nhs.uk
Updates on the CCG’s plans to engage and consult patients and the public regarding the rebuilding of health care services on the site and out of hospital care in general will be published regularly on our website www.nwsurreyccg.nhs.uk/weybridgehospital and shared directly with stakeholders who have confirmed that they wish to receive this information.
If you would like to receive updates on these plans from the CCG, please contact us using any of the following methods:
Email: nwsccg.comms@nhs.net
Post: North West Surrey CCG
58 Church Street
Weybridge
Surrey, KT13 8DP
Tel: 01372 232400
Text/SMS 07880 091328
(You can also download the update as a pdf from the NW Surrey CCG website)
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