In this consultation, it is proposed that:
- the majority of services would stay at Epsom and St Helier Hospitals in refurbished buildings with both hospitals running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with urgent treatment centres at each hospital.
- six core services for the most unwell patients, those who need more specialist care and births in hospital, would be brought together on to one site in state of the art specialist emergency care hospital for specialist doctors, nurses and clinical staff who would work together to provide round the clock specialist care. This could be located at Epsom Hospital, St Helier Hospital or Sutton Hospital. No decisions have been made and based on the evidence so far the CCG’s have stated that their preferred option is to locate the new specialist emergency care hospital at Sutton Hospital.
The six services are:
- Major emergency department for the sickest patients with life threatening conditions, including a specialist children’s A&E
- Acute medicine for patients with the most urgent medical needs for example severe pneumonia
- Critical care for the specialist care of patients whose conditions are life threatening and require constant monitoring – usually in an Intensive Care Unit (ITU)
- Emergency surgery for patients requiring emergency surgical assessment, treatment and operations for conditions like severe appendicitis*
- Births – bring together in one place both a midwife-led unit and a consultant-delivered unit for more complex births, and also supporting as many women who choose to, to give birth at home
- In-patient paediatrics or children’s beds – for children who need to stay overnight in hospital for treatment or observation
*Of these six services, emergency surgery and ITU are already only provided at St Helier Hospital, and not at Epsom Hospital.
This consultation does not ask you about community hospitals or community services. We are looking at how we best deliver all health services and much work is being done to look at these as part of a programme of work known as the Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP). In the future, we may need to ask for your views on any proposed changes to any other services.