Healthcare in Worcestershire

Healthcare in Worcestershire is now the responsibility of three Clinical Commissioning Groups, covering, respectively Redditch and Bromsgrove, Wyre Forest and South Worcestershire.

History

From 1947 to 1974 NHS services in Worcestershire were managed by the Birmingham Regional Hospital Board. In 1974 the Boards were abolished and replaced by Regional Health Authorities. Worcestershire still came under the Birmingham RHA. Regions were reorganised in 1996 and Worcestershire came under the West Midlands Regional Health Authority. From 1974 there were two Area Health Authorities covering the county: Worcester and District, and Hereford and Worcester. There were three Primary care trusts established in the county in 2002: Redditch and Bromsgrove PCT, South Worcestershire PCT and Wyre Forest PCT. They were managed by the West Mercia Strategic health authority which merged into West Midlands Strategic health authorityin 2006 when the PCTs were merged into Worcestershire PCT.

The closure of the Accident and Emergency department at Kidderminster Hospital by Worcestershire Health Authority in 2000 spurred Dr Richard Taylor to stand for Parliament as an Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern candidate at the 2001 general election, Taylor campaigned largely on a single issue, that of restoring the Accident & Emergency department.[1] He was elected with a majority of 18,000, defeating the incumbent Labour MP and junior minister, David Lock. His success, which became known as the Kidderminster effect, inhibited subsequent hospital reorganisations.[2]

Herefordshire and Worcestershire formed a sustainability and transformation plan area in March 2016 with Sarah Dugan, the Chief Executive of Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, as its leader[3]

Commissioning

There are about 570,000 residents in the county, 19% aged over 65, compared with 16% across England. The annual health budget is about £900m, more than half of which goes to Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.[4] The three CCGs announced in March 2016 that they were facing a collective deficit of £25 million in 2016/7 and were considering restricting access to a range of treatments. The list of treatments under consideration includes:

Primary care

There are 22 GP practices in Redditch and Bromsgrove Clinical Commissioning Group, 12 in Wyre Forest Clinical Commissioning Group and 32 in South Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group.

The Care Quality Commission released its Intelligent Monitoring database, the first stage in the quality monitoring process for primary care in November 2014. All but two practices in the city of Worcester were ranked in band six, the highest quality. Peter Pinfield, chairman Healthwatch Worcestershire said "By and large I think in Worcestershire we rank very highly".[6]

Community Care

Palliative care is provided by Acorns Children's Hospice.

Mental health

The main provider of NHS mental health services is Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust. According to the trust’s clinical director for older adult mental health Dr Bernie Coope said about 8,500 people in Worcestershire – 3.4% of the entire population are living with dementia, and this figure is increasing by 3% each year.[7]

Hospital provision

Hospital provision in the county is by the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. Psychiatric services come from the Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust. More specialist provision comes mostly from hospital services in Birmingham. The Acute Trust runs three hospital in Worcester, Redditch and Kidderminster. Between them, they provide two emergency departments, two paediatric inpatient units and two obstetric departments at Worcester Royal Hospital and Alexandra Hospital. The Trust and the Clinical Commissioning Groups agree that this provision is not sustainable. The trust faces a funding gap of up to £200 million by 2015-16. There are also concerns about quality and safety because of difficulties recruiting consultants in some specialities. Proposals to reorganise services to concentrate specialities on one site or the other are under consideration but public consultation was postponed until after the 2015 General Election.[8]

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust opened a new cancer treatment unit which has three linear accelerators in January 2015, a partnership with University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust. It hopes to treat about 1,500 patients per year who previously had to travel for radiotherapy. It is also intended to extend the chemotherapy services available on the site.[9]

In September 2015 Redditch and Bromsgrove Clinical Commissioning Group asked local GPs not to refer patients to Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust over the next three months because the Trust was unable to treat patients within 18 weeks of referral. Waiting times were out of control in ear, nose and throat, trauma and orthopedics, gynaecology, general surgery and dermatology. 2,347 patients had waited more than 18 weeks.[10]

Healthwatch

Healthwatch Worcestershire, an organisation set up under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to act as a voice for patients, carried out a survey of the use of the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch. They found that 31,613 people had attended the hospital's A&E department between April and December 2014- up 4.3% on the previous 12 months - with nearly a fifth of those coming from areas outside of Worcestershire including South Birmingham who were using the service as an alternative to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Wyre Forest candidates back return of Kidderminster A&E - 30th April 2010". BBC News. 30 April 2010. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
  2. ↑ "Kidderminster effect spreads to Scotland". Guardian. 2 May 2003. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  3. ↑ "The leaders chosen for 41 of England's STPs". Health Service Journal. 30 March 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  4. ↑ "Worcestershire feels pressures of ageing population". Health Service Journal. 25 September 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  5. ↑ "CCGs consider sweeping restrictions to plug £25m hole". Health Service Journal. 18 March 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  6. ↑ "Worcester GP surgeries rank highly in national stats". Tewkesbury Admag. 18 November 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  7. ↑ "Overhaul for dementia care in Worcestershire". Worcester News. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  8. ↑ "Election delays Worcestershire review of acute services". Health Service Journal. 17 November 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  9. ↑ "Worcester mayor visits new oncology centre". Worcester News. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  10. ↑ "GPs told to refrain from referring to local hospital for three months". Pulse. 9 September 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  11. ↑ "Birmingham patients putting pressure on Alex A&E". Bromsgrove Standard. 8 December 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.

External links

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