This consultation closed on Monday 22 March 2010.
A major public consultation on the future of health services in north east London was launched yesterday (30 November 2009) and will continue until March 2010.
The consultation will give local residents, patients, stakeholders and other interested organisations an opportunity to give their views on new proposals to significantly improve healthcare in their local communities.
The review, called Health for north east London, covers seven London boroughs (Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest) and the City of London Corporation.
The Health for north east London review builds on the successful Healthcare for London: Consulting the Capital consultation in 2007, and the review of stroke and trauma services earlier in 2009.
Both of these reviews set out an ambitious vision to transform healthcare and health services across the capital and the consultation will look at how this could best be implemented in north east London.
The plans in north east London support Healthcare for London’s pledge to deliver more of the care people use most of the time closer to where they live. They will also ensure that services are more accessible and that they are provided by the most appropriately skilled staff. The quality of the most specialised care will be improved by concentrating services and specialist staff in designated hospitals.
The proposals for the public consultation were approved last Tuesday (24 November) by the two north east London joint committees of primary care trusts (JCPCTs) following an eight month pre-consultation process. During this period the plans have been developed and discussed with local doctors, patients, residents and other stakeholders.
Dr Mike Gill, joint clinical director for the Health for north east London programme and medical director and consultant geriatrician at Newham University Hospital NHS Trust said: “These proposals will save lives, significantly improve the health of thousands of patients, and result in a healthier population.
“We have worked with hundreds of clinicians – doctors and other health professionals – to look at how we can better provide high quality care for our communities and ensure that all patients can benefit from better, safer, and more convenient care.
“We want to hear what local people have to say because we are absolutely committed to improving care for them and their families in the future. We hope that local people will give us their views and help us improve local health services for many years to come.”
Six clinical working groups made up of health professionals from across north east London reviewed a range of services to come up the proposals for improved services. These are:
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improve services by moving complex care onto fewer sites. Local clinicians have proposed that the best way to do this would be to concentrate the most specialist services on two sites – The Royal London, Whitechapel, and Queen’s Hospital, Romford. Both these hospitals would continue providing general hospital care for local people in addition to the specialist services for north east London,
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improve A&E, maternity and children’s services at Whipps Cross, Homerton and Newham hospitals, fully supported by critical care, urgent surgery, 24/7 children’s assessment and treatment services, and
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provide planned care and a 24/7 urgent care service with a polyclinic at King George Hospital. The hospital would aim to treat up to 75% of patients currently attending its A&E, which means that only the most seriously ill patients would need to be taken to one of the local A&Es. Existing services, such as diagnostic tests and antenatal and postnatal care, would be further improved at King George Hospital. New services, for instance kidney dialysis and children’s mental heath services and assessment and treatment services for older people, could also be provided and the site could become a specialist centre for planned surgery.
The proposed changes to hospital services will be supported by major improvements to primary care services across north east London, which have already started happening.
Three new polyclinics in Loxford (Redbridge), Oliver Road (Waltham Forest) and the Barkantine (Tower Hamlets) are already open and delivering a range of services in support of care outside hospital. In total, over 20 polyclinics are planned for north east London over the next five years. Further investment in general practice, community nurses, midwives, therapists, and other community services will also help people stay healthy and manage conditions without the need to go to hospital.
The responses to the public consultation are being collected by Ipsos Mori, which will produce an independent analysis of people’s views on the proposal. This will be made public after the consultation closes.
Further information
For more information please contact the Health for north east London press team on 020 7092 5495 or email healthfornelpress@thpct.nhs.uk.
