HEALTH bosses are to carry out further investigation before releasing a report on the future of the out-of-hours centre at Teesdale’s Richardson Hospital.
Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) had planned to reduce the number of the hubs in south-west Durham from three to one because they were being underused. The service at Richardson Hospital would close.
But people in Teesdale complained they were not being sent to the nurse-led facility at Richardson Hospital, in Barnard Castle, because 111 operators were not aware of it. Patients were, instead, being sent to Bishop Auckland, campaigners said.
Groups also complained the service was also not widely advertised, meaning few people in the dale knew it existed.
Members of the CCG were quizzed on the issue when they met in Barnard Castle on Tuesday, March 19.
Labour Party campaign coordinator Jane Hackworth-Young reiterated people’s concerns that 111 operators did not have Richardson Hospital on their database and said it appeared the service was being put to “death by stealth” .
She added that the “service in Teesdale had not been set up properly” and data being used in the CCG’s consultation was “not valid” .
Director of commissioning for the CCG Sarah Burns said concerns about not being directed to the nearest service had not only been raised
by people in Teesdale but from patients across the CCG area. She added that she had hoped the report would already have been available but more time was needed to fully investigate issues that had been raised.
Ms Burns explained that where people are directed depended on the time of day and the type of service they needed.
She said: “Based on the clinical complaint at the time of the call they will be sent to the nearest hub.”
Ms Burns added that CCG was looking to understand the mistakes that were made by 111 handlers and the frequency of the mistakes.
She said: “It is a way of learning and not to punish.”
Small problems with call handling could be dealt with through training, she said.
Ms Hackworth-Young also asked the CCG to look more carefully at using Richardson Hospital more effectively and said many health care services were not taking up space at the hospital because the rent was too high.
She said services such as Talking Changes, which deals with mental health, could be using vacant space in the hospital. She said the service was currently in an open area elsewhere in the town where people’s confidentiality was at risk.
Ms Hackworth-Young said: “Less money is being generated from rent but we still have the cost of the loan” .
Richardson Hospital was built through a private finance initiative (PFI) which the NHS is still paying back.
She added that the hospital is dear to the people of Teesdale and was becoming all the more important because of a growing ageing population in the area.
In his response the CCG’s chief of finance Mark Pickering said there were regular meetings with health service colleagues where “void space” at the hospital was discussed.
“No services will be unaware,” he added.
Mr Pickering said discussion were also taking place with the local authorities about how to get best use of the space available.
However, he pointed out that the hospital was built to purpose, and there would be a cost to convert space to accommodate different services.
Chief officer Stewart Findlay concluded: “It is an important hospital to us and one that we will have to fund for the lifetime of the PFI. It is in the interest of the CCG to make the best use of it.”
