NHS update: what people told us and what next for urgent and emergency care

In July last year we started a big conversation with everyone who relies on, or is affected by, the way we provide urgent and emergency care services across Southport, Formby and West Lancashire. Today we published a report with in-depth analysis on what people told us.

What people said matters to them

Almost 3,000 people completed our survey, which showed strong support for the ambitions put forward in our Case for Change published last year. The message was clear that offering the best quality care and ensuring that medical safety always comes first need to stay at the top of our priorities.

More than nine in every ten people responding said they felt it was quite or very important that urgent and emergency care services:

• Are available for everyone, all day, every day (97.7%)
• Are set up in a way that can help reduce waiting lists across our local NHS (90.8%)
• Give children and young people the same access to services as adults (98.4%)

The many face-to-face conversations we had with people at our public and staff meetings, roadshow events, drop-in sessions and focus groups produced lots of ideas for how services could be organised in future.

We also learned about common concerns and what we will need to consider as we move forward. Access to services, transport links and hospital parking came up a lot. People from across our communities and from a variety of backgrounds also spoke about:

• How population changes might affect demand for services in future.
• The importance of walk-in and urgent treatment centres and providing services closer to home.
• How coordination with GPs and pharmacies can help make sure that the people who come to A&E really need to be there.

There was also a clear message across the board that both children’s and adult’s A&E services should be located together at the same hospital site.

You said, we did

Following in-depth analysis, an assessment group considered which of the options put forward could be achievable, and meet the programme’s objectives, with the resources available.

Patients, carers, and members of the public were invited to take part alongside NHS staff from the programme area and neighbouring trusts, as well as community and local authority representatives.

The group’s recommendations will be outlined in the programme’s pre-consultation business case (PCBC) which sets out the evidence we have available to us today for the remaining option(s).

Next  steps and public consultation

Before we can start the consultation, we first need to go through a series of checks with NHS England to make sure everything in the pre-consultation phase was done as it should be. All being well, we would hope to start a public consultation later this year. It will be your chance to share views on the option(s) put forward, but also to introduce new insights and perspectives, to challenge the current evidence or to highlight how circumstances may have changed. It’s part of making sure that the conversation about future services is based on all the available facts.

The need for change is pressing but it is essential that we take the time to get this right.

The team is now busy preparing consultation documents, planning events and looking at how to let everyone know what is happening and how they can take part when consultation starts. We are so grateful for your ongoing commitment to this important programme and will make sure you are among the first to know when the consultation starts.

Best wishes,

Rob Cooper

Chief executive, Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust