Members of a scrutiny task group examining new NHS plans for Clinical Assessment, Treat and Support (CATS) centres in Cumbria have given their views on the health shake-up.
The task group says it is broadly supportive of the direction which Cumbria PCT is seeking to take in looking at how CATS centres can contribute to health provision, as long as CATS centres do not jeopardise the ability of the acute hospitals in Cumbria to continue to deliver a full range of emergency services.
The task group has unanimously expressed its wish to endorse the following principles on which it understands the Cumbria PCT is negotiating:
- That the CATS service should augment, rather than duplicate, existing NHS capacity in Cumbria.
- That the basis of the contract with Netcare is that they should work in partnership with the Acute Hospital Trusts and the PCT, based on pathways of care managed by the PCT.
- That there should be active market management by the PCT which avoids a market "free for all".
- That the CATS contract should only be for services where there is a shortage of capacity in the NHS, which in Cumbria is limited to orthopaedics and diagnostic services, particularly radiology.
However, it has also listed a series of concerns over the proposals, including:
- That the proposed network of CATS services is not satisfactory from the persective of public access.
- That CATS Centres need to be better located in closer association with the existing hospital sites (both acute and community) so that partnership working between the CATS services and the NHS can take place and opportunities taken to make best use of equipment and specialist services.
- That the option of split CATS sites should be considered, e.g. a South Cumbria site based on Barrow and Kendal.
- That the patient/GP relationship needs to be promoted, not reduced.
- That the decision on whether a patient should be referred to a CATS centre should be the patient's, on advice from the GP.
The task group has made the recommendations at a joint Cumbria and Lancashire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee today. The Committee will now build the recommendations into a report which will be presented to the NHS within the consultation deadline of March 9th. The NHS has a legal obligation to consider and respond to them, and the joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee has the power to refer the matter to Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt if it is not satisfied with the response.
The task group also calls for full assurance of the long term viability of hospital services across Cumbria and of the medical rotas that are essential to sustain the full range of emergency services. It has also requested that the response from the NHS should provide details of their proposed agreement with Netcare in sufficient detail to allow the scrutiny committee to test out whether it fulfils the principles laid out by the Cumbria task group's comments.
Councillor Bert Richardson, Chair of Cumbria County Council's Health and Well-being Scrutiny Committee, said: "This issue has galvanised public opinion in Cumbria. Members of the scrutiny committee have attended every single one of the seven public meetings held by the NHS in the county and we have been an impressed by just how powerful the public voice can be.
"We can see why CATS centres have been proposed, but we can also understand the public's nervousness about services being eroded. We have reservations about the journey times expected to be made by the public in Cumbria, particularly those who rely on public transport. And we are also seeking reassurance that patient choice will be maintained and promoted in the future."
Notes
CATS is a new service, paid for by the NHS and provided by the independent sector, where patients being referred for certain types of surgery will be assessed in specialist centres instead of going to hospital out-patient clinics. Centres in Cumbria are planned for Carlisle, Ulverston and Workington.
7 public NHS meetings were held between Feb 1 and Feb 14 across Cumbria. As well as attending all these, the scrutiny task group has also met:
- The Cumbria PCT on two occasions,
- North Cumbria Acute Hospitals Trust - managerial and clinical leadership
- University Hospitals Of Morecambe Bay
- UNISON
- GP Leadership: the chair of a large Practice Based Commissioning Consortium Members have also examined the NHS Consultation Document, NHS briefing documents on the CATS proposals and the selection of sites, and an independent assessment of travel times within Cumbria to the proposed CATS sites at Ulverston Health Centre, Hilltop Heights in Carlisle, and Workington Community Hospital. They have also taken soundings from other council members and the Patient and Public Involvement Forums.