Trust Special Administrators (TSAs) have said the dissolution of Stafford Hospital is the best way to bring the Trust's financial problems under control.
Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust should have critical care, maternity and paediatric services cut, according to the TSAs.
However, no changes will be made to services at the hospitals until Monitor and the Health Secretary have considered the report.
Trust Special Administrators (TSAs) have said the dissolution of Stafford Hospital is the best way to bring the Trust's financial problems under control.
Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust should have critical care, maternity and paediatric services cut, according to the TSAs.
However, no changes will be made to services at the hospitals until Monitor and the Health Secretary have considered the report.
Just today, Jeremy Hunt’s decision to implement TSA-recommended changes at the South London Healthcare Trust was overturned in the high court.
The judge ruled that it was illegal to make a decision without the support of local commissioners.
The A&E department at Stafford Hospital should remain open, but with better staffing, the TSA said.
Proposals include:
- Reducing the level of critical care provided by Stafford Hospital, but using the hospital to stabilise very unwell patients before transfer to a larger hospital
- Patients with major trauma or obvious emergency surgical needs will be sent straight to other hospitals for treatment
- Children will no longer be admitted as inpatients and all paediatric services will stop as soon as other providers have enough beds to accept them
Stafford Hospital was the site of significant failings of care which led to the production of the Francis Report.
‘Courageous’
The two local CCGs – Stafford and Surrounds CCG and Cannock Chase CCG – agree with the proposals put forth by the TSA.
Alan Bloom, one of the Trust Special Administrators tasked with finding a way to rectify problems at the trust said: “The draft recommendations represent the most effective way of bringing the trust’s financial problems under control with the real prospect of reducing the overspend to zero in the future.”
Calling the TSAs suggestions “courageous”, Mike Farrar, chief executive of the NHS Confederation said: "The NHS is under intense financial pressure and Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust is not alone in its predicament. We have some really tough choices to make and we need to be honest and open about what these involve.
"It is in no one's interest to keep pushing the trust towards the cliff edge – we need to have safe, sustainable and affordable services for the local community.”
Farrar suggested that proposals for delivering services should be focused on how services will be delivered, rather than the dissolution of the trust.
