About this Campaign

On the 20th November 2006 the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust went out to consultation on two sets of proposals; Towards 2010 and Shaping Hospital Services for the Future.

The Towards 2010 proposals can be welcomed although they will not become a reality before 2013 at the earliest assuming they actually go ahead. The Shaping Hospital Services for the Future proposals are bad news for the people of West Birmingham because the Trust is proposing to move the inpatient beds for Emergency and Trauma Surgery and for children from City Hospital to Sandwell Hospital. Effectively this will mean ambulances will be taking Surgical and Trauma patients from West Birmingham likely to need admission, to Sandwell Hospital. The same will apply to children during the 12 hours the proposed Children’s Assessment Unit is closed at City Hospital. This will mean worse access to emergency hospital care for the people of West Birmingham until at least 2013 when the new hospital is planned to open. These changes would have undesirable effects on other services provided at City Hospital with the loss of emergency surgical and children’s expertise.

As a result of the grave concern felt by the staff of all working groups at City Hospital over 100 people expressed their support for establishing the City Hospital Supporters Group. The key objective of this Group is that the people of West Birmingham continue to have 24-hour access to high quality emergency care for adults and children on the City Hospital site, until a new hospital, which can provide this service opens its doors.

The people organising this Group are Dr. Ken Taylor a consultant physician who has worked at City Hospital in various capacities over 26 years, a very senior nurse, and Christine Rickards, branch secretary of UNISON, who have both worked many years at City Hospital and between them they represent all the staff groups. The Group are advised by the relevant medical experts at City Hospital who have all contributed to and approved the two documents Support City Hospital which gives advice from our Group on answering the questions on the Shaping Hospital Services for the Future consultation document, and Petition in Support of City Hospital which you can also be downloaded from the links in the bar on the right hand side. You can also join the City Hospital Supporters Group. We are striving to get as many people as possible to complete consultation forms, join the petition and join the Supporters Group. It would also be good if people attended the consultation meetings organised by the Trust and expressed their concerns about the proposals on moving services from City Hospital. The dates and times of these meetings are available via the following link: www.swbh.nhs.uk/latest_news/documents/Consultationmeetings.pdf

Lastly all consultation forms and petitions have to be in by the 16th February 2007 at the latest. Make sure you express your view.


Update 18/01/07: The consultation deadline for Shaping Hospital Sevices for the Future has now been extended to 15th March 2007, so there is really no excuse to make your voice heard!

Petition in Support of City Hospital

The following is the text of the petition opposing the loss of emergency Inpatient Surgical and Paediatric beds at City Hospital. A printable version is available here:

http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dr2jf65_4dd92wm

This can be printed out and sent to the address at the bottom of this post, or alternatively copy and paste into Word, fill in and e-mail to supportcityhospital@googlemail.com (If you would prefer a version in Word e-mailed to you as an attached file, please request it via the same e-mail address).

The petition can also be signed online using the following link: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/supportcityhospital/

Whichever method you decide to sign this petition by, please ensure you only sign it once.

Petition in Support of City Hospital

I oppose moving beds for Emergency Surgical Patients and Emergency Trauma Patients from City Hospital to Sandwell Hospital.


I support a 24 hour Surgical Assessment Unit at City Hospital as proposed by the surgeons and A&E doctors at City Hospital.


I oppose moving Children’s beds from City Hospital to Sandwell Hospital.


I support a Children’s Assessment Unit that remains open 24 hours a day, at City Hospital.


Name

Home Address

Contact Number

Email Address

Signature


I AM / AM NOT employed by Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust (Delete as appropriate)


If you are employed by the Trust which Department do you work in?

I wish to be enrolled as a member of The City Hospital Supporters Group. YES /NO (Delete as necessary)


Membership subscription: Medical Staff £5
Non-medical Staff £1
General Public Free

NO PERSONAL DETAILS ON THIS FORM WILL BE SHARED WITH THE TRUST.

(NB: If you are signing our online petition, please ensure you tick the box entitled "Display my name as anonymous on the signatures list" if you do NOT want your name to be publicly associated with the petition)

PLEASE PUT THIS FORM IN AN ENVELOPE ADDRESSED TO:

CITY HOSPITAL SUPPORTERS GROUP
POSTGRADUATE CENTRE
CITY HOSPITAL
DUDLEY ROAD
BIRMINGHAM
B18 7QH

Public Meetings

Below is a link to a pdf document which contains times and dates of public meetings that are being attended by the the two public consultation teams. We encourage you to attend these meetings and make known your opinions regarding the interim reconfiguration plans for City Hospital.

www.swbh.nhs.uk/latest_news/documents/Consultationmeetings.pdf

How Can You Register Your Concerns?

Get the document with the green front cover and the picture of the child “Shaping Hospital Services for the Future’’ which is the really important document about services together with the accompanying questionnaire by doing one of the following:

1) Phoning the Hospital on 0121 507 5940

2) E-mailing consultation@swbh.nhs.uk

3) Go to the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust website http://www.swbh.nhs.uk/ Details are currently available via the latest news link
(http://www.swbh.nhs.uk/latest_news/index.html).
Alternatively, the consultation document can be filled in online via the following direct link http://www.sunion.warwick.ac.uk/onlinesurvey/interim2010/

Your response needs to be sent back to the Hospital or completed online before 15th March 2007 (this has been extended from the previous deadline which was 16th February 2007).

What does City Hospital Supporters Group consider to be the best answers to these questions?


Q1 No

Q2 Do not change until the new hospital is ready to open.

Q3 No

Q4 The proposals will result in a worse service for people living locally to City Hospital.

Q5 No

Q6 You would want urgent treatment including surgery at City Hospital. You would be fearful of the risks of transfer to another hospital.

Q7 No

Q8 Urgent care for a sick child should not be delayed by travelling to a hospital further away.

Q9 Ask why they want to make changes that will give you a worse service before the new hospital opens.

The other Questions are self-explanatory.

As well as completing your consultation form and returning it before the 16th February you can complete our petition form and return it to us and you can also choose if you wish to enrol with the City Hospital Supporters Group. For further information please see the post entitled Petition in Support of City Hospital (click here).

Support City Hospital

The City Hospital Supporters Group was established on Saturday 9th December 2006 when over 100 members of the staff from all branches of the workforce expressed their support for its objective…

That the people of West Birmingham continue to have 24-hour access to high quality emergency care for adults and children on the City Hospital site, until a new hospital, which can provide this service, opens its doors.


What is being planned by the hospital management?

1. Moving Inpatient Emergency General and Trauma Surgery from City Hospital to Sandwell Hospital.

2. Moving overnight-stay Children’s Beds from City Hospital to Sandwell Hospital and only offering a 12 hour Children’s Assessment Unit at City Hospital


Why should we be concerned?

City Hospital’s Emergency Department, the nearest to the City Centre, sees over 100,000 referrals per year with more stabbings and shootings than any other hospital in the Midlands and probably in the UK.

City Hospital sees almost twice as many emergency surgery patients as Sandwell Hospital.

These two facts mean that moving Emergency General and Trauma Surgery from City Hospital to Sandwell Hospital makes no sense!

Moving these services will also affect the training of the doctors and the reputation of City Hospital, making it less likely to be able to attract the best staff in the future.

This will mean a second-rate service for the people of West Birmingham.

City Hospital currently sees any child that is brought to the hospital, whether by the family (to the emergency department) or because they have been referred by a general practitioner (GP). If the hospital management decide not to have children’s doctors (paediatricians) at City Hospital 24 hours a day, such children will need to be transferred to Sandwell Hospital for assessment.

This will mean a second-rate service for the children of West Birmingham.

What can you do about it?

Click here to find out