A partnership between Isle of Wight NHS Trust (IWT) and Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust (PHT) will improve hospital-based services for people living on the Isle of Wight, it is claimed.
The partnership will see Isle of Wight NHS Trust and the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust build on current joint working and strengthen close working relationships.
It has been agreed by the Boards of both Trusts and work has started to explore how the 2 organisations can plan together to better share expertise, ways of working and resources to improve services for local people and deliver more sustainable services for the future.
Maggie Oldham, Chief Executive at Isle of Wight NHS Trust, said:
“I am really pleased that our teams will be working even more closely together. This is good news for our patients but it is also really positive news for our staff.
“By working more closely together we will be able to continue improving our services and we will be able to better tackle some of the big issues facing us as well as the wider NHS – like recruitment, retention and working as efficiently as possible.
“This work not only helps us improve NHS services for people on the island but in time it might also mean that we can provide more of people’s care closer to home.”
Mark Cubbon, Chief Executive at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, said:
“We already have a close working relationship with the Isle of Wight NHS Trust and have been supporting services for patients who live on the Isle of Wight for many years, both on the island and in Portsmouth.
“The partnership will build on our successful joint working in a planned way, allowing the provision of more resilient services to help meet future demand and the changing needs of patients across our communities.”
The acute partnership is one of a number of partnerships being established as part of the Isle of Wight Health and Care Plan. The Plan was launched in September 2019 and sets out a shared vision across health and care to ensure sustainable, high-quality services for local people. Isle of Wight NHS Trust, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Partnership of Clinical Commissioning Groups and Isle of Wight Council are working together to change services to better meet the needs of the local community on the island. The acute partnership is one of the ways in which this positive change will be delivered.
This announcement follows news published in October 2019 that Solent NHS Trust would partner with Isle of Wight NHS Trust to continue to transform mental health services for local residents.
Isle of Wight NHS Trust has also been working in a successful partnership with South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust to support the island’s ambulance service for more than 18 months.
Maggie Oldham added:
“One of the biggest challenges our trust faces is the scale of our services, some of our hospital-based services are led by a very small number of clinicians – sometimes just one or two consultants.
“We have seen over the last few years that we can’t go it alone and that working with our neighbours is the only way that we can continue to improve the services that we provide while making sure that they are sustainable.
“Some of the biggest improvements we have seen in the last two years have come in areas where we have strong partnership arrangements, like in our ambulance, community and end of life care services. We want to build on this success and we are looking forward to working more closely with our colleagues in Portsmouth to make this happen.”
Isle of Wight MP, Bob Seely, has said:
“I welcome measures that will improve the quality of the healthcare services provided to Isle of Wight residents.
“In recent weeks I have talked to NHS staff including senior leaders, consultants and ambulance staff and I am working with them all to deliver the NHS the Isle of Wight needs.
“I have also raised the issue of Island healthcare with the Secretary of State for Health during a recent parliamentary debate and in private meetings.
“Getting NHS services right on the Isle of Wight is an absolute priority. I know NHS staff involved in delivering primary and secondary care on the Island are also committed to ensuring island patients receive the very best care.
“I will be speaking to the management team about this and other issues in the near future.”
Will this mean that operations us Islanders have to travel to mainland to be carried out will returned go the Island?
You’ve probably fallen into the trap of using the traditional interpretation of the word “improved”.
As such I think you may be in for some disappointment…
Another load of admin and cuts to island services, more island ambulances being tied up transferring patients to the mainland. NHS management haven’t got a clue.
We need the same services at St Mary’s as mainland hospitals have, not shoving appointments and operations over the Solent causing distress and financial hardship for many. Bring back the cottage hospitals for all minor treatment and use St Mary’s for emergencies and critical care. This worked before, so why not now? Oh, the usual excuse, MONEY! Hospitals are not for profit but for the population of the area covered to receive the best care possible, also it is about time that the understaffed and overworked nurses, doctors, technicians, and ambulance staff were helped with improved working conditions and hours, and increased numbers of staff so the NHS services can provide for the population of the island. So Mr Seely get rid of all these discussions and get the promised investment in place on the island, not the mainland!