Creating centres of excellence will help to sustain hospitals, report says
Creating surgical hubs will help to provide certainty that acute hospitals will remain open, a report into the future of healthcare in Northern Ireland has said.
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has launched the reconfiguration framework for hospitals, setting out principles to underpin reorganisation of services.
The report – called Hospitals – Creating a Network for Better Outcomes – said services can only be sustained through collaboration.
The document said problems arise when hospitals have lower patient numbers.
It said: “To address this, we need to develop regional centres of excellence or surgical hubs for some inpatient services, especially where the catchment area of our existing hospitals is too small to provide this.
“Regional centres of excellence, rather than small local services in every area, deliver better outcomes for both patients and clinicians.
“Clinicians are supported and empowered to develop their skills by seeing a good mix of patients and higher numbers of people through a regional centre.”
The report said reform is not about closing hospitals.
It said: “The reality is that we will continue to need every square inch of current acute hospital capacity.
“The roles of some hospitals will change to better-deliver the health needs of the community and keep pace with modern medicine, as well as contribute to regional delivery.
“Services may be relocated in some cases from their existing locations, but all hospitals will continue to play a central and vital role in our health service and in their local communities.”
The report said that in some cases reform would require additional health funding.
It added: “Importantly, budget constraint is not seen as an insurmountable obstacle to reconfiguration – instead tight budgets impact on the pace of change.
“We remain committed to delivering reform and will deliver as quickly as we can in the context of available budget and other resources.”
The report said: “Sustaining our hospital network and moving increasingly to a model with centres of excellence is better for our population because it provides certainty that all our acute hospitals will remain open within the context of current population health need.
“However, we recognise that transport to some locations can be a major issue and as part of the actions we commit to working alongside other government departments to consider travel support for those that need it the most.”
Mr Nesbitt said: “Reconfiguration of some services is required. The roles of some hospitals will have to change – to keep pace with modern medicine and deliver better patient outcomes.
“While every hospital cannot provide every service, each hospital will still play a vital role, not just in their local communities but as a valued part of a planned regional system.”
The health minister added: “This document can help assure communities that reconfiguration of services is not about cutting costs or closing hospitals.
“It’s about managing change in a controlled way and demonstrating the benefits.
“It’s about showing how each hospital can fit into the network and best serve patients.”
The framework categorises Northern Ireland hospitals into four main types:
– Local hospitals delivering primary, secondary and community services in support of the area and general hospitals.
– General hospitals delivering defined secondary care services including unscheduled care, geared to a specific, more isolated geographical location.
– Area hospitals delivering a full range of secondary care services, both unscheduled (unplanned) and elective (planned) treatment, to the communities within a geographical area.
– Regional centres delivering specialist regional inpatient services for the whole population of Northern Ireland.
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