Agenda and minutes

(1)       Mr Wickenden informed the Committee that some Members of the Task and Finish Group looking at the reconfiguration of Women’s and Children’s services by Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust had visited the new Pembury Hospital.  He was aware that other Members of the Committee would also to visit the Hospital and he would contact Mr Douglas to arrange this.

(2)       RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 27 November 2009 are correctly recorded and that they be signed by the Chairman.

(Further Papers to Follow)

Mr Dawson (Head of Development and Public Protection, Dover District Council), Ms Donovan (Planning and Communications Manager, Environment Agency), Ms Harrison (Director of Assurance and Strategic Development, NHS Eastern and Coastal Kent), Mr Ingleton (Head of Regeneration, Dover District Council), Mr Morley (Associate Director of Estates, East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (EKHUFT), Caren Swift, Director of Strategic Development, (EKHUF),and Mr Tutton (LINk) were present for this item.

(1)       The Chairman invited Ms Harrison to give the Committee a brief update on progress since this matter was considered at the meeting on 30 October 2009.

(2)       Ms Harrison referred to papers circulated with the agenda which showed the outcomes of stakeholder events.  These outcomes had been considered by the Primary Care Trust (PCT) Board in November 2009. At this meeting the PCT Board had considered the three original sites, Buckland, Whitfield and mid town and also two further sites, Buckland Hospital and Charlton Green.  The Board considered all of these sites and resolved at this stage to rule out the mid town site, because of flood risk, and the two newer sites as they did not have any significant advantages.  The PCT Board requested the business case from East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (EKHUFT) for these two sites before making a decision. Ms Harrison confirmed that the PCT’s priority was to deliver the most affordable and rapidly deliverable option.  The business case from the EKHUFT was considered at the PCT Board on 27 January 2010 where it was decided to develop a full business case for the Buckland hospital site.

(2)       Mr Tolputt asked whether the Buckland Hospital site had adequate land available for expansion, and what impact there would be on services at  Buckland Hospital whilst the site was being developed.  Mr Morley replied that there was extensive land available at the Buckland Hospital site and that none had been sold to a third party.  He explained that the new Hospital would be built on the existing car park and therefore at no point would the development of the site adversely affect services.

(3)       Mr G Prosser, MP was invited to speak. He explained that his consistent position was that what Dover wanted was a local community hospital that was deliverable, affordable and which could be developed quickly.   He expressed his respect for those in Dover who supported and campaigned for their favourite site option and acknowledged that many of those, including Mr Hansell,  had been critical of the mid town site which had been supported by many including Dover District Council and himself.  However, the flood issue prevented the use of the mid town site - in time it might have been possible to ameliorate the effects of flooding but not within the timescale necessary for the development of the hospital.   He stated that the Buckland Hospital site was in the ownership of the Hospital Trust, there was additional land available on the site, and it did not have an issue with flooding.  The issue  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

(Further Papers to Follow)

Mr Roche, Medical Director (South East Coast Strategic Health Authority). Ms  Evans, Head of Business Planning and Strategy,  and Mr Reynolds, Head of Business Development,(South East Coast Ambulance Trust were present for this item.

(1)       The Chairman welcomed health colleagues to the meeting and invited them to introduce each of the care pathway areas and to answer questions from Members.

Cardiac

Dr Mishra, Clinical Lead Cardiology and Ms Andrews CBE, Director of Nurses and Director of Infection Prevention and Control, Ms Hiscox - Lead Commissioner Cardiovascular (NHS Eastern and Coastal Kent), Mr Wheat, Director of the Cardiac Network, Ms Stewart, Senior Service Improvement Project Manager ( Kent Cardiovascular Network) and Mr  Lawson, Patient Representative were present.  

(2)       Mr Wheat set out the current treatment pathway for a suspected heart attack following a 999 call.  He referred to the new treatment which was being rolled out nationally which would reduce admission time for patients. 

(3)       Dr Mishra stated that the way that heart attacks were treated was changing, nationally 47% of people who had heart attacks had primary angioplasty compared to 6% in Kent it had taken time to get this service developed.  It was hoped that by April 2010 Kent would have 100% of heart attack patients going to the Heart Centre and having balloon angioplasty rather than drug therapy.

(4)       Mr Daley commended the upward trend in good outcomes and asked if there were plans for angioplasty to be carried out more locally in east Kent.   

(5)       Mr Wheat explained that over the past 5 years five cardiac catheter laboratories had been opened at various locations across Kent and Medway so that patients could be treated closer to home. The first was at the William Harvey Hospital, Ashford in 2004 and the latest had opened in Maidstone at the end of 2008. 

(6)       Dr Mishra stated that the reason it had been decided to concentrate on one Heart Centre was the need to have a certain number of patients coming through to maintain the expertise both for the unit and the operators.   It had been decided to base this at Ashford as it was the first cardiac catheter laboratory and therefore had a high volume of patients.  In future if it was found that there is a high enough demand consideration would be given to locating a second centre in East Kent.

(7)       In response to a question from Mr Smith, Mr Wheat explained that whenever he designed a care pathway he argued that decisions regarding where a patient was taken for treatment was for the clinician from the ambulance service who was with patent.

(8)       Mr Tolputt asked whether all ambulance staff were now trained in administering thrombolytic drugs.   Mr Reynolds explained that the care pathway had moved away from using thrombotic drugs and now a paramedic would attend all 999 calls for heart pain, even if they were not the first to attend, and following an ECG would decide if it  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

It was noted that the substantive item for this meeting would be Women’s and Children’s Services in Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.