Regarding the article ‘Underused’ minor injuries units facing axe (Times and Post, May 12), I would like to address a number of factual inaccuracies that I feel are misleading to your readers:
Your article says that “Minor Injuries Unit at Alfred Bean Hospital hangs in the balance after eight GPs on the East Riding Clinical Commissioning Group voted to consider its closure, along with Minor Injuries Units in Hornsea and Withernsea”.
I would like to make it clear to your readers that at present we are looking at many different possibilities for urgent care and no decisions have been made around any proposed changes.
At its meeting, held in public on 15 March, our governing body (which includes eight GP leads) voted to approve our Urgent Care Strategy which sets out the clinical commissioning group’s intentions for commissioning urgent and emergency care across the East Riding of Yorkshire.
Our strategy takes into consideration both national requirements and local need and the final version is available here: www.eastridingofyorkshireccg.nhs.uk/publications/#U
Our ambition is that all parts of the urgent care system will work in a more joined up, co-ordinated and consistent way, delivering safe, sustainable and high quality care well into the future.
Modelling work to understand the impact of this re-design of urgent care services is now being done and this will inform future options with any proposed significant service change being subject to formal public consultation.
I would also like to clarify that the eight GP Leads, which form a key part of our governing body decision making process, act as clinical commissioning representatives for their GP colleagues across a wider geography than simply their own practice area.
These GP Leads have been elected from their localities and ratified by the Council of Members (which includes representatives from all 36 GP practices in the East Riding of Yorkshire area).
In addition, most of these GP Leads are either chairpersons or vice-chair people of locality meetings which bring together GP practice representatives on a regular basis to discuss commissioning issues on a local level.
Full details of our governing body members are available at: www.eastridingofyorkshireccg.nhs.uk/governing-body/members/
The Urgent Care Strategy was also presented to our Council of Members at its meeting in February 2016 and the strategy was supported, prior to formal approval at the Governing Body in March.
Finally, I would like to point out that it is the clinical commissioning group’s responsibility to constantly review services to provide the best possible outcome across the whole of our population.
We are committed to listening to the views of our local people and involving them in designing services.
Any consultation requires the clinical commissioning group to go through the NHS England assurance process which we are currently undertaking.
With this in mind, we are anticipating undertaking a public consultation process which is expected to continue throughout the year.
Full details of the consultation process and timelines will be available following NHS England approval.
Dr Gina Palumbo
Chairwoman,
NHS East Riding of
Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group