Consultation on Implementing a 'Duty of Candour' - a new contractual requirement on providers.

This consultation ended on the 31st January 2012 and we are now awaiting a full report, which we will publish once ready. For more information please visit the Department of Health website.

Developing Safe and Sustainable Acute Services in South Central

The engagement period for proposals on major trauma, stroke and vascularsurgery has now ended and the responses are currently being analysed, with a report on the feedback, including recommendations for action, being made public later this Autumn.

The reason for examining the way local vascular services are delivered is to make sure that national standards set out by the Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland are met by local Trusts to ensure local people achieve the best outcomes possible, with the feedback intended to help develop formal proposals on vascular surgery.

In recent weeks commissioners from a number of different bodies, including the SHIP PCT Cluster and local Clinical Commissioning Groups have been actively engaged in supporting clinicians and local provider Trusts such as University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust and West Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust to explore options that will allow vascular services to be delivered.

One very important area has been the implications associated with moving emergency and planned inpatient vascular surgery to Southampton, and three clinical considerations have been identified as key to securing safe, sustainable, quality services for local people and are now being examined in detail by a group of interventional radiologists across both sites, in conjunction with the vascular specialists from both Trusts.

Meanwhile, there have been discussions regarding Portsmouth’s Queen Alexandra Hospital collaborating with St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester, to provide vascular surgery.

New options developed in recent months will shortly be examined by a panel of clinical experts to ensure they meet the national specification, with the panel paying particular attention to the impact of proposals on Queen Alexandra Hospital. GPs, commissioners and lay members will be invited to observe the panel’s deliberations, such as the proposal for Southampton General Hospital to provide complex vascular surgery.

The outcome of this work is expected to be available in November for consideration by various Overview and Scrutiny Committees, followed by a public consultation.

There will be further public updates, but to arrange a meeting to discuss this in more detail, please contact:

Emma McKinney - Communications Lead

Tel: 023 8029 6229

Email: Emma.McKinney@scpct.nhs.uk