Agenda item

Daniel Leveson (BOB ICB Place Director, Oxfordshire); Lucy Fenton (Transformation Lead – Primary, Community & Dental Care

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust); Susannah Butt (Transformation Director-Primary, Community and Dental Care, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust); Dr Ben Riley (Executive Managing Director- Primary, Community and Dental Care, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust); have been invited to present a report providing an update on the Public Engagement Exercise around Wantage Community Hospital.

The Committee is invited to consider the report, raise any questions and AGREE any recommendations arising it may wish to make.

N.B A report detailing the recommendations of the HOSC Substantial Change Working Group is to follow and to be published as an addendum. The Committee is invited to consider this report on the Public Engagement Exercise around the future of the Hospital, and is recommended to AGREE to the following recommendations made by the Working Group:

1.    Defer the decision as to whether the closure of beds at Wantage Community Hospital constitutes a Substantial Change.

2.    Defer the decision on whether to refer to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care the matter of the closure of beds at Wantage Community Hospital.

3.    Agree an extra HOSC meeting to be scheduled in mid-January to make a final determination as to whether to make a referral to the Secretary of State is necessary in relation to the removal of beds at Wantage Community Hospital, and as to whether declare the removal of the beds as a Substantial Change.

Daniel Leveson (BOB ICB Place Director, Oxfordshire); Lucy Fenton (Transformation Lead – Primary, Community & Dental Care OH NHS Foundation Trust); Susannah Butt (Transformation Director-Primary, Community and Dental Care, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust); Dr Ben Riley (Executive Managing Director- Primary, Community and Dental Care, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust); were invited to present a report providing an update on the Public Engagement Exercise around Wantage Community Hospital.

The Committee emphasised that it was crucial that they were aware of the progress made as part of the public engagement exercise around the future services to be delivered at Wantage Community Hospital, as well as for there to be clarity on the degree to which adequate co-production had been at the heart of determining how future services at the hospital would be configured following the closure of the inpatient-beds some years ago.

The Committee sought reassurance on the degree to which viable offers were being made as to the future of the hospital’s services. It was raised and discussed that the HOSC Substantial Change Working Group had been involved in close and continuous scrutiny of the public engagement exercise, and that the working group had held monthly check-ins with Oxford Health and the ICB to be kept up to date with as well as to discuss the exercise. The Working Group had also produced a report with its own recommendations to HOSC, which had been published as an addenda to the original agenda for this meeting.

The Committee thanked Oxford Health as well as the ICB for their efforts around the co-production exercise on the hospital’s future, and outlined that this was the closest that the system had ever been previously in helping to determine which services should be delivered on the ground floor of the hospital following the closure of the inpatient beds. The Committee also thanked all stakeholder groups which also partook in the exercise.

It was also discussed that the survey that was distributed as part of the exercise had come to an end, and that verve (the independent facilitator of the exercise) were in the process of collating the findings.

It was also raised that there were three scenarios as to how future services could be delivered on the ground floor of the hospital, and that these scenarios were discussed as part of the public engagement exercise, which included:

1.    Clinic based services (tests, treatment and therapy) for planned care appointments.

2.    Community inpatient beds and the alternatives when care in people’s own homes was not possible.

3.    Urgent care (minor injury, illness and mental health issues) access needs on the same day.

The BOB ICB Place Director explained to the Committee that the NHS understood and appreciated that the community in Wantage wanted clarity on the future of the hospital’s services since the closure of the inpatient beds, and that they wished to see a resolution. It was also highlighted to the Committee that immense time, effort and resource was invested into the public engagement exercise in Wantage, and that the exercise was well worthwhile.

The Committee emphasised that it was imperative for there to be clarity on what the final offer would be in terms of what specific services would be delivered on the ground floor of the hospital. It was also stated that the offer should be made as imminently as possible, and that such an offer had to be sustainable and long-term in nature.

The Committee AGREED to the following recommendations made by the HOSC Substantial Change Working Group:

1.    Defer the decision as to whether the closure of beds at Wantage Community Hospital constitutes a Substantial Change.

2.    Defer the decision on whether to refer to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care the matter of the closure of beds at Wantage Community Hospital.

3.    Agree an Extra HOSC meeting to be scheduled in mid-January, to make a final determination as to whether to make a referral to the Secretary of State is necessary in relation to the removal of beds at Wantage Community Hospital, and as to whether to declare the removal of the beds as a Substantial Change.

The Committee agreed to the aforementioned recommendations in light of the fact that the final co-produced report that would highlight the outcomes of the public engagement exercise was yet to be finalised and published. The Committee understood that the co-produced report would form the basis of its ultimate decision on whether to declare the closure of the inpatient beds at Wantage Community Hospital as a substantial Change, as well as whether to refer this matter to the Secretary of State for Health. During its extra meeting in January, the Committee would have received the final co-produced report and would then be in a position to make its final decisions on the above.