Peterborough City Hospital to benefit from better treatment and maternity service improvements under new NHS plan says medical director

Dr Kanchan Rege, medical director at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital in Bretton, said maternity services will see improvements, while there will be better diagnosis and treatment of a number of ailments, including cancer and heart disease.

The NHS claims its new Long Term Plan will help save almost half a million more lives over the next 10 years with investment in world-class, cutting-edge treatments including genomic tests for every child with cancer.

Dr Rege said: “We look forward to working with our partners across South Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, as well as patients and staff, over the coming months, to turn the ambitions contained in the NHS Long Term Plan into real improvements in services for local people.

“We are pleased that the plan has committed to providing high quality care and better health outcomes for patients and their families, through every stage of life.

“This includes improvements to maternity services, such as a dedicated midwife looking after a mother throughout her pregnancy. There will be faster and better diagnosis and treatment for cancer, heart disease, stroke and lung disease to achieve survival rates among the best in the world.

“People will be helped to take an active role in maintaining their own health by provision of support to quit smoking, lose weight and reduce their alcohol intake. Our aim is to keep people healthy so that they do not become so unwell that they need hospital care.”

The trust also runs Stamford and Rutland and Hinchingbrooke hospitals.

Tracy Dowling, chief executive of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, said yesterday she was pleased the 10 year plan focuses on several key areas including extra funding for community services and young people’s mental health, and also includes commitments to recruiting more staff and implementing the use of technology to improve patient care.

She said: “We welcome the increased focus and funding for community health services and mental health. We are especially pleased to see more support for young people’s mental health where additional resources for core services and those that support the transition to adult services are much needed.

“At CPFT we continue to successfully integrate physical and mental health services and some of the initiatives we have developed – a 24-hour mental health crisis care line and improved support in our local A&E departments – are now being adopted across the country.

“But what will really be key will be the details of the 10 year plan and how they will translate to frontline care.

“We need to focus on workforce recruitment and development in order to meet the growing healthcare demands of our population, and to embrace how new technologies can help us all be healthier and access services in new ways.

“It is great to see the priorities in the plan support us in addressing these issues.”

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health services and community physical health services for older people and those with long-term conditions as well as social care and children’s community health services in Peterborough.

Measures outlined in the new NHS plan will help prevent 150,000 heart attacks, strokes and dementia cases while more than three million people will benefit from new and improved stroke, respiratory and cardiac services over the next decade.

Pledges in the plan include ensuring every hospital with a major A&E department has “same day emergency care” in place so that patients can be treated and discharged with the right package of support, without needing an overnight stay. There will also be a commitment to deliver more care to people in their own homes, freeing up space in hospitals for those who need it most.

Concerns have been raised about staff shortages, while there may be changes to the current target that at least 95 per cent of patients attending A&E departments should be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

Prime Minister Theresa May said that the investment would help “transform” services for patients who would experience “world class treatment”. She said the plan marks an “historic step” to secure the future of the health service “with a focus on ensuring that every pound is spent in a way that will most benefit patients”.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said that Mrs May was proposing “a 10-year plan to clear up a mess that she made”.

He said: “The Tories have spent nine years running down the NHS. They have failed to recruit and train the staff desperately needed, leaving our NHS struggling with chronic shortages of over 100,000 staff.”

RELATED

Praise for NHS 10 year plan from Peterborough and Cambridgeshire health trust chief executive