Health professionals at NHS Bassetlaw Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH) are reminding residents in Worksop, Retford and surrounding areas to give their views on children’s urgent and emergency care at Bassetlaw Hospital as they enter the final week of consultation on the matter.
£17.6 million is being invested to develop a modern centre for urgent and emergency care services at Bassetlaw Hospital, creating an ‘Emergency Village’. The new Emergency Village offers an exciting opportunity to locate the Children’s Assessment Unit and children’s Outpatient Department next to the Emergency Department to make the best use of specialist nursing and medical staff within the hospital. This creates the option of enhancing children’s services within the footprint of the expansion. By co-locating services, this development also provides the opportunity to secure a permanent overnight inpatient service for children.
Since mid-December, more than 1,000 people in Bassetlaw have taken up the opportunity to share their views, with seven days left for residents to get involved. Views have been received from across the community, and both organisations are encouraging anyone who may use the service, from patients to professionals, partners and the public in general to get involved with the consultation which can be accessed here: https://www.dbth.nhs.uk/news/say-urgent-emergency-paediatric-care-bassetlaw-hospital/
Dr Eric Kelly, Chair at NHS Bassetlaw CCG, said: “This impressive investment at Bassetlaw Hospital is extremely positive. It provides us with an opportunity to look at how we deliver urgent and emergency services for the people of Bassetlaw in a way which meets the needs of our community now and for years to come. It also allows us to address the challenges which led to the temporary closure of the overnight children’s inpatient service in January 2017 due to safety issues. We understood the strength of feeling from local people when this change was initially introduced. We now want to ensure we consult widely with local people before we make any further changes.”
In 2017, and as a result of chronic staffing shortages nationally as well as locally, the CCG and DBTH took the difficult decision to temporarily suspend overnight stays for children receiving care at Bassetlaw Hospital. Instead, children and young people who required inpatient care were transferred by ambulance largely to Doncaster Royal Infirmary (DRI), some 17 miles away.
Since that time, around 2% of all paediatric attendances have been transferred to DRI on an annual basis – accounting for around 200 patients each year. Less than half of these children stayed longer than 24 hours for their inpatient care.
The consultation asks what the local population feels is important in the development of the Emergency Village. Participants are given three options for the future of children’s urgent and emergency care at Bassetlaw Hospital. The first option is to continue with the current temporary operating model. The second option to create a dedicated Children’s Assessment Unit (CAU) that closes to overnight admissions. The third option is to create a dedicated CAU but maintain overnight admissions and short-term stays.
David Purdue, Chief Nurse at DBTH, said “The response we have received from the public so far has been fantastic and has provided the hospital with invaluable insights to the needs of local people. We have just seven days left, so please, get involved and have your say on local NHS services.”
The survey remains open until 28 February 2022. For more information on how you can get involved and links to the online survey and the latest information about the consultation, please head to: https://www.dbth.nhs.uk/news/say-urgent-emergency-paediatric-care-bassetlaw-hospital/
Individuals can also:
- Send comments in writing by email to nhsbassetlaw@thecampaigncompany.co.uk
- Send comments by post to FREEPOST RTEK-SATU-YXEC NHS Bassetlaw CCG, Retford Hospital, North Road, Retford, Notts. DN22 7XF (no stamp required).