Future Fit: Could Shropshire benefit from new A&E hospital?
It was England’s first purpose-built specialist emergency care hospital when it opened in 2015 – and now calls have been made for the model to be replicated in Shropshire.
Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital has emergency care consultants on duty at all times and a range of specialists available seven days a week.
It heralded the start of a new era in emergency care across Northumberland and North Tyneside.
But its opening led to the downgrading of A&E units to urgent care centres at Hexham, Wansbeck and North Tyneside hospitals, prompting concerns that seriously ill or injured patients would have to travel further for treatment.
Urgent care covers any healthcare need which needs immediate attention, but is not serious enough to require an A&E visit.
A similar model to the one provided by Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has now been proposed for Shropshire by Councillor Andrew Eade, leader of the Conservative opposition on Telford & Wrekin Council.
He wants a specialist A&E centre to be built between Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford's Princess Royal Hospital, with the two existing hospitals catering for planned care.
Councillor Eade, who says it will improve outcomes for patients, wants the idea to be included as an option in the forthcoming Future Fit consultation – which is yet to launch.
He claims the current proposals will be a "step backwards" and has even called an emergency meeting of Telford & Wrekin Council to ask for the backing of his fellow councillors.
Councillor Eade visited the specialist centre in Cramlington with Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard, Telford & Wrekin Councillor Nigel Dugmore and David Sandbach, former chief executive of Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital, in November last year.
The Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital provides specialist emergency care for seriously ill and injured patients from across Northumberland and North Tyneside.
Cases include patients with suspected strokes, severe chest pain, blood loss or those experiencing a sudden shortness of breath.
The specialist centre also has a birthing centre with midwifery and consultant-led care.
It has en-suite delivery rooms, two birthing pools and en-suite bedrooms where partners are able to stay overnight.
Some planned surgery which is considered to be high-risk is also carried out at the centre and other facilities include individual treatment rooms, a critical care unit, a paediatric unit, operating theatres and beds for emergency admissions across seven speciality wards.
Clinicians also have access to x-ray, MRI, ultrasound and CT scanners, an endoscopy room and cardiac catheter lab.
When it opened, hospital bosses said treating all seriously ill or badly injured patients at Cramlington would save more lives and although emergency patients might have to travel further, this would be counterbalanced by the specialist staff and facilities available for their sole use.
A year on, the trust reported a 14 per cent reduction in emergency admissions to hospital, with almost 7,500 less people being admitted, resulting in a £6 million saving for the local health economy.
It noted improvements in clinical outcomes and that Northumbria Healthcare was one of only a handful of trusts nationally to meet the government four-hour A&E waiting target during the whole of 2015/16.
There was, however, an impact on ambulance handover times with around seven per cent of all ambulance arrivals at The Northumbria waiting over 30 minutes to handover patients.
Speaking at the time, then chief-executive of the trust, David Evans, who has since left that post, said: “There is no doubt that our new model of emergency care is already having a very positive impact on patient care, clinical outcomes and experience.
"All early indications and measures show it is delivering exactly what we set out to achieve for emergency patients by centralising our specialist expertise on one site.
“Delivering these successes, as well as overcoming the challenges experienced during this first year, would not have been possible without the efforts of staff in all areas – not only at Northumbria but amongst the wider local NHS."
A report, which was drawn up following Councillor Eade and the group's fact-finding visit to Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, has been sent to health bosses in Shropshire.
It made a recommendation that: "The pre consultation business case which was recently submitted to NHS England should be amended to include the provision of a standalone specialist emergency care hospital between Telford and Shrewsbury.
"We believe this is the right thing to do because members of the public deserve to see an alternative option to the one currently under consideration."
NHS England is yet to give the go-ahead for a public consultation to begin in the Future Fit process.
Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin clinical commissioning groups have said they are still prepared to consider new ideas and suggestions during the consultation process.
Earlier this month, health chiefs said it would take up to four weeks for a public consultation to begin once given the green light.
