Agenda item

To consider a report of the Programme Director Knutsford Project. (to follow)

The Committee considered a report of Andy Bacon, Programme Director, on the Knutsford Integrated Health and Wellbeing Centre project.  

The project was based on an aspiration to achieve greater integration between health and social care.  The project aimed to create a Health and Wellbeing Centre that was a purpose designed and built facility housing GPs and other professions and services in one building.  This would involve the co-location of 2 – 3 GP practices on a single site which would enable extended primary care supported by hospital specialists, access to therapy services (ie physiotherapy, speech and language, occupational therapy etc), community and social care services and diagnostic facilities, such as imaging and pathology and potentially other services such as pharmacy. 

There were other planned changes in Knutsford, namely an application by East Cheshire NHS Trust to become a Foundation Trust, which was a statutory requirement of the process as set out by Monitor; and the proposed permanent closure of the Tatton Ward, an intermediate care ward consisting of 18 beds at the Bexton Hospital site. 

The scheme would be funded through a procurement process to appoint a developer who would receive income from guaranteed rent for GP and integrated services; and income from rent from other tenants (non NHS) who may occupy the building.  The procurement process would be a joint public sector procurement that would be led by the NHS Commissioning Board and NHS Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group and involving other public sector interested parties.  The engagement and consultation process would need to be coordinated with the procurement process so that public views could be taken into account before irrevocable procurement decisions were made.  Mr Bacon emphasised the need to make progress while financial decisions were in the hands of the PCT cluster; in the future such decisions may be made at a national level meaning it could be difficult to progress local priorities in a competitive environment.

Mr Bacon explained that at this stage of the process he was seeking views on how to engage and consult rather than on the proposals themselves.  There had been a number of consultation and engagement exercises around health and wellbeing in the Knutsford area over recent months including the Council’s consultation on Building Based services, meetings organised by Knutsford Town Council, meetings with the local MP and on-going discussions with the Town Council and the local group Knutsford Area for Knutsford Action.  He outlined various options for consultation and engagement with his preferred option being Option 5, which incorporated proposals for the closure of Tatton Ward with the clinical model, with the consultation on Foundation Trust status being separate.  

In discussing the report, Members of the Committee made the following comments:

      That the consultation process should be wide ranging and open minded to encourage views to be expressed;

      Clarification was sought about what services had been provided on the Tatton Ward?  In response, Val Aherne explained that Tatton Ward had 18 beds and provided intermediate care through nursing staff and doctors.  The ward had originally had to close due to an inability to recruit senior clinical staff.  It had taken 10 months to recruit suitable staff by which time it was too expensive to reopen the ward and the accommodation was in a poor state.  These services were now provided at Macclesfield Hospital where she felt a better service was provided on quality and safety grounds.  The East Cheshire Hospital Trust was keen to be part of the vision for new services in Knutsford so that good services were provided that would attract good staff;

      What was the purpose of the consultation and had decisions already been made? In response, the Committee was advised that officers wanted to hear views on the vision for integrated care, what services should be provided eg what in-patient services were needed, what respite, how many beds etc;

      Reference was made to other consultations where displays had been available with plans and models of possible facilities and that a similar method should be incorporated in the Knutsford consultation;

      The consultation process should include some form of “added value” in terms of what benefits would there be for the local area such as employment opportunities;

      That the funding that was available for intermediate care on the Tatton Ward should remain allocated for local intermediate care and not diverted to the acute sector.

RESOLVED:  that

(a) there be a formal consultation on the future of health and social care services based in Knutsford, that follows a period of engagement with the population over their needs and explaining the potential benefits to them of new ways of delivering care;

(b) that Option 5 be supported as a method of engagement and consultation comprising 2 consultations plus additional engagements with the main consultation conducted before bids were received; this method will be dealt with separately from the application of East Cheshire NHS Trust to become a Foundation Trust;

(c) that the detailed methodology by which the engagement and consultation is to be conducted be submitted to a future meeting to enable the Committee to have an input.