£300m to be spent in Staffordshire hospitals overhaul - double the amount originally planned
More than £300million will be spent on overhauling hospital services in Staffordshire - double the amount originally planned, it has been announced.
The masterplan to dissolve Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust and replace it with a new body was unveiled by health bosses during a special briefing at Stafford Hospital yesterday.
A total of £150million will be spent at Stafford, meaning A&E will double in size, outpatient facilities will be expanded, wards will be refurbished and a new theatre opened. An extra 750 permanent car park spaces will also be added at the site.
Meanwhile, £100m will invested at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire in Stoke. The remainder of the £300m - around £50m - will be spent on moving services from Stafford and Cannock to New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.
From November 1 when Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust is dissolved, Stafford Hospital will change its name to the County Hospital and UHNS will be known as the Royal Stoke University Hospital, it has been confirmed.
And the new trust running both sites will be named the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust.
It was confirmed during the briefing that obstetrics will move from Stafford to Stoke in January and paediatrics will move in March.
Consultant-led maternity services will move on a temporary basis. If they stay in Stoke will depend on a national review of maternity services being carried out by NHS England.
Under the overhaul, Stafford will get a new MRI scanner and in future is likely to have an eye surgery unit and frail elderly assessment service.
Bosses insist the majority of patients will still be treated at Stafford despite the huge changes. They say nine out of 10 patients will still be seen at the Weston Road hospital.
