Issue - meetings

Rose Gibb, Chief Executive of Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust and Steve Phoenix, Chief Executive of West Kent PCT, Dr Jeremy Mayhew, Medical Director and Paul Barratt, General Manager (South) from South East Coast Ambulance Service and Paul Skinner, Clinical Director – Orthopaedics and Philip Bentley, Clinical Director – Surgery from Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust were in attendance for the item, along with surgeon, physician and nursing colleagues from the Trust.

(1)       The Committee had before them a briefing note setting out the Trust’s proposals for changes to surgical and orthopaedic care, and the reasons for the proposals – together with objections, representations and views received from: County Councillors whose constituents looked to the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust for their hospital services; the County Council; East Sussex County Council; Borough and District Council colleagues; Parish Councils; and other stakeholders. 

(2)       Attached as an Appendix to these Minutes is a copy of the presentation made by the Chief Executive of West Kent Primary Care Trust, the Chief Executive and colleagues of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.

(3)       By way of introduction, Mr Phoenix made it clear to the Committee that the presentation they were about to receive was being clinically led – because that was appropriate and was how the consultation had been handled by the acute Trust and the Primary Care Trust.

(4)       He indicated that the West Kent Primary Care Trust Board would consider all responses to the consultation and make a decision at its meeting on 22 February 2007.

(5)       Rose Gibb, Chief Executive of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust – accompanied by a team including clinicians and representatives of the South East Coast Ambulance Service – made a presentation to the Committee on the Trust’s proposals. 

(6)       Ms Gibb indicated that the issues being addressed in the Trust’s proposals for change to surgical and orthopaedic care were extremely complex and were highly emotive.  She did not underestimate how difficult it was to set aside emotion and personal opinion.  The proposals before the Committee were all about providing health services which were clinically safe and meeting national standards.

(7)       Ms Gibb reminded the Committee that the proposals were to create a specialist centre for complex and cancer surgery by:-

(a)       centralising all inpatient emergency orthopaedic surgery and emergency general surgery operations at the Kent and Sussex Hospital, Tunbridge Wells, supporting day-care and 23-hour care;  and

(b)       centralising complex inpatient elective surgery at Maidstone Hospital, supporting complex cancer surgery, day-care and 23-hour care.

(8)       Ms Gibb said the reasons why change was necessary were as follows:-

(a)       to improve standards of care;

(b)       to ensure patients saw the right specialist every time;

(c)        to support training with good supervision and sustained development of specialist skills, e.g. stomach surgery;

(d)       to create safe modern trauma services, covered by specialists 24-hours-a-day;

(e)       to cancel fewer operations; 

(f)         to reduce risk of cross-infection, among elective patients in particular;

(g)       to better use staff skills;

(h)        to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4