Hospital's Pleas for Change of Course over Downgrade Ignored

Mayor Dave Hodgson has slammed the decision by NHS Commissioners to pursue plans to downgrade Bedford or Milton Keynes Hospital despite a plea from Bedford Hospital itself to drop the proposals and take a different approach.

In a response to the Progress Report of the £3.2 million 'Your Health in Bedfordshire' review which was amongst papers considered by Bedfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group's Board meeting last week, Bedford Hospital delivered a damning verdict on the plans for the future of the two hospitals, including:

- the conclusion on the future of the two hospitals was arrived at 'too quickly'

- "A good deal of the analysis by McKinsey behind the assumptions is at times flawed for example, the quality of current service was not considered as part of the decision making criteria"

- A challenge to the need for a joint approach with Milton Keynes

- "There remains huge cynicism amongst the senior clinicians in the hospital about the perceived intent of the Bedford and Milton Keynes Review"

- The review with options as proposed "certainly does not have any local stakeholder support."

- An appeal to the CCG to pursue a different path - the proposed options of 2b and 4 are "not supported by local stakeholders"

- Proposal of an alternative approach to achieving the changes required for the future.

Despite receiving such an unequivocal verdict on the plans from the hospital itself alongside other stakeholders, the CCG resolved to accept the recommendations of the review, which include the conclusion that either Bedford or Milton Keynes Hospital will be downgraded to an 'Integrated Care Centre.'

Commenting, Mayor Dave Hodgson said: "Bedford Hospital has dismantled the review's flimsy case for its proposals, which will cut emergency care at either Bedford or Milton Keynes Hospital.

"The Commissioners have now been told in no uncertain terms by the Hospital itself that this £3.2 million review has got it wrong, and must change its approach.

"Yet they have completely ignored this plea and are ploughing on with these damaging plans for a hospital downgrade either here or in Milton Keynes. The fact that they made this decision against an ongoing backdrop of an A&E capacity crisis here and in nearby hospitals shows just how wrong-headed their plans to cut emergency care are."

The decision by the CCG to accept the review's recommendations came while frontline staff continued to deal with an ongoing capacity crisis in A&E, and in the week in which national performance figures on A&E waiting times revealed that Bedford Hospital was one of a small minority which had met the target of admitting 95% of patients to A&E within four hours, prior to the recent national capacity crisis.