Page 4 - link magazine

4 The Link Magazine • January 2001
Is Swindon's new hospital big enough?

Former West Swindon GP claims it will not satisfy need
Some medical practitioners around Swindon are concerned that the hospital being built at Commonhead will be too small for a town expected
to grow to over 200,000 people in the next ten years, as well as serving the surrounding region.
The Swindon and Marlborough Health Trust insist the £148 million Until now The Link has not covered the issue, but Dr Ian Matheson,
project, which will have 460 beds, 53 fewer than the Princess Margaret one of the first doctors to work in West Swindon, from 1979 until he
Hospital it will replace in November 2002, is being built to provide new retired in 1997, was a present at consultative meeting in the mid-1 990s.
methods of caring for sick people. He writes:
rom the early planning stages i. The annual growth rate of the Our concerns were repeatedly
of the new hospital for Swin- Swindon population; expressed to the planners at sev-
Fdon and well before a site ii. The government's planning eral consultative meetings. Their
was finalised local doctors ex- proposals which will impose eventual enlightening, but very
pressed concern about the pro- several thousand more worrying, reply was that the size
posed size which was, from the households onto the of the new hospital would be a
information available at the time, immediate catchment of the business decision and the commu-
to be smaller than the presentPMH. new hospital; nity would just have to adjust to it!
In common with many hospi- At a subsequent meeting this
tals PMH experienced difficulties iii. An ageing population with response was put to Jeremy Hallett,
coping with seasonal surges in their increased medical needs; chief executive of the Wiltshire
demand in spite of the predictabil- iv. An increasing number of Area Health Authority (the body
ity of these variations. In recent single occupancy homes charged with purchasing health
years these difficulties have be- (nobody at home to tend to the care for the population of this area).
come more apparent with red alerts unwell person); His response was that he expected
being posted and admissions can- v. Advances in medical and that the spokesman was 'just hav-
celled for smaller and smaller in- surgical fields which offer ing a bad day'.
creases in demand. Current bed treatments in areas which were The outcome however has been
management practices, with their previously untreatable; viii.An overworked and the building of a hospital that will
high occupancy rates and rapid vi. Patients increased demoralised primary care be too small for the needs of those
turnover whilst producing appar- expectations of high tech service; living in its catchment area, with
ent increased efficiency, leave only intervention in their ix. An increasing failure rate in all the attendant problems and
minimal margins to absorb emer- miseries of delayed admissions,
conditions; private sector homes for the
gencies and unpredictable needs. elderly; cancelled operations, over-
When known demographical vii. An increasingly litigious crowded outpatients, and more
factors are added to the equation, population (tends to increase x. A decline in the numbers of and more frequent red alerts that
such as: frequency of referral from local authority funded this will inevitably mean."
primary care source); accommodation for the • We have asked the Swindon and
elderly; Marlborough Health Trust to reply
it seemed inconceivable that any next month.
planners could consider that a
smaller hospital with fewer beds Names in the frame
could meet the needs of the popu- The Swindon & Marlborough NHS
lation now, yet alone in the future. Trust has shortlisted five names for
When asked to explain their rea- the hospital and is inviting people to
soning to GPs in 1996, health au- vote for their preference. They are:
thority representatives advised us • The Great Western Hospital
that they were confident that more • The Brunel Hospital
facilities would be made available • Swindon District Hospital
for care of the elderly in the com- • Swindon and Wiltshire Hospital
munity - although this was not • North Wiltshire Hospital
within their control - and that they Send yourvotes to The Communi-
had expectations that the primary cations Officer, Swindon & Marlbor-
care services were ready and eager ough NHS Trust, PMH, Swindon by
to absorb a substantial part of the 18 January. The trust board will
shortfall. make a decision on 26 January.

PARTNERS °lid

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