Public consultation events for transformation of surgical services in Tayside

TUESDAY, 12 SEPTEMBER, 2017

IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Public consultation events for transformation of surgical services in Tayside

Members of the public, patients, carers and relatives are encouraged to attend public engagement events to share their views as part of the consultation on proposals for the transformation of surgical services in Tayside.

Since the consultation began on 3 July, people across the region have been sharing their views on proposals 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.

The following public engagement events have been arranged to give everyone the chance to have their say:

    • Wednesday, 13 September, 2pm - 4pm (drop in) at Stracathro Outpatient Department, Stracathro Hospital, 5pm-7pm (presentation) at Learning and Development Centre, Stracathro Hospital 

    • Monday, 18 September, 3pm - 5pm, (presentation) and 5.30pm - 7pm (presentation) at Pitlochry Town Hall (Please note time change due to public feedback on availability)

    • Thursday, 21 September, 5pm-7pm, (presentation) Perth and Kinross Council City Chambers, 2 High Street, Perth

    • Tuesday, 26 September, 2pm-4pm (drop-in), Ninewells Hospital main concourse and 5pm-7pm (presentation) at Gannochy Lecture Theatre, Ninewells Hospital

As part of the consultation process, public feedback is continually reviewed and following comments from stakeholders on availability, the engagement event at Pitlochry Town Hall has now been extended to run twice from 3pm –5pm and again between 5.30pm and 7pm to allow people to attend in the evening.

Further information stands about the consultation and how to get involved will also be displayed at community hospitals across Tayside.

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 carries out 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.

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

The public consultation on the proposals for surgical services will run until Tuesday, 3 October 2017, during which time the programme team is gathering views and feedback from service users, carers, staff and members of the public.

NHS Tayside Associate Medical Director for Surgery Peter Stonebridge said, “People across Tayside have already given us valuable feedback and we hope that people will continue to share their views on the proposed future model for surgical services in Tayside by coming along to the public engagement events.”

Information about the consultation is available at www.nhstayside.scot.nhs.uk where the public can find out more about the proposals and complete an online questionnaire.

Contact:

NHS Tayside Communications

(01382) 424138

12 September 2017