NHS Tayside seeking views on proposals to transform surgical services

MONDAY, 3 JULY, 2017

IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

NHS Tayside seeking views on proposals to transform surgical services

Members of the public are being invited to share their views on proposals for the transformation of surgical services in Tayside.

NHS Tayside is proposing to make changes to where surgeons, doctors and nurses deliver some general surgical procedures in Tayside. The proposed changes are to ensure NHS Tayside can continue to provide sustainable, safe, high-quality surgical services into the future.

Like all health boards in Scotland, NHS Tayside is facing significant challenges including caring for an ageing population, an increasing number of people with long-term and multiple conditions, a shortage of some groups of health staff and growing demand for services.

For these reasons, NHS Tayside cannot keep delivering health services the way they have always delivered them. Services throughout NHS Tayside need to adapt to ensure they meet the current and future needs of the population.

At the moment, both elective and unscheduled surgery in Tayside is carried out at two sites, Ninewells Hospital in Dundee and Perth Royal Infirmary in Perth. Stracathro Hospital in Angus only does elective surgery.

The proposed transformation of surgical services will create a service that allows NHS Tayside to deliver high-quality care, balancing the number of operations that can be carried out in all three acute hospitals in Tayside with patient demand.

Surgeons, doctors, nurses and other members of the clinical team are leading this proposed change and they have explored many options of how surgery can be transformed in Tayside with other clinicians, managers, voluntary sector representatives, staff and NHS Tayside public partners.

A wide range of people were involved in reviewing the pros and cons of each option put forward by the clinical teams. The preferred option was then presented to the Board of NHS Tayside who agreed that the public should be consulted on the following proposal:

    • There will continue to be three surgical units across Tayside at Ninewells, Perth Royal Infirmary and Stracathro Hospital.

    • All unscheduled surgery should come to Ninewells Hospital 24-hours a-day.

    • An increase in the number of elective surgery patients at Perth Royal Infirmary to develop PRI as a centre for excellence for elective surgery.

    • An increase in the number of day case and minor elective surgery patients at Stracathro

The proposals would mean that all patients in Tayside can access the most appropriate facilities for their elective surgery.

They also mean that more Perth & Kinross elective patients would be treated closer to home at PRI and there would be an enhancement of critical in the hospital to deal with an increase in major elective surgery.

Launching the public consultation, NHS Tayside Consultant in Vascular Surgery Professor Peter Stonebridge said, “To make sure we can meet the needs of our patients across the whole of Tayside, now and in the future, we know we have to make changes to the way surgical services in Tayside are delivered.

“Patient safety and high quality care are our top priorities. The proposed transformation of surgical services will create a sustainable service that allows us to deliver this level of care to our patients.

“We would encourage members of the public to take part in the consultation and share their views on the proposed future model for surgical services in Tayside.”

The public consultation on the proposals for surgical services will run from today (Monday, 3 July) to 3 October.

During the consultation, the shaping surgical services programme will be gathering views and feedback on the preferred option from service users, carers, staff, members of the public and other interested stakeholders.

All stakeholder views will be included in a final report with recommendations for the new service model, which will be presented back to the NHS Tayside Board for a final decision.

Information about the consultation is available at www.nhstayside.scot.nhs.uk where the public will be able to find out more about the proposals and complete an online questionnaire from today (3 July).

Public engagement events have also been arranged to give everyone the chance to have their say:

    Wednesday, 13 September, 2pm-7pm, Stracathro Outpatient Department, Stracathro Hospital (2pm-4pm drop-in, 5pm-7pm presentation)

    Monday, 18 September, 5pm-7pm, Pitlochry (venue to be confirmed)

    Thursday, 21 September, 5pm-7pm, Perth & Kinross Council Chambers room, 2 High Street, Perth

    Tuesday, 26 September, (2pm-4pm drop-in, 5pm-7pm presentation), Ninewells Hospital

Contact:

NHS Tayside Communications

(01382) 424138

3 July 2017