Community Hospitals

Debate between Albert Owen and Charlie Elphicke

Wednesday 3rd September 2014 Westminster Hall

[Charlie Elphicke]

I agree. I congratulate my hon. Friend on his hard campaigning in his constituency to secure the future of his own community hospitals. I understand that the campaign has met with great success, showing how fortunate his constituents are to have such a diligent, effective Member of Parliament. He is right; community care beds are more cost-effective and reduce the pressure of bed blocking on acute hospitals, meaning that acute hospitals can do more of what they are best at and that community hospitals can do more of what they, in turn, are best at.

Community hospitals are good at creating a friendly, personal and home-like environment, well suited to older people, particularly those who suffer from dementia yet live independently; such people have better health outcomes and a lower rate of readmission following rehabilitation and recovery. Community hospitals can be localised hubs for less complex health care and can have minor injury units, diagnostic provision, clinics for various specialities and even out-patient services and day surgery, and they are more cost-effective, when compared with acute hospitals, in respect of post-acute recovery. It is hard to see why we ever went down the route of centralisation, because it cost us more money and gave us less effective care. The move to putting the community hospital back at the heart of things will be more cost-effective and will give better care and better health outcomes.

I welcome Ministers’ comments in answers to oral and written questions, as well as the comments of Mr Stevens. Ministers have recognised that community hospitals are important in improving patients’ discharge from acute hospitals and in increasing access to treatment in the community. I welcome their acceptance that community hospitals are good bases for respite, palliative and intermediate care, and step-up and step-down care close to home. Community hospitals are also strong resources for people in rural areas, who have to travel long distances to reach general hospitals. Much of what I am saying is in line with the direction of travel of Ministers. I welcome that.

An important aspect of community hospitals is as providers of recovery beds. Study after study has shown that community hospital recovery beds are effective at getting people well, meaning they are less likely to be readmitted to hospital than if they recovered in an acute hospital. Older patients are more likely to enjoy continued independent living, and a friendly home life environment is preferred by patients.

I will cite a few studies and a bit of evidence in support of what I am saying. There was a study in Bradford in 2005, a study in the midlands and the north of England in 2007, research from 2009 into patient-reported experiences and research into intermediate care in Norway in 2007, so there is a significant evidence base. In addition, the NHS Confederation recently used Department of Health evidence to conclude that closer-to-home care produced a fall of 24% in elective admissions, a 14% reduction in bed days, a 21% drop in emergency admissions, a 45% reduction in mortality and a 15% fall in visits to accident and emergency. Those are encouraging figures. Community hospitals are more cost-effective, according to a 2006 research paper published in the British Medical Journal, so there is strong evidence to back up what I have set out.

The case is made in certain quarters that it is somehow easier and possibly cheaper to have intermediate beds in nursing homes. Nursing homes play an important role in long-term care and end-of-life care, but community hospitals are more suitable for recovery, rehabilitation and continued independent living. It is in their interest to get people out, but the nature of nursing homes is that people are not expected to leave very quickly. With an ageing population, community hospitals are particularly well suited to keeping older people healthier and more well. The clinical commissioning group covering Dover and Deal, ably led by the local GP, Darren Cocker, is building on that in creating an integrated care organisation. It sees the local hospitals in Dover and Deal as essential to the success of its vision.

Moving on, let us look at how we can put the community more into community hospitals. Many community hospitals were established and funded, as colleagues will know, through public subscription by locally based community trusts before the NHS came into existence. The trusts managed effectively and the move to nationalisation and centralisation saw those hospitals taken from communities and taken over by the NHS in Whitehall. Many communities want to be given the chance to have a greater say over what happens to their local hospitals. Allowing local communities to own, lease or manage their hospitals would be a clear way to accommodate the concerns many have and enable people to have the greater say they would like to have.

Reforging the strong link that GPs had with their local hospitals is important as well. My local GPs are up for that, and I want to encourage and support them in that move. Communities should also have greater influence over the provision of health care in their areas; that would allow them to give greater priority to the needs of their specific community. I hope that Ministers will take the opportunity to promote community ownership or management of community hospitals.

In conclusion, much progress has been made on community hospitals, but more can be done. They could be embraced and put more closely at the heart of Government health care policy, and I look forward to hearing from the Minister what steps he will take in four key areas. First, what steps will he take to enable communities to have a greater say in running their local community hospitals: to own, to lease, or to manage? How can we have stronger links among GPs, GP-led clinical commissioning groups and community hospitals, as used to happen many years ago and could happen again?

What about the potential for community hospitals to be hubs for the integration of social care and the policy support that might be given for that? Finally, we need to accept that it is not always best just to drop off people at home after acute hospital treatment and that intermediate recovery beds are often a key element in the path to recovery, distinct from nursing homes, which are better suited to longer-term and end-of-life care.

[Albert Owen (in the Chair)]

Before I call Mr Jim Shannon, I say to Members that I will call the Front Benchers at 10.40 am. Seven Members have indicated in writing that they want to speak in this debate, and a couple of others have also indicated that they might wish to speak. As would be expected, those who have written in will get priority. The maths is easy: we have 55 minutes and 10 Members wishing to speak.