Agenda item

The report notifies the Board of a report to Cabinet that requested that Cabinet agree a response to the public consultation on the proposed reconfiguration of Kent and Medway Hyper Acute and Acute Stroke Services. The report also invites the Board to consider whether it wishes to support the Cabinet response.

Discussion

A report to Cabinet had requested a Cabinet response to the public consultation on the proposed reconfiguration of Kent and Medway Hyper acute and acute stroke services. The proposals were currently out to public consultation, with the deadline for responses having recently been extended from 13 to 20 April. This had provided the Health and Wellbeing Board with the opportunity to formally respond to the consultation.

The consultation proposed five possible options for the location of three stroke units in Kent and Medway. Cabinet had agreed to support option D, which would see units located at Tunbridge Wells, Medway Maritime and William Harvey hospitals. The Board was asked to note the Cabinet response and consider whether it wished to formally support the Cabinet response or to provide additional comments.

A Board Member said that they were happy to support the recommendations and that they would strongly favour option D. The Member noted that a number of Members had spoken in support of this option. The need to have centres of excellence in order to improve care was well recognised and it had been evidenced that these centres would lead to better outcomes for patients across Kent and Medway.

A Member expressed their support for the proposed three centres of excellence. There was a clear case for Medway to host one of the three centres as Medway had the largest urban area in the south east outside London. The health needs and demographics of the Medway population also made them at more risk of stroke than those in some other parts of Kent. In addition, Medway Hospital already hosted stroke services. Option D would maximise the number of patients in Kent and Medway living within 30 minutes of one of the three proposed hyper acute stroke units.

Another Member agreed with the principle of creating centres of excellence and said that option D would provide good outcomes for Medway residents. The challenge would be persuading the public that this was the best approach. The Member also felt the consultation process had been good and that the consultation document was clear.

It was confirmed that following public engagement, Healthwatch Medway would be supporting option D.

The Clinical Chair of Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) explained that Medway CCG, along with other CCGs across Kent, Medway and Bexley were due to hold a joint meeting that would make a decision on which option to support. This would subsequently be presented to the Kent, Medway, Bexley and East Sussex Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee. As Medway CCG was directly involved in the decision making process and had not yet seen any of the consultation responses, it would not be able to support any one option at this stage.

Decision

The Health and Wellbeing Board:

i)     Noted the Cabinet response to the public consultation on the proposed reconfiguration of the Kent and Medway Hyper Acute and Acute Stroke Services.

ii)    Formally supported the Cabinet response to the consultation, which had supported consultation option D (Tunbridge Wells, Medway Maritime and William Harvey hospitals), with the exception of the Medway Clinical Commissioning Group Member of the Board present, who was unable to express support for any option at this stage.

iii)  Agreed to delegate authority to the Director of Children and Adults Services, in consultation with the Chairman of the Board, to submit the Board’s response to the consultation.

iv)  Agreed to advise the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee comprising membership of Kent County Council, Medway Council, East Sussex County Council and the London Borough of Bexley of its response to the consultation.