New hospital on the cards? (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

New hospital on the cards?

Nick WestbrookA MAJOR shake-up of west Wiltshire's health care is being considered as a cash-strapped health trust aims to improve services.

A new hospital incorporating a diagnostic treatment centre could be on the way to bridge the gap between the community hospitals in west Wiltshire and the Royal United Hospital, Bath.

Once a full discussion has taken place, the trust will decide what the future holds for all the community hospitals in the region.

Together the North Wilts and Kennet Primary Care Trust and the West Wilts PCT are £10m in the red and are undertaking a review of all health services.

A new hospital could provide diagnostic stroke treatment, maternity and rehabilitation units, although no details have been confirmed.

Nick Westbrook, chief executive of the Health Advocacy Partnership, which looks after all the Patient Public Forums, said a new centre could possibly be built somewhere along the A350, to be close to Chippenham, Devizes, Westbury and Melksham.

Carol Clarke, the joint chief executive of West Wiltshire and Kennet and North Wiltshire Primary Care Trusts, said last week that health care is not just about bricks and mortar.

She said: "We should be challenging all our community to provide better health care over the next 10 to 15 years.

"We have to be brave enough to move forward and not simply dig our heels in and refuse to change."

Mr Westbrook said things had to change.

He said: "We are saying some services could be provided through this type of approach, which would be somewhere between a community hospital and a district general."

He said the partnership and PCTs were meeting today to explore the options, adding: "What you need to do is take into consideration all that is being said in various papers coming out of all the trust summaries and public meetings.

"Services might not be under threat, some of them may be improved."

Mr Westbrook said people needed to be more aware of what was happening to enable a more informed discussion.

"The way they have tried to handle health care in the past is to put sticking plasters on a cut when in reality the body is covered in bedsores.

"It is interesting because the government has said it will fund this type of hospital all around the country.

"So we are more likely to get funding for that than a full-blown district general.

"At the moment nobody is saying yes or no, but let's talk about the services.

Mr Westbrook agreed with Mrs Clarke that the future of the health service is not just about community hospitals but about looking at the bigger picture and determining how services can best be delivered.

"We need to have a clear timetable and people need to be assured they are not going to lose services unless they get something better."

A spokesman for the PCT said there were no definite plans for a diagnostic unit but that it was a possible option.

She said: "If it was thought there was a need, that would be one of the proposals.

"There are no definite plans at the moment, everything is in the melting pot while we undertake the public consultation."