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Staff invited to comment on
the way the trust should develop over the next decade
Key questions for trust's future
STAFF and the general
public will be able to
comment on proposals for the way ahead for trust hospitals over the next ten
years.
These could involve major
changes on all sites.
At the Sussex County Hospital
the original Barry and Jubilee buildings could be replaced. The
Princess Royal Hospital would provide almost all the elective orthopaedic
surgery for the population of central Sussex.
The Sussex Neurosciences
Centre could eventually be relocated from Hurstwood Park to the County Hospital
site.
The draft strategy document
for acute services was revealed at last month’s board meeting.
Staff and public
"involvement" is promised beginning in September until December. If
formal public consultation is needed, it will take place early in 2004.
The new document builds on the
earlier document, Strengthening Hospital Services in Central Sussex. This
was the basis of the current policy of providing a single integrated service
based on two main hospitals, the Royal Sussex County and the Princess
Royal.
For the Royal Sussex, the
paper foresees a development of emergency care services. It also anticipates an
expanded role in tertiary services – cancer, cardiac, renal and specialist
neo-natal and children’s services for the wider population of Sussex – as
well as the relocation of neurosciences to the County Hospital campus.
Referring to the cramped
County site, the document expresses the intention to continue expanding the
campus by acquiring additional land and accommodation as the opportunities
arise.
Taken together, these
developments will mean that decisions will have to taken on the levels of
elective care provided in Brighton for those living in the city, the coastal
strip and the Ouse valley.
In other words, low and medium risk services
could be moved progressively to Haywards Heath or provided in primary care
diagnostic and treatment centres.
These centres could also
reduce the demand on A&E by providing minor injury and assessment services.
The Princess Royal is seen as
the main centre of acute care for the foreseeable future.
The provision of an elective
orthopaedic treatment centre – probably managed by a private company in
partnership with the University Hospital and primary care trusts – is seen as
the heart of the development of the hospital.
A new endoscopic investigation
suite for gastroenterology and gynaecology for the hospital is also promised.
The future of acute in-patient
services at Brighton General is currently under review and the results are
expected shortly.
According to the strategy
document, legislation on junior doctors’ hours coming into effect in August
2004 and the poor state of the fabric of the Nightingale wards make the
viability of continuing acute hospital services there doubtful.
Among other changes proposed
are low dependency delivery units in the community as an alternative to hospital
and home confinement for mothers and the integration of vascular services into a
cardio-vascular service in the Sussex Cardiac Centre at RSCH.
The success of the Sussex
Cardiac Centre opened in 1999 has led to a need to expand facilities.
These would include an
additional theatre and catheter laboratory which could almost double the number
of surgical procedures and increase interventional cardiology.
If the adult neurological
services are eventually to be relocated at the Sussex County, current services
at Hurstwood Park will be sustained and developed in the interim.
The neonatal intensive care
service at RSCH will be expanded and its retrieval services developed. The
Brighton unit will continue to provide neo-natal paediatric support to the
Princess Royal to ensure the long-term viability of the obstetric unit at PRH.
A copy of the board paper giving full details
of the acute services strategy can be obtained from the trust communications
department by emailing Ian Keeber or Clare Martin or contacting them on 01273
696955 ext. 4911
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The Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton