In November 2018 the CCG received a letter from the Secretary of State for Health in relation to changes to Rothbury Community Hospital. The Secretary of State shared the advice from the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) with the CCG which found that further action was required locally to agree and implement a proposed health and wellbeing centre, potentially including inpatient beds.
We have begun working closely with Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to review the latest data and consider all the potential options available to us, including re-opening the beds. We have approached the local community to enable close working with the local councillor, parish councils, the campaign group, Healthwatch Northumberland and other interested local groups, to explore these options.
While a new formal consultation will not be launched, an engagement programme will be conducted over the coming months and further details will be shared as soon as they are available.
Background
The CCG held a public consultation in 2017 on the proposal to permanently close the inpatient ward at Rothbury Community Hospital, and to shape existing health and care services around a Health and Wellbeing Centre on the hospital site. This proposal included continuing discussions with local people about how the centre could be modelled. Full information about the consultation and final decision to close the 12 beds in the inpatient ward can be found at the following link Rothbury Community Hospital.
The Northumberland Health and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee met in October 2017 to consider the decision by the CCG and they referred the issue to the Secretary of State for Health, on behalf of Northumberland Council, who in turn referred the issue to the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP), a non-departmental public health body.
The IRP found that further action was required locally to agree and implement the proposed health and wellbeing centre, potentially including inpatient beds. The letter from the Secretary of State can be found here.
In December 2018 a new group was established by Northumberland County Council which met in public to consider the findings of the IRP and examine proposals for the future of Rothbury Community Hospital with the aim of reporting back to the Secretary of State on progress.
At a further meeting of the Review Group in January 2019 the CCG set out a number of general proposals as to what kind of additional services could be provided in a health and wellbeing centre at the hospital and agreed to hold a period of engagement to discuss the ideas further with the local community.
The CCG will inform the Review Group of its decision by late Summer 2019. Further information can be found here.
The CCG undertook a period of engagement with local councillors and community groups in Rothbury to continue a conversation about the inpatient ward at Rothbury Community Hospital and services being shaped around a Health and Wellbeing centre on the site.