St Michael’s Hospital in Linlithgow faces long-term closure nearly a 12 months after being briefly shut throughout the covid pandemic.
A report back to West Lothian’s Built-in Joint Board yesterday, which oversees council and NHS healthcare provision within the county, agreed to proposals for public session forward of plans for a wider reconstruction of long-stay hospital care.
Larger emphasis is being positioned on care within the house, and a transfer away from lengthy keep geriatric wards reminiscent of at St Michael’s and Baillie ward at Tippethill Hospital for what is named Hospital Based mostly Advanced Persevering with Care (HBCCC).
However Linlithgow’s Labour councillor, Tom Conn, warned the IJB would wrestle to win public help for the plan, suggesting native individuals see St Michael’s as their neighborhood hospital and fundamental errors within the report back to the IJB would encourage individuals in Linlithgow to assume it “ill-informed.”
He cited the report’s assertion that the hospital was poorly served by public transport. There's a bus service, between Edinburgh and Stirling, which stops close to the hospital.
Councillor Conn advised the assembly: “It might not be essentially the most frequent and it could not serve the remainder of the county however, from a neighborhood perspective there’s a bus there.
“When you can’t get that proper, the query might be are you getting the larger image proper?”
He additionally identified that when the Secretary of State and the Well being Board proposed closure of St Michael’s in 1990 there was a petition raised based mostly on the truth that the hospital served the local people.
“That’s a part of the sentiment in the neighborhood,” he added.
Councillor Conn, newly appointed to the IJB, additionally steered that the notion from the report was that the hospital was to be closed as a part of a wider closure programme and added: “The query domestically might be why are we dropping this hospital. “
St Michael’s was first shut in August 2021, in response to acute staffing pressures created by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The chief officer of the native HSCP exercised emergency powers to shut St Michael’s Hospital briefly and switch sufferers to Baillie Ward in Tippethill Hospital in Whitburn.
The report mentioned the switch ensured that sufferers might be cared for safely at a time when there have been important staffing pressures within the well being and social care system and allowed workers from St Michael’s to be redeployed to help in different healthcare settings.
St Michael’s had 18 beds accessible, Tippethill Hospital (Baillie Ward) is the opposite neighborhood hospital in West Lothian, managed by Care UK, and provides 24 beds for frail individuals over 65.
A report back to the IJB mentioned: “On the time of closure, the occupancy ranges throughout the 2 neighborhood hospitals (St Michael’s and Tippethill) have been round 50 per cent, which had been the case for the earlier six to 12 months. The falling occupancy ranges occurred on account of the introduction of latest methods of working which centered on supporting individuals at house wherever attainable. The decreased occupancy ranges meant that there was capability within the system to switch sufferers, and a few workers, to at least one website and redeploy different workers to help with pressures in additional vital native areas reminiscent of St John’s Hospital throughout the pandemic.”
There's a wider evaluate ongoing into the way forward for long-term hospital stays for the aged. A brand new Residence First coverage promotes care provision in a residential setting whether or not the affected person’s own residence or in a care house.
The report added: “It's recognised that quick time period priorities, reminiscent of a call on St Michael’s Hospital, can not wait till a bed- based mostly evaluate is concluded. Equally, the lease for the constructing on the Tippethill Hospital website is because of expire in 2025 making it vital that selections are reached as rapidly as attainable about future use. Additionally it is important, nonetheless, that long run selections usually are not rushed due to quick time period priorities or are made in isolation of the Residence First programme.”
The IJB agreed three primary suggestions: To acknowledge the Residence First transformation programme and the continuing work to find out mattress based mostly and neighborhood fashions of care; that St Michael’s Hospital stay closed, and authorized session with the IJB’s Strategic Planning Group and neighborhood stakeholders together with, service customers, carers, and neighborhood teams, on the longer term requirement for beds in St Michael’s Hospital.
IJB Chair Invoice McQueen advised Alison White, joint director of West Lothian Well being and Social Care Partnership (HSCP): “Tom’s proper. Getting the historical past and context proper might be important in securing the result you need on the finish of the session.”
Mrs White, responded to Councillor Conn’s considerations and mentioned the report had needed to present the IJB as full an image as attainable of the present context for the continuing closure of St Michaels’,in addition to its long run future.
She added: “Native context is admittedly useful. On the level we're doing session round St Michael’s we might have to present a little bit of a broader context about how this suits into the general strategic route for the well being and social care partnership however tackle board we have to get our info proper about St Michael’s and be way more particular about what this implies for Linlithgow. That’s very useful suggestions as we transfer ahead.”
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