Staffordshire 'to lose A&E department' under plans to make £542m cuts

Health bosses say one of the county's three major emergency departments, Stafford's County Hospital, Royal Stoke, or Queen's in Burton, needs to be downgraded into an urgent care centre.

It comes amid wide-scale changes to healthcare in Staffordshire outlined in a five-year Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP), which has now been released by NHS chiefs.

The 88-page document, which looks at all aspects of care from acute services to mental health, says the current system in the county is 'unsustainable' and 'unaffordable', warning that there will be a funding gap of £542m unless action is taken.

More detailed proposals for hospitals and services are not expected to arrive until the end of 2017. They will be subject to public consultation.

A joint STP statement on behalf of health bosses in Staffordshire said: "The current thinking is that we could move from three to two A&Es and an urgent care centre – but no decisions have been made about where these will be, and much depends on what is proposed by other surrounding STPs so these discussions need to take place."

The report adds that a lot more work will be done on prevention and encouraging people to live more healthily – with obesity, smoking and diabetes listed as the top priorities.

A major aim is also to shift care away from hospital beds and into the community.

Dr Bill Gowans, medical director for the Staffordshire and Stoke-on Trent STP ,said: "Over the past nine months, we have been working with health and care organisations across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent on how best to meet the many opportunities and challenges facing us.

"The ideas within our plan focus on the need to provide safe, high quality, consistent and affordable health and care to everyone.

"It also recognises that we all need to take more responsibility for our own health, and to plan and budget for the social care that we will need as we get older.

"There are real concerns about the future health and wellbeing of all our communities, including the effects of smoking, obesity, mental health, diabetes and cancer.

"Through the STP the ultimate aim is for people to lead healthy, independent lives, whilst being able to access the right local help when they need it.

"If we get things right, we will need far less hospital beds as most of the care that people need most of the time will take place in or near to where people live."

The STP has been put together by five trusts, including University Hospitals of North Midlands, which runs Royal Stoke and County Hospital; South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare; Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Partnership.

It has also had input from Clinical Commissioning Groups, including Cannock Chase and Stafford Surrounds.

Staffordshire County Council and Healthwatch Staffordshire have had input.