Cheshire and Merseyside Vascular Review
Vascular services are changing nationally to improve patient experience and provide better outcomes following surgery. The NHS is planning to make changes to the way vascular services are provided to save lives and improve patient outcomes in every part of Cheshire and Merseyside. Vascular services are for people with disorders of the arteries and veins, including narrowing or arteries, blocked vessels and varicose veins, (but not diseases of the heart and vessels in the chest).
Mr John Brennan, a local vascular surgeon and Clinical Network Lead, explains the case for change.
Currently, a number of local hospitals carry out vascular surgery, but the most complex surgery (about 20% of the current number) requires sufficient numbers to ensure the surgeons develop the highest skills, with the best possible outcomes for patients. This means we need to concentrate this specialist surgery into fewer centres – something widely agreed on amongst the clinicians across the region.
Earlier engagement with the public, patients and clinicians overwhelmingly supported the approach to concentrate the specialist surgery in order to improve patient safety - even if this meant that this specialist surgery was not carried out at their local hospital.
The Clinical Commissioning Groups – made up of GPs responsible for commissioning the services needed for patients in their localities, have recommended that there should be two specialist arterial centres for Cheshire and Merseyside. One will be based at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, working in a network with hospitals north of the Mersey, and one proposed for the Countess of Chester hospital, working with hospitals south of the Mersey.
The recommendations have been approved by the Boards of NHS Cheshire Warrington and Wirral, and NHS Merseyside and we would like to ask for your views on the proposed changes.
A consultation document has been produced which sets out the planned changes, why they are necessary, what benefits they will bring and how they will be delivered.
There are a number of planned consultation events. Click here for event details.
The consultation will end on the 15 June 2012. Please ensure any responses reach us before this date to ensure they are registered. A report will then be produced with a recommendation for consideration by NHS Cheshire, Warrington and Wirral at their Board Meeting on 4th July and NHS Merseyside at their Board Meeting on 17th July. The Boards will make a decision on the location of the arterial centres for the North Mersey network, the South Mersey network, and options for mid-Mersey patients.
The report will be made available to the public and stakeholders 7 days before each meeting on the above organisations’ websites.