Last night, North East Herts MP Oliver Heald and County Councillors Fiona Hill and Tony Hunter briefed members of the Action Group and Friends of Royston Hospital about their meeting on Tuesday with NHS representatives.
Oliver Heald is publishing below his notes made at the meeting, which he shared with the Action Group and Friends last night. He is going to meet again with representatives of the Action Group, Friends of Royston Hospital, Doctors and the Town Council, and seek a further meeting with the NHS representatives to pursue a number of issues.
Notes about meeting with NHS Representatives
in Stevenage 1 May 2012
Royston Patients moved to Hitchin
Oliver, Fiona and Tony expressed great concern at sending Royston intermediate care patients to Hitchin, when the clear promise in the recent consultation was that Royston patients would be in Royston beds – either at the Hospital or in local care homes with NHS support.
The Chief Executive of Herts Community NHS Trust (HCT) David Law produced a document setting out events and explained that staffing levels had got dangerously low. They are working hard to make arrangements with Quantum Care (QC) to provide Royston beds in local care homes as soon as possible. However, these do need to be supported by gym facilities, walking rails and rehabilitation space. They said more news is expected by the end of the week, after their next meeting with QC and the NHS Hertfordshire PCT. They confirmed that QC is a “not for profit” Industrial and Provident Society.
Oliver, Fiona and Tony asked a number of questions based on previous discussions with doctors, Friends of the Hospital and Action Group supporters. Answers were as follows:
The new c. £1 million extension at the Health Centre
The Health Centre is owned by the NHS Hertfordshire PCT.
The NHS officials said the structure of the Health Centre is adequate for the first storey extension scheme, because what is proposed is on a steel-framed base which will not impose a load on the existing structure. It will extend the useful life of the whole building.
By taking the opportunity to improve the utilisation of the building the PCT are able to provide Dr Brownrigg with additional space on the ground floor. Proposals will improve access to the first floor with a lift and there will be around 300 sq metres extension to the first floor for the clinics, outpatients and community nurses based currently at the Hospital. These will stay at the Hospital until the extension is complete.
For the medium term, there is potentially other Primary Care capacity locally which could be used for clinical purposes.
The Planning Brief is being prepared for submission to North Herts Council and final designs will be sympathetic to the current building and the first floor extension can be achieved within the current footprint.
Why invest in the region of 12m in the development of a new Care Home with both social care and NHS intermediate care beds?
The layout of social care beds at the St Georges and Richard Cox Homes do not comply with modern standards and the Herts County Council is determined to have about 40 publicly funded social care beds in the town. The NHS in Royston will need about 5 intermediate care beds based on experience and an assessment of need. These would need to be supported by gym facilities, walking rails and rehabilitation space. The County would expect to agree to fund about 40 beds from an independent Home and the NHS about 5, but the County Council would organise the commissioning of the Home with a full and open tender process to get the best value for citizens.
HCC and the NHS have done a thorough analysis after discussions with planners and believe that taking account of self funders, a 90 bed Home is the most likely size of the development to meet both the publicly funded need and that of individuals who will wish to buy their own care. They estimate this will cost about £12 million, which they will expect an independent Home provider to invest in the development.
The PCT (NHS Hertfordshire) is discussing with the Shadow Peterborough and Cambridge Clinical Commissioning Group what their primary care needs are for Royston and this could include purchasing extra facilities at the Care/NHS Home. The PCT has promised to raise this with them.
Why not retain and adapt the existing Hospital building?
The layout is not practical. The wards do not meet modern standards. It is not clinically sustainable to have a standalone 5 bed unit. It would be also be uneconomic.
It is not practicable to turn the current building into a care home. The current assessment of need requires a bigger building than envisaged in previous plans over the years. The Herts CC Estates’ expert thought that while the Care/NHS Home could be fitted on the site, it was unlikely that a care home provider would consider putting housing on the site too.
What if the Hospital site is still owned by the NHS Hertfordshire PCT, when it is abolished in March 2013?
The intention is to transfer the site to the new provider before the deadline. If that does not happen, it is likely that it will become property of the NHS Property Company. This would create uncertainty as to its future.
What if there were barriers to development such as a Heritage Listing?
It was the view of the Estates’ expert that no independent provider would be able to meet the needs for the facility outlined above within the restrictions placed on a Listed Building, so the Care/NHS Home would have to be built on another site.
What is the Hospital site valuation of £2.7 million based on and what is the figure of £1.75 million based on?
NHS Hertfordshire PCT had the land valued professionally. This site is not in the Development Envelope and only has Health use. It has a badger’s sett and is a difficult hilly site. The £1.75 million is based on current use. The higher figure relates to change of use to housing.
What about the staff?
HCT are taking legal advice about the Transfer of Undertakings Regulations (TUPE) to see if the staff can stay with the intermediate care beds once agreement has been reached. They will let us know.
Where will Royston Community Transport and the Volunteers go?
The NHS Hertfordshire PCT are working hard on this and are expecting to make an announcement soon.
Oliver Heald
1st May 2012