Health authorities pledge vibrant future

A director at the NHS trust that runs Newark Hospital says they are committed to its future.

The director of strategy and improvement at Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust, Jane Warder, said people were seeing only one part of the plans for Newark Hospital.

She said: “Local people need to be reassured that there is a commitment to a vibrant local hospital and having as much local care as possible.”

Jane Warder said they had kept staff informed about what effect the changes to urgent care would have. She said based on reduced medical admissions a ward would have to close.

“But that is only part of the story. We have still got to work through the overall bed usage and whether we can get more patients currently choosing to go out of the area to come back in. That is what we’re working on,” she said.

Jane Warder said only the urgent care model had so far been decided.

A model for unplanned care, which it is anticipated will bring more patients to Newark Hospital, is yet to be finalised.

Jane Warder said there was still work to be done to establish what patients there would be.

They could include those recovering from treatment at other hospitals, those from the Newark area who go elsewhere for treatment, and less serious medical admissions by GPs.

“The PCT and ourselves are working hard to keep to as many local patients as possible,” she said.

She said there was no intention for a slow closure of the hospital, but there would be changes.

Under the new model there will be a bigger role for highly trained nurses but fewer doctors will be needed.

The 24-hour minor injuries unit plus would be led by a senior hospital doctor, not a consultant as the A & E has now.

A GP with extra training would cover the unit and the hospital wards at night instead of a hospital doctor. This had created fears that surgeons would no longer want their patients looked after at Newark.

Jane Warder said they had spoken with service directors who admit surgical patients to Newark and they were happy with the proposals.

“They don’t feel they need to change in any way the types of patients they admit,” she said.

Jane Warder denied that Newark Hospital would become an easy target for cuts in the future if the financial situation worsened.

The PCT’s director of public health, Dr Chris Kenny, said their commitment for 85% of all patients treated at Newark Hospital to continue receiving care there had not changed.

The Newark review project leader, Tracy Gaskill, said GPs were committed to Newark Hospital and would promote it as a first choice for their patients.

She said vacant wards at the hospital would be filled by other services.

There is the possibility of a GP practice within the hospital as the population of Newark grows.

Tracy Gaskill said the biggest benefit from the new plans was a 24/7 integrated care service co-ordinated by Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust, believed to be one of the first in the country.

It will include advanced and emergency nurse practitioners and the new emergency care practitioners.

Tracy Gaskill said Newark would be pioneering this way of working.