The results of a consultation into the future of Friarage Hospital are set to be revealed next month.
NHS Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby Clinical Commissioning Group’s review ran from September until January following South Tees NHS Foundation Trust’s decision to suspend the A&E department and to replace it with an urgent treatment centre at the end of March last year.
Simon Cox, director of acute commissioning at North Yorkshire CGG, which will replace the county’s three existing CCGs on April 1, told a meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s scrutiny of health committee today that the results will be published next month.
He said that more than 2,000 people had taken part in the consultation via questionnaires, focus groups, face-to-face surveys and public meetings.
Mr Cox added that the consultation had been extended due to December’s general election.
He said: “We have a detailed report that collects all that feedback from those individuals. We are analysing that and producing our final business case and we will be seeking to take that to the public the governing body meeting of the new North Yorkshire CCG on April 30.”
Earlier this year lawyers acting for the Save Friarage Hospital group wrote to the CCG expressing concerns that the consultation did not include an option for the A&E department to be reinstated.
The options put forward were instead for the department to be replaced with either a 24-hour urgent treatment centre or a 16-hour urgent treatment centre.
The lawyers told health bosses that legal action could be taken if a “full” consultation was not carried out
Mr Cox told councillors that the CCG’s own legal advice was that the consultation was correct.
He added: “There was further initial, exploratory legal action taken in regards to the consultation about why [A&E] wasn’t one of the options and we are fairly clear and we met with colleagues at South Tees yesterday (Thursday) afternoon and there appears to be no improvement in the workforce availability for critical care doctors. If anything they are even more stretched and thinner on the ground than they were two years ago.
“The likelihood of South Tees being able to recruit something like six or eight senior intensive care clinicians who could run a stand-alone rota in Northallerton is quite unlikely.
“So we as an NHS feel that is not an option that we could deliver and, therefore, our legal advice was we really should not be consulting on an option we can’t supply.”
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