Radical plans for Cannock Chase Hospital takeover
Cannock Chase Hospital will be run by health bosses in Wolverhampton under radical plans to overhaul services in the region revealed today.
Thousands of Wolverhampton patients will be shuttled some 10 miles across to Cannock on free buses for non-emergency surgery as it essentially becomes a sister hospital to New Cross.
The plans come as the fallout from the Stafford Hospital scandal continues to unravel. Moving non-emergency surgery to Cannock from Wolverhampton will free up New Cross to take on services from Stafford as administrators finalise plans to shake up services in the next few weeks.
Around £30 million will be spent upgrading Cannock, which was built 23 years ago, to take on the services with work expected to be completed in the next two years.
Two new operating theatres will be built and Cannock will house New Cross's elective orthopaedic, neurology, gynaecology and rheumatology services, as well as the ophthalmology and renal departments which it already hosts there.
Staff will also move from New Cross to Cannock and there will be regular and free non-stop shuttle buses between the sites.
According to consultants at New Cross, seven of the nine wards at Cannock Hospital will be filled with clinical work, comprising pre-planned and non-emergency surgery, as well as day cases. It will amount to around 120 beds worth of activity.
Chief executive of the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust, David Loughton, said it was still 'too early to say' what would happen at Cannock, but that a proposal was on the table.
"We have submitted a proposal to the administrator," he said. "It's too early to say how things will turn out. We are looking at various options and working on various options with the administrator and in partnership with other NHS organisations."
The proposed move will help with capacity issues at New Cross, which has suffered in recent months with its accident and emergency department seeing record numbers of patients come through the doors.
Cannock Hospital is currently 40 per cent unoccupied. A £70 million downgrade of services at Cannock Chase and Stafford hospitals has been recommended by a team appointed by health watchdog Monitor.
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