Super unit ‘not a threat’

May 12 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal

HEALTH chiefs pledged yesterday that plans to build a pioneering, £50m super-casualty unit for Northumberland and North Tyneside are not a threat to services at two existing acute hospitals.

Last summer Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust revealed proposals for the emergency care centre – believed to be the first of its kind in the country – for seriously ill or injured patients at a site in the Cramlington/Dudley area.

Now it has acted to quash rumours that the groundbreaking ‘blue light’ facility could have serious implications for services at Wansbeck General Hospital in Ashington and North Tyneside General.

It has even been suggested recently that the two hospitals could close with a new ‘super hospital’ developed on the site of the emergency care centre, meaning extra travelling distance for patients in Hexham, Berwick and Alnwick.

Yesterday trust officials said the new centre would not threaten the future of either hospital, and was intended to improve emergency care by taking the pressure off existing A&E departments at Ashington and Rake Lane.

It has been suggested that the new care centre could be built near the Moor Farm roundabout and will have an A&E unit, several operating theatres and more than 200 beds.

Yesterday a trust spokeswoman said: “The new centre will be in addition to our existing hospitals, offering a specialist emergency care service to severely ill or injured patients. A business case will go to our June board meeting and will look at sites, funding and the number of beds needed.

“We will not be closing any of our hospitals. We are in the process of redeveloping our community hospitals and we are carrying out a £2m refurbishment of wards at North Tyneside at the moment.

“In future the sickest patients requiring very specialist treatment will be treated in the new centre, before transfer back to their local hospital.

“Those patients with less severe problems will continue to be able to go to Wansbeck or North Tyneside. However, they will receive a much improved, quicker service as they will not have to wait while an emergency is dealt with.”

The trust has the busiest A&E departments in the North-East with 175,000 attendances each year divided between its North Tyneside, Wansbeck and Hexham hospitals. Doctors believe treating seriously ill patients under one roof at a purpose-built, state-of-the-art hospital with a pool of top specialists will give a higher quality and sustainable service.

Wansbeck MP Denis Murphy said he initially had concerns about the potential implications of the proposed centre for A&E units in Ashington and North Tyne- side, but had been assured by the trust that they would be unaffected.

“I am actually quite excited about this proposal, but we need to be very vigilant and ensure that it doesn’t harm the services we already have,” he added.