The long-term future of Weston General Hospital is safe as a result of proposed changes, including treating more older people, health chiefs have promised. Local NHS bosses approved plans on Tuesday (June 7) that would see thousands more routine procedures, including hip, knee and cataract operations, each year, with the aim of reducing inpatient stays and travel distances.
The hospital, which was the subject of a massive campaign in recent years to save the A&E following its overnight closure amid safety concerns, is set to be reconfigured, with two “centres of excellence” – surgery and older people’s care. Along with extra capacity for planned operations, there will be more “same day” emergency care so people can be assessed and treated at Weston General without the need to be admitted to a ward, while the A&E closure from 10pm to 8am, made permanent in 2019, will be maintained.
A small number of extra patients – estimated to be eight per day – arriving by ambulance who need specialist inpatient medical treatment, such as cardiology, diabetes, respiratory and rheumatology, and require a stay longer than 24 hours will be transferred to larger nearby hospitals but could return to complete their stay locally. The expansion of routine surgery – including four extra operating theatres – for departments including orthopaedics, gynaecology and urology means these patients, as well as those whose care is not being switched elsewhere, would remain at Weston.
Read more: Weston General Hospital Accident and Emergency overnight closure to be reviewed
Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) CCG’s governing body approved the outline case for change and an eight-week public engagement from June 20 at the meeting on Weston-super-Mare Grand Pier. CCG medical director for clinical excellence Peter Brindle told members: “The model is great news for patients and for North Somerset and it is the turning point for the future of Weston Hospital.”
Clinical chairman Jonathan Hayes said: “The proposals do secure the future of the hospital and ensure that all the residents in Weston will receive the healthcare services they rightly deserve.” North Somerset area director Colin Bradbury told the meeting: “We have a proposal for a long-term plan to secure the future of Weston as a dynamic hospital in the heart of its community that treats more people locally and gives the certainty we need to attract and retain staff.
“The plan has been designed by senior local clinicians and patient representatives and has the support of the system across BNSSG.” He said the hospital’s future had been uncertain for far too long.
“Today we have a clear vision of what a sustainable hospital at Weston looks like,” he said. "This enables far more people to be treated at Weston than is currently the case, particularly for planned operations.”
Weston Hospital medical director Andy Hollowood said: “We see 137 patients a day on average by ambulance. That remains as it is but there would be a subsequent need to transfer around eight patients to surrounding hospitals.
“It gives us the opportunity to do between 22 and 114 more procedures each day depending on the type of them. The emergency department model we’re providing means there is no longer the need for parents with their children to travel to Bristol for care, they can be seen and treated in Weston.
“The proposal is a real opportunity to secure a bright and sustainable future for Weston General Hospital. By changing how we treat people needing an emergency inpatient stay of longer than 24 hours, we can create the capacity to provide more of the services local people need and use most often.”
A report to the governing body said the proposals were expected to save £2.6million a year following a capital investment of roughly £41million and that doing nothing was not an option and would have cost much more. The number of beds at Weston will remain at 275, with those for patients having planned treatment increasing from 28 to 111 and the number for emergencies dropping from 247 to 164.
It said Weston had the highest average inpatient age of any general hospital in the country and the plans would concentrate inpatient medical specialities in other hospitals, leaving Weston to focus on developing its two new centres of excellence. Full details on the public engagement will be published on the Healthy Weston website here.
