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| New Forest Primary Care Trust |
Around ninety members of the public and over fifty councillors attended a special briefing on local health services hosted by New Forest District Council this week.
The meeting, at the Lyndhurst Park Hotel on June 13, was called to discuss the forthcoming consultation process for the Primary Care Trust’s Community Services Strategy, and took place after a full council meeting.
John Richards, Chief Executive of the Primary Care Trust, and fellow officers, outlined how government priorities were changing the pattern of health care.
It was a high priority of the Primary Care Trust to make sure that better quality care was available in community settings and that it was accessible to local people. Those needing acute or hospital care would still receive it, he said.
Mr Richards said that the Community Services Strategy was taking shape, and would be presented to the public in a formal consultation process from July.
During a question and answer session, members of the public pledged support for community hospitals and expressed concerns that insufficient services were available in the community to meet the necessary standards of health care.
New Forest District Council Leader Cllr Mel Kendal reassured those present that the views of councillors and members of the public would be taken into account in the council’s report to the Hampshire County Council Health Review Committee, which will scrutinise the strategy.
“The statement by the Primary Care Trust at last night’s meeting that ‘no change is not an option’ for them confirms that there will be a reduction in the number of beds in community hospitals in the New Forest to be replaced by care in the home.
This could also involve the closure of one or even all our community hospitals.
“I hope that any reduction in beds will not occur until all the support services are in place for secondary care in the home.
Even then I hope we could expect to see all of the existing community hospitals maintained at least for day care and outpatients’ usage because of the problems of access for many people in our community.
This could allow a spread of beds for secondary care. The remainder of hospital space could be used for community health facilities by the local authorities or as frail care beds by Hampshire County Council who will need to increase capacity for an aging population.
“All of these options would require more work but there is time available before the new extra beds at Lymington Hospital become fully operational.
New Forest District Council will continue to work with all partners to ensure that the optimum solution for the people of the New Forest is found.” |
