In a bid to improve the patient experience and improve health outcomes, the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group has decided that Royal Bournemouth Hospital should be the main Accident and Emergency centre and that Poole Hospital should be classified as an Urgent Care centre.
NHS England has taken advice from a clinical senate covering the Wessex area and approved the change. As the next step, there will be a 12-week public consultation period, perhaps starting in September. If the local Dorset CCG can then secure the additional investment needed, the change will go ahead.
Local consultants will ensure that the local Accident and Emergency centres work more closely together. The vast majority of people who turn up to A&E in Poole do so under their own steam would still be treated in Poole, which will remain open 24/7 with networked consultant support from across Dorset.
If an ambulance collects a patient, the first step is to stabilise the patient, then to decide which emergency centre to go to, which will not necessarily be the closest hospital. For example, at present:
- Someone with serious burns goes to Salisbury
- Someone with serious brain injury or trauma goes to Southampton
- Seriously ill children also go to Southampton.
The proposed changes will mean that the more severe accidents will go to the emergency team at Royal Bournemouth unless they require more specialist treatment. Services will move from Poole to Royal Bournemouth and from Royal Bournemouth to Poole, and Poole will become the main centre for planned surgery.
A planned investment of a further £60 million in Poole Hospital will ensure that it remains world class.
The point of the reforms is to improve the patient experience and improve health outcomes. If all goes well, patient outcomes will be better and chances of survival for accident victims in South East Dorset will be higher.
Attached below: Letter from Robert Syms, MP for Poole, on the proposed changes.
"I was hugely impressed by the quality of our A&E service after my recent accident"
— Peter Adams
A few weeks ago, Poole Conservatives chairman and Oakdale councillor Peter Adams had a fall and injured his shoulder. He was taken to Poole Hospital, expertly diagnosed and treated, and on his way home again with his shoulder in plaster after a couple of hours. All along, he says, the service has been fantastic. Thanks to our wonderful NHS, he is now well on the way to a full recovery.