25/1/2007
Your Letters
NHS experts must give us realistic options for futureI was interested to read the report under the headline ‘Royal Surrey closure plan prepared’.
As a public governor of Frimley Park Hospital for Rushmoor and an A&E patient at the Royal Surrey County Hospital only last month, I would object strongly to any proposal to close any hospital in our area. Of course, Surrey Primary Care Trust (PCT) has a responsibility to consider all options, but is also committed to full public consultation, and there is no way that closure of any hospital would be acceptable.
However, with advances in clinical practice and equipment, we should always be prepared to look at how best to improve NHS services locally. I therefore support the approach of Ed Palfrey, medical director at Frimley Park Hospital, who has said: “We simply want to provide the best medical care in the most appropriate place for our patients. This may mean care closer to home but it is also ensuring timely access to the most specialist life-saving treatments, which may not necessarily be at the nearest physical location.”
He went on to add: “No district general hospital is able to offer everything now. Advances in medical care and technology mean that, if we want our patients to receive the very best and most up-to-date treatments from specialists in their relevant fields, we have to concentrate some of these activities together.”
Surrey PCT’s reconfiguration options should therefore be based on the best clinical case for service improvements that is sustainable financially. Although that may mean that there would no longer be a full A&E department at Royal Surrey, there would be an Urgent Care Centre, with the most serious cases going to Frimley Park. To cope with the extra pressure, Frimley Park would need to expand its A&E facilities. The extra pressure on Frimley Park A&E could be relieved to some extent if there was a Minor Injuries Unit at the new Aldershot Centre for Health.
That seems the best way forward. But it is for the clinical experts and the financial directors to prepare realistic options so that we have sound proposals to consider in the public consultation in the next few months.
Alex Crawford
Cargate Avenue
Aldershot
First printed in:
Aldershot News and Mail
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