The Isle of Wight NHS Trust has confirmed that it will be looking at whether or not it is safe to continue providing some acute services on the Isle of Wight as it struggles to maintain acceptable standards and staffing levels.
This week the Labour party have claimed that acute services other than Accident and Emergency and Maternity could be taken off the Island as part of the Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP).
A total of 5 options have been put on the table, the worst case being that the majority of acute services cease to operate on the Isle of Wight. It is unclear at this stage what addition arrangements would be put in place to transport patients across the Solent if the plan was to go ahead.
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Julian Critchley of the Isle of Wight Labour Party has said:
“Islanders should be appalled to learn of plans to strip all but A&E and maternity services from St Mary’s. This puts lives at risk, as well as forcing sick and vulnerable people to travel to the mainland away from their families. It’s disgraceful it’s even being considered.”
Steve Parker, Clinical Lead for the Acute Service Redesign programme, has said:
“Through our Acute Service Redesign work, clinical experts are currently reviewing several different options to ensure hospital based services provide safe, good quality and affordable care for people now and in the future. We are absolutely committed to the continued improvement of the Island’s hospital services and making sure Islanders can achieve health outcomes that are equal to any that might be experienced by NHS patients across the country.
“In some acute services, treating our most seriously ill patients, where we are finding it difficult to maintain acceptable standards and staffing levels, this will include assessing whether it will be safe to continue providing those services on the Isle of Wight in the future. However, as a point of principle, we remain committed to retaining as much of our clinical activity here on Island as possible to minimise travel for Islanders.
Article continues below this advertisement “The Clinical Commissioning Group will be reviewing the work to date at its meeting in public on 1st February. No decisions have been made and there remains a significant amount of work to do over the course of this year to explore this further and we will continue to engage with and involve the public during this process.”
