Agenda item

To receive a paper from Robyn Doran, CNWL.on the outcome of the Gordon Hospital Closure Equality Impact Assessment.

7.1           Robyn Doran (Chief Operating Officer, CNWL) and Jo Emmanuel (Medical Director, CNWL) introduced this report. Ms Doran stated The Gordon had closed due to concerns surrounding infection control and staffing issues due to staff sickness.

7.2           There was not any adverse impact in relation to those with protected characteristics, the hospital admitted patients based on need. Of those with protected characteristics, some were more at risk of Covid-19 which reinforced the need to close.

7.3  Since closing, most patients (70%) went to St Charles. There was an aim to develop community work and  keeping patients well at home. Westminster was working directly with GPs, Healthwatch, patients and carers. Around £5 million had been invested into services.

7.4  There was a positive impact on reducing the need for inpatients. The length of stay was well above the nation average, up to 31 days, and it had now been reduced to 27 days.

7.5  Stepdown beds had been commissioned in Battersea. Private beds had also been commissioned, and there was an aim to move foreign nationals into private beds. There were between 14 to 18 foreign nationals in beds in either Westminster or Hillingdon. If patients were moved into the private sector, they were brought back closer to home as soon as it was possible.

7.6  There was a full consultation and ongoing discussions surrounding The Gordon, which would be looking at residents’ concerns. This included a Q&A session with stakeholders. A separate session was being arranged for councillors. It was important to consider reflections from services users, carers, and stakeholders, including wider borough needs. The aim was to continue conversation and use the consultation to look towards next steps.

7.7      In response to questions, the following points were made:

(i)              The decision to close The Gordon was temporary and a reduction in length of stay was hard to achieve. When thoughtful interventions were done in the community, it was done to make an intensive offer at times of crisis. If a longer length of stay could be avoided, it was better for the overall longer-term recovery process;

(ii)             CNWL had more beds per head population than anywhere else in the country. It was now more in line with the rest of the country. This was due to the length of stay being too long and not enough range of options in terms of stepdown beds and community services;

(iii)           Beds were based on trends and needs rather than the number of beds across the country, it was important to note there was beds available when patients needed them;

(iv)           Area placements were above CNWL’s target and work was being done to try and reduce this. This included developing and increasing community offers and evaluating which provided the best impact through feedback;

(v)            Work was being done to try to build on some initiatives that were already reaching vulnerable people, this included building upon community access services and for some more complex patients, more resources were put into finding gaps in services;

(vi)           The feedback from first wave of consultations noted service users and carers preferred face to face services and this had been increased. A number of volunteers had been recruited to check in and talk to service users and carers;

(vii)         There was a particular issue for a Westminster service user involving work on a ward bathroom, which had been closed by the contractor without informing ward staff. Ms Doran spoke with the service user affected and apologised. The hospital had terminated their contract with the contractor in question.