Developing our 5 Year Plan is underway and a big thank you to all who attended the staff drop-in sessions this week and last week. For those unable to attend the slides are available as an attachment and we'll be creating a dedicated page on the intranet very soon. A round-up of the key questions raised at this morning's session at CRH is also below.

And also thanks to those of you who have sent your feedback on the 5 Year Plan to the CHFT mailbox chft@cht.nhs.uk  We found the sessions really useful and it is great to get some feedback from those that are on the front line delivering our services.

Looking ahead we have planned more sessions where the best use of our estate - which involves the future shape and site of emergency care - will be on the agenda for discussion. We want to hear from you how you think any changes would best serve our patients and colleagues at CHFT.

So, we have three options to discuss and your input would be valued at this critical time of the planning. So check the dates and times at the bottom and come along.

They are:

Next Steps to develop a Plan by the end of the year are:

• We will be holding further meetings with divisions to understand the operational and financial impacts of the agreed 15 initiatives to generate a view on the future clinical model
• Operating and capacity models will be finalised and reviewed against the agreed list of estate options and affordability
• We will be developing a financial forecast for the next 5 years
• All of our findings will be brought together to form the 5 Year Plan and a plan with which to implement it. These plans will be finalised by the end of the year and ready for Commissioner Consultation in the New Year.

Next staff drop in sessions

• 8am – 9am, Wednesday 9 December 2015 – Lecture Theatre,  CRH
• 6pm – 7pm, Wednesday 9 December 2015 – Lecture Theatre, HRI
• 6pm – 7pm, Monday 14 December 2015 - Lecture Theatre,  CRH
• 8am – 9am, Tuesday 15 December 2015 - Lecture Theatre, HRI

Questions asked at today's session:

What is the definition of public consultation?

It’s a formal process that the CCG (Clinical Commissioning Group) must go through when making significant changes to clinical services, which is likely to be the case under our proposals to have a single planned and unplanned site. It’s a statutory period of at least 13 weeks where the public are invited to give their opinions at drop-ins, Town Hall events and in other ways and is managed by the CCG. They will be very clear on what they are asking the public to give their views on and will then look at these to see whether the proposal can be amended to accommodate them.

What’s the difference between emergency care and urgent care?

In the context of the proposed reconfiguration, “Emergency care” covers anything from minor injuries to major traumas and would in the future be delivered in the single Emergency Department or ED. “Urgent care” is more like a walk-in centre, where minor injuries and ailments would be treated.  We are currently working with the CCG and our GP colleagues to define the range of conditions/diagnoses that could be treated safely at an urgent care centre. If people come to an urgent care centre they will still receive the right treatment for their condition, as happens now.  However it’s clear that we’re duplicating services at the moment and we just can’t sustain that as an organisation.

Will the urgent care centre be open all the time?

We’re working with the commissioners on this as part of this process. Currently the majority of people that attend our ED (Emergency Department) overnight are the seriously ill or those with a major trauma. We already make sure that patients coming to our hospital get to the right site for the best outcomes and that won’t change.

Big decisions are being made at quite short notice – how do we know we’re getting it right?

Whilst we have a short time frame of 12 weeks to draw up these plans (only 4 weeks left), the process includes a series of what we call checks and balances so that we feel certain we’ve the best view of where we stand. These checks and balances will also continue whilst the public consultation takes place. Ernst & Young (EY) have worked on similar projects before so can also offer support to CHFT based on previous experiences. Plus we’ve already put a significant amount of work in over the past 18 months or so to actually get to this point.

There was also a healthy debate around communicating with colleagues and the public in a clear manner, with simple to understand language, so that they understand how the changes might affect them. All the points raised have been noted by EY.