Hornsea Cottage Hospital- Save our MIU

The ‘Consultation on Urgent Care’ came and went at the Floral Hall on 23rd November but it is difficult to know what it achieved other than leaving most of those who attended feeling bewildered, confused and frustrated. No expense had been spared in preparing slick displays and glossy brochures, none of which appeared to address the issue which most people were concerned about i.e. the closure of our Minor Injuries Unit. It seems that the East Riding of Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group have already made that decision and are intent on persuading us that somehow this is going to be part of a move towards greater local and community care. We publish the Response to the Consultation on Urgent Care submitted by Hornsea Cottage Hospital League of Friends, followed by the latest release from the CCG so that you may draw your own conclusions. CASE FOR RETAINING HORNSEA MINOR INJURY UNIT The mantra of the National Health Service is ‘treating people closer to home’. For the residents of Hornsea and the surrounding villages Hornsea Cottage Hospital is close to home so it makes no sense for these patients to be made to travel further afield in order to access Minor Injury treatment. A patients’ condition could easily deteriorate during the time travelling which results in more cost for the treatment required to stabilise the situation. CONSIDER THE FACTS Transport Our population includes many single parent families, families on low income and elderly retired who do not own or have access to a car, therefore public transport or taxi are the only options. However, public transport is under review and by April 2017, will be reduced. A bus journey to Beverley takes approx 40 mins but does not go into East Riding Community Hospital. Public transport is not an option for a minor injury neither is a taxi as they too expensive and neither would appreciate a person with an injury dripping blood and are not always available at the time of need. It takes over an hour to Hull City centre then another bus to Hull Royal Infirmary. Which results in 999 being dialled but this is only a feasible option if the injury is;- serious enough to warrant an ambulance and the one ambulance we have is available, for once it has left the Hornsea area it could be hours before it returns. The average of ten patients per day seen at Hornsea MIU is ten less for an overstretched ambulance service to have to deal with. Paramedics and first responders could be delayed as they are very much over stretched; so much so that even the fire brigade have been called upon to help. Throughout Holderness there are numerous villages and settlements that are devoid of any bus route, where people would have to rely on family, friends and neighbours to transport them to a Minor Injury Unit which should be accessible to all no matter where they live. For Hornsea & District residents that should be Hornsea Cottage Hospital and only an acute hospital should the condition be serious. Depriving sections of our population access to a vital service is totally unacceptable as we all pay into the system providing this service which should be available to all at the time of need. Especially the elderly retired who have contributed all their working lives and at a time when they are more likely to need an MIU. This does not constitute an improvement in services. You have a contractual duty of care to provide basic health services to all of the people of the East Riding of Yorkshire. £2.7 million was spent on refurbishing Hornsea Cottage Hospital with a promise it would house all the vital services required to become a health centre including minor injuries and x-ray units. If one service is closed where does this leave the others? A promise should be honoured otherwise there is no point in making one. By breaking a promise you are deemed to be dishonourable therefore any future promises you make will not be trusted. Little by little our services are being eroded which will leave our rural community even more isolated, is this what is meant by treating people closer to home? It has been known for routes to and from Hornsea to be impassable due to adverse weather conditions and/or accidents Population At the last Census (2011) the population of Hornsea was 9,000. The population of the surrounding villages is as follows:- Aldbrough 1005, Atwick 315, Bewholme 232, Brandesburton 1227, Catwick 188, Hatfield 212, Mappleton 342, Seaton 351, Sigglesthorne 315, Skipsea 693, Withernwick 453 Total 5,333 All these Parish Councils have submitted residents’ signatures to the League of Friends petition opposing the closure of Hornsea MIU. The Caravan and Camping sites from Skipsea to Aldbrough have a total of 3,783 pitches, mainly for static vans but also have a combination of touring vans, tents and lodges which, given an average of 3 per pitch, equates to a possible 11,349 visitors at the height of the season. All these sites have stated they would direct people to Hornsea Minor Injury Unit. Five of these sites are open 7/8 months of the year while five are open 12 months. Eastgate Medical Group has 12,500 patients registered which include those residing in static vans that require repeat prescriptions for long term conditions. This is an area inhabited predominately by retired people who due to their age are more likely to be in need of unplanned care. The East Riding of Yorkshire Council planning department is proposing 750 new homes to be built in Hornsea in the near future. Again, using the average of 3 per dwelling equates to 2,250 extra people requiring NHS services. At the height of the season the population could rise to 27,932. Availability of beds The removal of the beds from both Driffield and Hornsea has led to patients being unable to be discharged from the acute https://www.acheterviagrafr24.com/achat-viagra-en-ligne-sans-ordonnance/ hospitals due to the shortage of both clinical and social services staff to ensure a suitable package of aftercare. Clearly the 30 beds in the East Riding Community Hospital are insufficient and now the 12 beds in Withernsea are under threat. Patients prefer to be cared for in their own area which is why some Hornsea patients are reluctant to go to the Withernsea and even to the East Riding Community Hospital. This area has only one Nursing home in Hedon and places in residential homes are extremely limited but not all patients being offered a ‘time to think’ bed will be elderly. Residential homes are businesses and we do not believe that beds will be set aside waiting for NHS patients. This is privatisation by stealth. The proposed plans to close local Minor Injury Units and replace them with Urgent Care Centres is ill thought out and will leave vast sections of our population unable to access the care they need. The vital component omitted from your plan is the logistics of how patients will access these units. Urgent Care Centres can be created in the existing Minor Injury Units with staff and facilities available to deal with all manner of conditions without forcing people to travel long distance to get the treatment they need. This consultation process is shameful as no true and meaningful discussions have taken place before the plan was published. Instead your decisions for the future of Urgent Care provision have been finalised and presented in such a way that no objections can be considered. The overwhelming opinion is that none of the four options on offer there are desirable. There should be a fifth option – retain the Minor Injury Units. The ‘one size fits all’ approach will not work as there are too many variants in this equation. There is too much reliance on outside and over stretched agencies, eg Ambulance service, Paramedics, First Responders, Clinical staff and Social Services. These agencies have considerable constraints on budgets and therefore reduced personnel. There are too many conditions which are out of your control, therefore your plans have no firm foundation. We sincerely request that you give serious consideration to the views of the Doctors, the League of Friends and the general public at large for the weight of public opinion is firmly against you. This plan for the National Health Service will result in a Selective Health Service which is not what people have contributed to all their working lives. This message was sent to us on Friday 16th December Urgent Care Consultation NHS East Riding of Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is half-way through their Urgent Care Consultation, which will finish on 17 January 2017. Under the proposals, two or three urgent care centres would replace the six minor injury services across the East Riding of Yorkshire. Urgent care centres will be open for 16 hours a day, 365 days a year and will provide consistent services across all of the centres. Jane Hawkard, Chief Officer, NHS East Riding of Yorkshire CCG has said: “We’ve had a very good response to the consultation. Around 700 people have completed our survey and more than 1,000 people have visited our nine drop-in events across the East Riding giving us the opportunity to listen to individual concerns. “The drop-in events highlighted a number of people are confused and wrongly believe the CCG is looking to close hospital sites. We want to reassure local residents that the consultation proposals are seeking to introduce urgent care centres in place of Minor Injury services; improve wrap-around patient care and NOT about the closure of community hospitals that will continue to offer a wide range of services. For patients who attend outpatient services in our community hospitals, these services are not affected. “Our proposals include the introduction of urgent care centres; these will have consistent opening times of 16 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and provide a consistent range of advice, treatment and diagnostics, with no variation between the centres. “By providing a consistent service, the centres will be better connected to the wider urgent care system and allow NHS 111 and ambulances to direct and drop off patients there. This is not possible with the current minor injury units.” The plans will also see a change in how community beds are used, the CCG pays a high cost for nursing and medical care provided in a community bed when, what many patients really need, is access to intensive rehabilitation or short-term care packages which can be provided in an alternative setting or in a patient’s own home. Jane explains the reason behind their proposals, “Earlier discharge will reduce the risk of muscle wasting that patients often experience in a hospital bed which can lead to a loss of independence, especially if they are elderly. We want to be able to invest in our local workforce and improve intensive rehabilitation services so we can support more people back to independence sooner. Our proposals will help us to have the right type of beds in the community to better meet the needs of local people through strengthened support at or close to home.” People can still have their say. Consultation brochures (including survey) are available in GP practices; libraries, leisure centres and customer service Iquo Ema Communications Manager East Riding of Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group Health House Grange Park Lane Willerby HU10 6DT Tel: 01482 672195 Email: [email protected] Mobile: 07802 718 239

One Reply to “Hornsea Cottage Hospital- Save our MIU”

  1. Kevin S. Riley Solicitor

    4th April 2017 Recorded Delivery.

    Dear Rt. Hon Graham Stuart MP (Copy Look North/East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

    Re East Riding of Yorkshire CCG.

    NB THIS LETTER IS WRITTEN TO YOU,SOLE INTENTION OF TO ASSISTING YOU IN REPRESENTING THE BEST INTERESTS OF ALL YOUR OWN CONSTITUENTS..

    Unfortunately the content of your interview yesterday on Look North and the content of the news item generally has overlooked the reality that Jeremy Hunt and the “Independent Configuration Panel” have has no power to force the CCG to alter their plans.

    They can only “advise and or recommend” but can do nothing if the CCG chooses to ignore that advice and or recommendation”.

    This inability was made clear in the White Paper published by the Conservative led Government prior to the enactment of the Health and Social Care Act 2102. and reflected in the terms of the Act itself.

    EXTRACT FROM WHITE PAPER.
    1.3 NHS Foundation Trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups will be established in law as new legally independent organisations, with a duty to provide NHS services to NHS patients.

    1.7 NHS Foundation Trusts and CCG’s will be set free from central Government control, manage their own budgets and be able to shape the healthcare services they provide to better reflect local needs and priorities.

    Jeremy Hunt Theresa May often refer to “decisions on service delivery” being made at a “local level” implying that local people have a role in how health services are being delivered when the reality is that they have no such power at all (nor have individual MP’s) as individual NHS Trusts and CCG’s can “go out to consultation” on their proposals, but are under no obligation whatsoever to comply with the “results” of that consultation.

    These “independent” and free from democratic control” organisations can proceed with their decisions on service delivery, even if the results of the “public consultation” is to the exact opposite effect – and there is nothing that either Theresa May or Jeremy Hunt can do to change the situation without amending the Health and Social Care Act itself by primary legislation to that effect.

    Yours sincerely,

    Kevin S. Riley Solicitor

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