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Foundation Trust Hospital Status for Sandwell?
At our SVI members meeting on the 19 March Jeanette and Tim from the NHS told us about the proposal to seek Foundation status for Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust. This is a summary of their talk.
NHS Foundation Trusts remain part of the NHS and are subject to the same standards as all other NHS Trusts. At the same time they are run locally and are more clearly accountable to their patients and the public.
NHS Foundation Trusts work closely with their local communities to develop their services. Local people can become members who elect representatives to act as Governors of the Trust.
You can become a member of the Trust (about 5,000 are being sought). Membership offers exciting opportunities for the Trust to work much more closely with local people in developing relevant services. You can become involved to the extent you wish - from keeping updated about activities, to standing for election to the Council of Governors.
You can get a membership form from the Foundation Office on 0800 023 4267 or email foundation@swbh.nhs.uk or download from their website - www.swbh.nhs.uk. There's audio information about the consultation on the website too.
A lively debate followed. Here are some of the questions raised and statements made by SVI members on experience of current practice.
Saeed commented;
The PCT has undertaken to implement 'inclusive' treatment through its Disability Equality Scheme. If practiced, even at front-line level, visually impaired people would feel real benefit when accessing health services.
Confidence would be raised if it was felt that the needs of visually impaired people are taken seriously when using NHS services. Awareness training is important to ensure we are treated with dignity and respect.
People with disability should be given equality of representation on the boards of foundation hospitals.The opportunity should not be missed to address the inequalities, evidenced by the current lack of representation by disabled people.
At the planning stage, ensure the active engagement of disabled people; meeting their needs must not be an afterthought.
Jean writes;
‘One of the points which Tim made was that many clinics were being moved from the hospital sites into community based clinics either in special centres or designated GP surgeries.
My question was;
with clinics being moved from hospital sites how many people were consultants going to be able to see, as against the numbers they see in the larger hospital based clinics. Surely this will be less? Some areas of health do not have enough consultants as it is, ie neurology’.
Tim’s reply;
‘Long term illnesses such as diabetes and some heart conditions, where participation numbers are high, can be managed, with greater convenience to the person being served, from smaller community based clinics. Other long term conditions requiring very expensive specialist equipment serving patients drawn from over a larger area will need to remain in the current large hospitals’.
Jean’s comments over all;
Tim gave a short talk, enabling time for more questions. However there was much that was not covered. For example; there has been a large decrease in the number of acute beds. There is a big build of new houses going on which will bring more people into the trusts catchment area. How has this been taken into account?
Some land, on the City Hospital site, is being sold off. How will this affect services? My fear is that they are saying the public want services nearer to their homes, but is this going to lead to a depletion of provision of services?
Editors note; There’s plenty of food for thought here. No doubt Jean will become a member of the Foundation Trust to ensure her voice is heard. Have your say by joining her and making the Foundation Trust work for you. There’s a membership application form on the Sandwell and West Birmingham Health Authority's website.
Back to information about our open meeting