Mike Hancock News
MP says report shows hospital has much to do on end of life respite care for older patients
Mike Hancock, MP (Lib Dem - Portsmouth South) has said that the report from the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) published today shows that QA hospital in Cosham, Portsmouth has much to do to improve care for older patients following the closure of G5 ward. The closure was referred to the IRP following a massive campaign in the city to save the ward. The IRP's report says that "for clinical, operational and financial reasons it would be unsustainable to reopen G5 itself as an end of life care ward." However it says the hospital should carry out an audit of the facilities to support end of life care within three months and it should "develop a comprehensive operational plan for end of life care, including quality, workforce, training and standards."
The report makes ten recommendations all of which have been accepted by the Secretary of State for Health.
Mike Hancock said: "It is very disappointing that the IRP have not decided that G5 ward should be re-opened. One of the issues that the IRP identifies is the difficulty in re-opening a ward once it has been closed.
"It is clear from their report that the quality of end of life care has suffered as a result of the closure. The IRP make ten recommendations on how care and consultation can be improved. This is a vindication of much of the massive campaign to save G5 ward which has been a great credit to local people. And the report shows that campaigners were right when they said that the hospital management had both not properly evaluated the impact of closure and had not developed a proper plan for care following closure. It is now very important that the recommendations of the IRP on auditing facilities and developing an operational plan are implemented as soon as possible. I also hope that as many of the qualities of G5 ward as possible are replicated within the hospital. I am writing to the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Hospital to re-inforce this and to ask how they will achieve this.
"The IRP report says that the Hospital made mistakes on the handling this episode and the Hospital itself has also admitted this. I will be asking the hospital how it plans to learn the lessons from this sorry saga. The people of Portsmouth also need to continue to hold the hospital to account so that it achieves the aims of the IRP's report. I believe it is important that the campaign to improve "end of life" respite care for older people locally continues. So I hope it will and I will do my best to support it as an MP."
Michael Andrewes who started the Keep G5 ward campaign said: "I am massively grateful to the huge support for the campaign from the more than 10,000 people who signed the petition to keep G5 ward. It is of course disappointing that the IRP has not recommended the re-opening of G5 ward but much of the IRP's report is a vindication of the campaign. And the fight for better respite care for older patients continues.
"And the report clearly identifies deficiencies in both the provision for elderly end of life respite care following the closure of G5 and the lack of public consultation by the Hospital. It is now clear from the IRP's report that closure was mainly due to financial considerations and it is a great shame that the hospital would not admit this earlier.
"I hope the campaign will continue on all fronts. Firstly to see whether G5 ward can be re-opened in some form. Secondly to see that as many as possible of the qualities of G5 can now be replicated within the hospital. And thirdly to see that the recommendations that the IRP identifies are implemented by QA Hospital to the highest possible quality and as quickly as possible. Much has been achieved thanks to the hard work of local people - even if not for now our final goal and there is much more to be done."
ENDS
Notes: Details of the IRP's report can be got via http://www.irpanel.org.uk/view.asp?id=56
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