A HEALTH leader has vowed that the Richardson Hospital will be strengthened as part of a revamp to community care.
Durham County Council and County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust are forming a partnership to redesign how care is carried out in Teesdale and beyond.
Lesley Jeavons, head of adult social care at Durham County Council, told a special meeting of the health scrutiny committee how community hospitals, such as the Richardson Hospital, would be an “important part of the offer”.
She said: “At a previous meeting we talked about the need to look at the role and function of community hospitals.
“At Weardale, Richardson and Sedgefield we have worked in partnership with the CCG (Clinical Commissioning Group) to reduce the bed base at the three hospitals.”
Bed numbers were reduced from 24 to 16 on the Starling Ward at Richardson Hospital last year due to a “significant drop in occupancy”.
Ms Jeavons said she thought the numbers of beds was now “about right” with a 95 per cent occupancy rate.
She told the panel there was still 14 years to go on the Richardson Hospital’s PFI (Private Finance Initiative), meaning rent would need to be paid for the building “regardless of what happens”.
“Particularly in the case of the Richardson, we had a lot of vacant space,” added Ms Jeavons.
When it came to the new partnership, Ms Jeavons said her view and the recommendation of officers was to “strengthen the role” of community hospitals like the Richardson. She added: “We want to fill that space as best we can and we’re working with local groups – especially at the Richardson.
“There is no plan to increase beds because activity information is saying we do not need to increase those numbers.
“But there are no plans to reduce the offer.”
Efforts to advertise services at the Barnard Castle hospital have been stepped up in recent months.
The Friends of the Richardson Hospital has joined forces with the trust to spread the word about more than 20 specialist clinics run from the site – including podiatry, audiology and cardio-rehabilitation.
Ms Jeavons said the trust was trying to “utilise the space the best they could”.
The scrutiny panel was also told how Richardson Hospital is funded from the “same block” as Sedgefield and Weardale Community Hospitals.
More generally in the trust area, Ms Jeavons told councillors how the new partnership was trying to get more older people treated in their homes and catch people moving from “independence to dependence” as they age.
“If we get to that cohort of people early, we can prevent admission to hospital and prevent admission to nursing care,” she added.
She also explained how fragmentation in some services had meant things were not being delivered effectively to some patients.
Raising the profile of community-based services was a key priority for the review.
“It’s our intention to deliver services very differently to the way they are being delivered now,” added Ms Jeavons.
Impact reports on each of the community hospitals will be presented to councillors at the next scrutiny meeting.
