14 November 2014. CSH Surrey has agreed with Surrey Downs Clinical Commissioning Group to temporarily relocate its 15 inpatient beds from Leatherhead Community Hospital from 1st December until at least the end of March 2015.
Ten of the beds will be accommodated at Dorking Community Hospital while five will be at New Epsom and Ewell Community Hospital (NEECH).
Both of these hospitals are located within 4-6 miles of Leatherhead Community Hospital. They have both recently undergone refurbishment (NEECH is re-opening on 15th November) and offer dementia-friendly, modern facilities.
Tricia McGregor, Managing Director at CSH Surrey said: “This decision means patients can be cared for by predominantly permanent nursing teams rather than the wards having to rely on high levels of agency staff during a challenging period for recruitment – thus ensuring we can continue to provide high quality and safe care.
“We expect all patients to have been discharged from Leatherhead Community Hospital in advance of 1st December so will be moving beds rather than patients. I’d like to reassure patients that they will continue to experience the highest standards of quality of care.”
The decision means that people living within the three main Surrey Downs localities will still have access to a local community hospital: Molesey Community Hospital will continue to serve people living in the Elmbridge area, Dorking Community Hospital will continue to support those in Mole Valley, and NEECH will continue to serve Epsom’s local population.
The decision also means patients being discharged from the three local acute hospitals (Kingston, SASH and Epsom) also retain access to a local community hospital
Nurse recruitment is an issue across the NHS, locally and nationally, and is a particular challenge when running small hospitals with just 12-15 beds, and when running four that are located within an eight mile radius of each other. Recruitment challenges have led to higher than acceptable levels of agency staff having to be used. Long term use of high proportions of agency staff can create risks associated with patient safety and quality of care, and is also unnecessarily expensive
Combining the community beds onto three sites means patients will benefit from ward teams staffed by predominantly permanent teams – with the associated benefits of higher quality and safer care provided by stable teams
The 15 beds will remain at Dorking and NEECH community hospitals while Surrey Downs CCG conducts its review into the provision of community beds in the mid Surrey area. CSH Surrey welcomes this review and looks forward to working closely with the CCG on this.
Miles Freeman, Chief Officer at Surrey Downs Clinical Commissioning Group said:
“Surrey Downs Clinical Commissioning Group supports the movement of these beds at this time to ensure that patients continue to receive the care they need, in a safe and timely manner. We understand that recruitment is an issue in some CCG areas; especially where there are a number of community sites. As part of our commitment to improving community services, we feel that good quality care must be maintained. Therefore, we will be undertaking a complete review of our community beds and will work with patients and the local community as part of this.”
Mike Rich, CEO at Healthwatch Surrey said: "We recognise that the recruitment of suitable permanent staff is a real issue in many areas of Surrey. High standards of care and patient safety are paramount, especially in the winter months ahead. As such, we understand the reason for this decision and support CSH Surrey. We look forward to a review of the situation come spring and Healthwatch Surrey will be active in ensuring that the needs and opinions of patients and other stakeholders are taken fully into account in any decision making process."
Karin Peluso, Strategist at Save Our Surrey Community Hospitals (SOSCH) said: “We support and understand this decision by CSH Surrey entirely, and agree with the need to combine the Leatherhead Community Hospital beds to ensure high standards of patient care and safety for the winter period. The onward plan for the development of future sites with beds must be reviewed in the spring with the CCG. This must be in collaboration with the Save Our Surrey Community Hospitals and other stakeholders."
Tricia McGregor, MD at CSH concludes: "CSH Surrey is being very open about the current recruitment challenges that we (like NHS providers up and down the country) are facing. The important thing is we are not prepared to continue using high proportions of agency staff, so have put in place this temporary plan to ensure we can continue to deliver high quality and safe care for our patients over the busy winter period. I am looking forward to working with colleagues at Save our Surrey Community Hospitals, Healthwatch, the League of Friends and the CCG on the forthcoming review of community bed provision.”
CSH Surrey co-owners currently based on the ward at Leatherhead Community Hospital will relocate to Dorking Hospital or NEECH.