Department of Health written question – answered at on 8 November 2017.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions (a) NHS England or (b) NHS Improvement have had with (a) North Staffordshire and (b) Stoke-on-Trent Clinical Commissioning Groups on the future of wards at the Haywood Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent.
Decisions on configuration such as this are best made by the local National Health Service, who can assess how to meet the needs of people in their area. NHS England and NHS Improvement have issued guidance to the system that can help to support local areas in making these decisions.
For any significant system reconfiguration, the expectation is that all local parts of the system talk to the public and stakeholders regularly.
Furthermore, all significant service change is subject to a full public consultation and proposals must meet the Government’s four reconfiguration tests. These are support from clinical commissioners, clarity on the clinical evidence base, robust patient and public engagement and support for patient choice. There is additional NHS England guidance which means that proposed service reconfigurations should be tested for their impact on overall bed numbers in the area.
Yes1 person thinks so
No2 people think not
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