St Helier Hospital

Paul Burstow Excerpts

Monday 10th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Jane Ellison]

The trust has announced its intentions, and a proper process will be followed. I am trying to make the point that it is wrong to suggest that there are no plans to invest in and enhance services at St Helier. That process will be followed and we will respond in due course. That is my understanding of the trust’s plans and it wants to progress with them.

[Paul Burstow (Sutton and Cheam) (LD)]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh) for calling for this debate. Will the Minister use her good offices to ask the trust to set out very clearly to all hon. Members representing constituencies with an interest in St Helier its plans and the timeline for this capital investment?

[Jane Ellison]

That is an entirely reasonable request and I will, of course, convey it to the trust following this debate.

The local CCGs have listened to feedback from local people and they have now told us that they want to look at local health services in a more holistic way. Although they have decided against proceeding with BSBV, the local CCGs have unanimously supported the clinical case for change in south-west London and propose to use the detailed analysis provided by that exercise to plan their future strategy. I accept that that is a broad-brush explanation and that we have yet to see the detail, but that is essentially the direction of travel. Obviously we are not as far forward as we would have wanted to be after all the consideration given to the issue over the past few years.

The CCGs have also made it clear that if they do not address the challenges identified under BSBV or, at a national level, those in NHS England’s “Call to Action”, local services might decline in quality and not be able to meet the required safety standards. The CCGs have agreed that all future hospital services should be commissioned against the London quality standards and that all hospitals must provide seven-day-a-week, consultant-led services.

I referred earlier to events overtaking the BSBV programme, and the CCGs need to take into consideration some of the more recent developments, not least Sir Bruce Keogh’s review of urgent and emergency care. We need to look at the whole of the south-west London health economy in the light of those new expectations, particularly that for seven-day-a-week, consultant-led services. That is a challenge right across the NHS, not least for those of us in south-west London. Hospitals are expected to comply fully with the recommendations set out in the Keogh review and, of course, to be financially sustainable.

Should the outcome of discussions mean major changes at any trust in south-west London, proposals will, of course, be subject to public consultation. Most importantly, the local NHS has stated that it will involve local people in the work to develop these new solutions to the longer-term challenges faced by the NHS in the area.

As well as involving local people, it is absolutely essential to involve local Members of Parliament. I take the point made by the right hon. Gentleman in his intervention. Whenever I meet representatives of NHS London, as I do from time to time—another meeting is in the diary—I always stress the importance of liaising very closely with Members of Parliament so that they can best represent their constituents and make sure that they are fully in the picture about developments. For the record, I was not particularly impressed by the notice I got of BSBV not going forward, given that I have to respond in this House about it, and I have made that view clear to some of the people in my local area.

Epsom and St Helier trust has made it clear that the broad range of in-patient, out-patient and day services remains available at its two hospital sites. Local CCGs will work together—the new umbrella name is South West London Collaborative Commissioning—to develop a five-year commissioning strategy. The trust will work with its commissioners in the coming months to contribute to those plans. I understand that the trust expects to see the strategy in June, which will give it a clear idea of the future direction of local health services and its role in delivering them. As local Members of Parliament, we all expect to see the strategy at the same time.

Once a decision has been made on which services will be located at St Helier, the trust will need to revisit its original business case for the redevelopment of the site. I realise that that is frustrating, after everything that local people have campaigned on, but that is in its nature: it was only ever an outline business case. Any new or updated business case for redeveloping St Helier would initially need to be considered by the NHS Trust Development Authority, which is responsible for approving capital funding and ensuring that the repayments are affordable for the trust. As much is likely to have changed in the four years since the business case was last considered, it will probably be reviewed again by the Department of Health and the Treasury.

It is obviously essential that any options must be sustainable in the long term, both financially and, as I mentioned in relation to the Keogh review, clinically. When local consultations have taken place and have determined a sustainable service configuration for the locality and the hospital, we anticipate that requests for capital funding will be submitted to the Department of Health for consideration.

In conclusion, I urge the hon. Lady and other Members of the House to continue to represent their constituents, engage with the process and participate in future consultations. What we all want to emerge from the process is a sustainable, safe and excellent local health economy for south-west London that works to the most modern standards of care and is sustainable for the long term.

Question put and agreed to.