Progress towards Sudbury’s Hospital

24 June 2003

Further progress has been made towards building Sudbury’s new hospital, following the completion of a stakeholder consultation exercise undertaken by the Health and Social Care Advisory Service (HSCAS).

West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust commissioned HSCAS to find out what the people of Sudbury wanted for their future health care provision.

Building on previous extensive public consultation, HSCAS received a good response from over 200 patients, users, carers and experts. The key messages coming from local people were: ‘we need a decision and we want a health village which can be used flexibly to meet changing needs. We also want an increase in community services to allow people to remain independent for as long as possible living in their own homes.’

Accordingly, the West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust has developed an updated Outline Business Case (OBC) deliberately designed to reflect the views of the public. It will see the development of a health village on a new site that will increase outpatient provision and include a Minor Injuries Unit, a day care facility, GP premises, a nursing home and a facility that will provide care for up to 40 people. Patients using this facility will include those requiring intensive rehabilitation, respite or palliative care, or admission to a GP bed. The use of single rooms will provide a better environment and maximum flexibility of use.

“This is a significant move forward and is a much more flexible way of providing health and social care for the people of Sudbury - a ‘one-stop-shop’ health campus providing a range of services for the whole community,” said Jessica Watts, director of strategy. “The public consultation has told us that people want us to place a greater emphasis on out-patient and minor injury facilities and provide treatment for people at home wherever possible.”

Suffolk West Primary Care Trust (PCT) has been able to identify within the Local Health Delivery Plan for west Suffolk an additional £1 million to develop services in Sudbury during the 2005/6 financial year. A further £200,000 extra in funding will be made available in the following year.

“The new health village for Sudbury is an important priority for the PCT, and so we have sourced an extra £1.2 million funding for its development,” said Tony Ranzetta, PCT chief executive. “This indicates our commitment to the project and our determination to see that the people of Sudbury receive the first-class healthcare to which they are entitled.”

Suffolk West PCT approved the OBC at their Board meeting today (23/6/03). The updated OBC will go for final approval to the Strategic Health Authority Board on 31 July.

“We are as confident as it is possible to be that the OBC will be approved and that we can make progress,” said Trust chief executive John Parkes.

As an interim measure in order to ensure that the services that continue to be provided in Sudbury are safe and effective, the Trust will close St Leonard's Hospital by the end of September and reprovide those services on the Walnuttree Hospital site.

“This is a particularly important move as the X-ray equipment at St Leonards is very old, and this means we can look at the provision of a mobile unit,” said John Parkes. “We will also take the opportunity to reduce the number of beds in Walnuttree Hospital to the number planned for the new health village. This will allow us to make necessary improvements to patient safety and the environment over the next three years to ensure that the facilities in Walnuttree support the delivery of high quality healthcare.”