Further update about the Our Health Our Care programme - 9th July 2020

The Our Health Our Care programme have received notification from the statutory Trust Board of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that they now feel that the clinical conditions are such that they can set a timeline around working towards re-opening the Emergency Department at Chorley and South Ribble District General Hospital in September on a 12 hour per day opening model, 8am to 8pm.  Other services affected by the emergency measures will be re-established at the site on a phased basis.

The Trust Board have explicitly linked this timeline to the delivery of important investments in workforce and estates, and continued reassurances about the manageable impacts of Coronavirus in central Lancashire.  The actions of the Trust Board reflect the commitment they made in late March to review the emergency measures at the earliest possible stage.

The Our Health Our Care programme welcomes this development and will work with the Trust collaboratively on this basis.  The programme will also engage its established patient forums to discuss the links between these developments and a public consultation.

The Our Health Our Care programme expects to receive information from NHS England relating to its plan to assess the pre-consultation business case developed by the programme in the coming weeks.  An announcement relating to this will be made at the relevant stage.  An open, fair, and transparent public consultation will take place when the pre-consultation business case has been approved both by NHS England and the Our Health Our Care Joint Committee.

The focus of any public consultation will be on the options to deliver the best possible clinical outcomes and patient experience for patients in central Lancashire, including those who use hospital services.  The programme will seek to consult on options with the public which it believes to be clinically and otherwise viable, taking account of the independent clinical reports published earlier this year and the learning that it has picked up from significant pre-consultation engagement work with the public.

Commenting on the statement, Senior Responsible Owner for the Our Health Our Care Programme, and Chief Accountable Officer for NHS Chorley and South Ribble and NHS Greater Preston Clinical Commissioning Groups, Denis Gizzi, commented:

“Now, more than ever, the impact of Coronavirus has demonstrated why health and care services locally will need to focus on delivering better, joined up care in the future.  There will be a series of options which we will want to discuss with the public via an open, transparent and fair consultation about how we can best achieve this.

Over the past few months, health and care colleagues from across community, primary and secondary care have delivered outstandingly, and in unprecedented circumstances. 

As we move into the next phase of managing the pandemic, it is important that we continue to plan to restore services wherever this can be done safely.  However, we are also clear that our local hospitals, without change, continue to face significant workforce challenges which will make it difficult for them to deliver essential quality standards for patients in the long-term.”  

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