Health bosses say proposals to move some services from Scunthorpe to Grimsby hospital will only affect some patients
There are two weeks left of a public consultation
Northern Lincolnshire residents have until January 5 to make their views known on proposed changes to Scunthorpe General Hospital services.
Under the NHS plans, elements of departments would be moved from Scunthorpe to the Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby. These include the trauma unit, and children and young people who need a more than 24 hours hospital stay.
Opposition has included concern about transport for patients’ loved ones. An NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) spokesperson acknowledged people are “worried about how they would get to see a loved one if they were taken to Grimsby”. A transport group has been formed to look at this.
The public has until January 5, 2024, to participate in the consultation. To take part online, click here: https://online.ors.org.uk/questionnaire/1883C41 . “If people really don’t like our proposal – it is important for us to hear that,” the ICB has stated.
North Lincolnshire Council leader Cllr Rob Waltham wrote to NHS bosses earlier this month, asking for a short extension to allow for the council’s health and wellbeing board response after a January 15 meeting. In recognition of the board as a “strategic stakeholder”, it alone has been given until January 17 for its response.
Below are condensed answers to questions put to an NHS ICB spokesperson by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), covering FAQs and the transport situation concerning patients’ families.
Q: Will my local A&E close?
A: “In short, no.” New A&Es, costing together £35m, opened at both Scunthorpe General Hospital and Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby in the last 14 months. The 24/7 emergency departments “are an integral part of our infrastructure”, the ICB spokesperson said.
“Ninety-three out of every 100 patients who currently attend Scunthorpe General Hospital’s Emergency Department would continue to be treated in Scunthorpe,” they also added.
Qs: How will affected patients be transferred from Scunthorpe to Grimsby? Once transferred to Grimsby and then discharged, will transport be provided back to Scunthorpe? Will close friends and families of affected patients transferred from Scunthorpe to Grimsby be provided transport? In particular, the parents of children who are transferred?
“We understand just what an important issue this is,” said an ICB spokesperson, stating it had come up in consultation events. The proposals would change only “a very small number of hospital services”.
Modelling suggested the changes would affect about 14 patients a day. “We now believe that figure to be substantially less.”
“It’s also important to stress that in a majority of those cases, patients would be arriving at hospital by ambulance, or if they present at Scunthorpe General Hospital and needed to be looked after at Diana Princess of Wales Hospital, they would be taken there by inter-hospital transport. It’s our belief the change we are proposing would give patients quicker access to specialist care and would result in a shorter stay in hospital, meaning patients can be back in their own homes and recovering with family much sooner.”
But they are listening, the spokesperson said. “We have heard from some people who don’t drive or don’t have access to a car that they are worried about how they would get to see a loved one if they were taken to Grimsby.”
“And while it isn’t necessarily the place of the NHS to solve all transport issues, we have established a transport group,” the spokesperson said. Working with patient and representative groups, and partners like the council, it is “to look at what we can do together to support local people who might have to travel further to visit a loved one in hospital”.
Q: Will I have to go to a different hospital for my outpatient appointment?
A: An outpatient appointment does not involve an overnight hospital stay and “are not affected”.
Q: Could you give an example of where the proposed changes will improve the speed and experience for a patient directly affected by them?
‘Alexis’, a 66-year-old Scunthorpe grandmother of five arrives at Scunthorpe General Hospital on a Friday afternoon, complaining of chest pains. A minor heart attack is suspected. She needs to see a specialist cardiologist to plan treatment and perform a procedure called angiography.
“National guidance says this should happen within 72 hours. However, the way services are organised now means Alexis will wait on a hospital ward until Monday morning to be seen by a cardiologist,” the spokesperson said. She may then wait a further few days for a procedure.
Under the proposed change, Alexis would have initial tests at Scunthorpe General Hospital. She would be “transferred via a dedicated inter-hospital transport service to the cardiology ward at Diana Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby to be seen by a cardiologist on site, even on a Saturday or Sunday.”
Alexis would have her procedure within the required timeframe as “consultant-led care would be provided seven days a week” at the Grimsby hospital.
Q: Won’t these changes undermine the long-term viability of Scunthorpe General Hospital? If not, what plans are there to invest in Scunthorpe General in the future?
A: The ICB spokesperson said the changes would mean Scunthorpe services “remain fit for the future”. They were “designed to maximise the benefit” of more than £70m investment in Scunthorpe General in the last five years. Scunthorpe will remain the specialist centre for strokes.
Q: Health bosses talked of a new, elective clinical hub in North Lincolnshire in a council meeting in October and were told to come back with more information. What is the detail of this?
A: Despite the investment, “the buildings and infrastructure at Scunthorpe General Hospital continue to present challenges”. With “limited funding available within the hospital trust’s internal capital budget” for these, “the local NHS is working with partners such as the local council on a joint capital plan” to secure buildings investment. This includes “looking at the potential for an elective hub”.
“Alongside the joint investment strategy is also a joint workforce plan.” Existing joint working had been “extremely successful”, resulting in the planned £19.4m Scunthorpe community diagnostics centre (CDC).