An innovative partnership approach which will enable overnight services to return to Stratton Hospital was endorsed last week by Cornwall Council’s Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Stratton’s overnight MIU has been closed between 10pm and 8am since December after health bosses said they could not safely staff the unit.

The trailblazing proposal was presented on Wednesday, July 3 and will see overnight services return to the hospital in August 2019, in the form of a new service which is being described as a ‘Community Treatment Centre’.

The community Treatment Centre will be run by staff from Kernow Health CIC which provides the county’s urgent care service — NHS Cornwall 111.

Mark Woolcock, chief operating officer of Cornwall 111, said: “We are pleased to be in a position to work with our healthcare partners and to trial this new service for people in the Stratton and Bude area. We will be providing expert senior clinician whose clinical skills extend beyond those of a traditional minor injury practitioner.

“In addition, we will also be able to see those patients from the local area who have an appointment to been seen by our out of hours service after contacting NHS 111; patients, who need to attend the centre with a minor injury out of hours, will also be able to be treated.”

Phil Confue, chief executive from Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are delighted to have found a potential solution which will benefit people in the far North of the county and also our neighbours over the border in Devon.

“Providers and the local community have worked together to develop a solution which will help people to feel safe and make best use of the resources currently available overnight by working differently. We are also exploring how we can work with colleagues in North Devon to ensure this resource offers maximum benefit for people who live locally.”

Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust confirmed that it will continue to recruit nurses to work locally, where necessary supporting them to complete the additional minor injury training while the Community Treatment Centre model is tested.

To allow the Community Treatment Centre to be fully tested and evaluated in partnership with the local community, the service will operate until the end of March 2020. If the approach is successful, it will become permanent.

Bude-Stratton Town Council were given an update from their Cornwall Council representative, Cllr David Parsons, on the matter at the full council meeting on Thursday, July 4.

Due to ill health Cllr Parsons was unable to attend, however, fellow Cornwall Councillor, Peter La Broy, read out an update from Cllr Parsons. It read: “I hope that the community see the proposed arrangements as a positive move forward. I would like to thank Peter and Nicky Chopak for all their help and advice over the past six months. Lorraine Corrigan Turner was also a great help with her Facebook page giving me plenty of real examples to take into meetings. The fact that the community was so obviously concerned was very powerful. The support of the Friends of Stratton Hospital will continued to be important.

“We should also acknowledge the efforts of local staff and the management of the various trusts who have been creative, and broken down barriers, to get this going. They have realised that sometimes the models imposed on them are not always best and that integration of services is much more important than competition. Working across the border, and looking at a community of nearly 37,000 in this area is a necessary, rather than drawing lines on a map.

“This is just the beginning. With all the staffing challenges in the health system, there are going to have to be variations and best use of technology. I am sure we will be discussing health services again and again. This is about being safe in this place and feeling safe in this place, but as a community we have shown we care and want to work with providers to get the best possible outcomes.”

The proposal stated that the trial period of the new Community Treatment Centre would run from August to March.

Cllr Peter Moores had his concerns and voiced them during the full council meeting. He said: “This time period would miss our peak season, when more significant numbers would come through the doors.”

Cllr La Broy was assured that this would have been considered in the plan. He said: “I understand, and I’m sure this would’ve been thought of. There is a commitment from the group to commit to the project and work to resolve any problems in order to provide the service.”

Mayor of Bude, Cllr Willingham, questioned where the staff would be coming from.

Cllr La Broy informed the council that the people are already employed within the health service and urged them to read the proposal. He explained: “The idea is to pull the resources from around the areas. For example a qualified doctor who would have been on the telephone will now be based in Stratton and give additional cover to anything they have had there before.”

See next week’s Post for an update on the new service coming to Stratton Hospital, following Bude’s community network panel meeting.