Minutes:
The following public speakers addressed the Committee, with a summary provided of the key points raised by each speaker.
Mr John Dinnie
Mr Dinnie spoke about the information in the consultation, the work with the community hospital association and raising alternate proposals to establish sufficient beds in Shipston, which had not been considered in the pre-consultation. He requested that these be followed up. There was a lack of awareness of this ‘digital’ consultation, the awareness sessions arranged or access the survey. An extension was sought to the consultation period. The Committee was asked to respond on the impact of the proposals. Mr Dinnie expressed the impacts for patients, friends, family the community and local economy. The travel difficulties and isolation of rural living caused stress when compared to the previous fully operational services, which he listed the benefits of. Option A was deemed unacceptable to the NHS and option B was unacceptable to rural South Warwickshire. Working together to find a solution was suggested. There was no wish to remove beds from the other locations and all should have sufficient beds to reduce pressures on acute services. He touched on the long history of this site which had been sustained by the community. There were ways to return beds to this site, and he gave examples of the previous support the community had provided. The community needed the NHS to work with it to deliver the vision for the site.
Mr Peter Gibbs
Mr Gibbs quoted from data in the consultation document, that 45% of hospital leavers were able to return home thanks to community support services. However, from the testimonies of patients, homecare packages could fail due to logistical difficulties. These were amplified in a rural setting. He provided context on the postcode area centred on Shipston-on-Stour and the surrounding catchment area which comprised some 26 towns and villages with significant housing. He touched on the age profile with 27% of residents being over 65 years of age, the largest proportion of any area in South Warwickshire. It was believed a reliable home care service for this area was more an aspiration than a reality. He quoted a recent article from an NHS journal which questioned the use of this policy. It was no substitute for rehabilitation beds at Ellen Badger Hospital (EBH). The ICB had been unable or reluctant to provide data for home recovery services. The OSC was asked to ensure its public availability.
Written statement from Dr Manuela Perteghella MP
This was read by Councillor Kate Rolfe and is reproduced at Appendix A to the Minutes.
Caroline Gunn
Caroline Gunn addressed the Committee as co-Chair of the Friends of Shipston Hospitals and a Shipston resident for over twenty years. She reminded councillors and the ICB that Shipston had a long tradition of giving financial support to the EBH and to other services mentioned by a previous speaker. This started with the original bequest of the land and capital to build and maintain the Ellen Badger at the end of the 19th century and continued to the present day.
In 1978 a proposed decision to downgrade the hospital was reversed by the Health Authority (HA) in view of the very strong opposition of the community and stronger support for the hospital. Thanks to the resulting partnership between the community and the HA, the EBH became one of the first community hospitals in Warwickshire. Since the 1990’s over £1.4million had been donated by the community, through the League of Friends, to help maintain and improve the hospital and the facilities it offered. The EBH was considered a beacon of excellence of integrated community primary health care as assured by her doctors in North Oxfordshire before moving to Shipston twenty years ago with her husband who had terminal cancer.
The last major donation to SWFT by the Friends and the community was £650,000, to purchase additional land to enable the redevelopment of the hospital and the improvement of services. Option A would enable the continuance of this tradition of excellence which was strongly supported by the community. The retention of community rehabilitation beds in Shipston would allow services to be provided built on existing local expertise. An important example of this was Shipston Home Nursing, another well-supported local charity, which had long established specialist expertise in palliative and end-of-life care. In the recent past, patients had been able to receive this care as inpatients at the EBH in cases where it had not been possible for them to remain at home. This would only be possible if beds were retained in Shipston. She asked the Council and the ICB to support Option A and return twelve beds to the EBH.
Councillor Dave Passingham
Councillor Passingham spoke as the District Councillor for Shipston South. It would have been preferred for the consultation to have been undertaken some years ago and to have considered a broader range of options from home-based care to beds in Shipston. It was still consistent to undertake this whilst considering beds at Stratford and Leamington. The ICB had said that returning twelve beds to EBH was affordable and viable but implying that they were not as affordable and viable as keeping them in Leamington. The model was ‘one size fits all’ and may suit large towns, but not rural areas of South Warwickshire. A more flexible model was needed, and possibly could mean more care at home, or that patients didn’t travel so far, or a community hospital. In the model, EBH would have rehabilitation beds, but could also have beds for discharge to assess, step up services, end-of-life care and day care beds. This could enable other services like minor injuries to be provided and would ensure that the twelve-bed ward was fully utilised. It would ensure a fully integrated community hospital. It was considered this would be affordable and viable. Four years ago, an upgraded hospital providing integrated care was promised. EBH used to provide integrated care and with the increasing and aging population this was needed for rural South Warwickshire now.