March 2004

Editorial - March 2004

The health care debate is hotting up! We are pleased to include some information about community hospitals in this issue of the website. This is of much relevance to Bristol because of the proposal that several such hospitals are to be established in and around the city. They would have a greatly expanded role in being the focus for patients who do not require the facilities of a major acute hospital.

Hugh Ross will be leaving his present post with the BHSP at the end of June. He has been appointed Chief Executive of the Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust. Hugh has made a major contribution to Bristol health care both in his present role and previously in seeing the UBHT through stormy times. He has always been courteous and helpful. He has been a popular leader. We thank him warmly and wish him well in his new post.

The loss of Hugh Ross from Bristol presents new challenges. The \"public debate\" has now been going on for a few weeks. Attendance at some of the meetings has been low. This is hardly surprising in view of the lack of firm proposals. Indeed, the only definite proposal involves the setting up of a South Bristol community hospital. Hopefully greater interest will be generated when firm proposals do emerge. Progress with the plan is proceeding at a slow pace. Thus, for instance, the North Bristol NHS Trust is still consulting about where their single major hospital should be sited. The UBHT has produced some preliminary proposals which are not comprehensive and do not, as they stand, justify retention of the BRI as a mainline hospital for Bristol. The resources devoted to taking the BHSP forward are inadequate. The replacement for Hugh Ross must be identified urgently. He must be supported by a team which includes Public Health, clinical and academic input with dedicated sessions for the work. A timetable must be published. Bristol does have an opportunity to have modern effective services but there is a real danger that, in our slowness, this opportunity may be missed. A real sense of urgency is now required. The matter is discussed further in our SWOT-type analysis.

This issue of the website is partly concerned with community hospitals. Your editor has visited both Clevedon and Thornbury Hospitals and has been impressed by them. Both require expansion and further resources. I was particularly impressed with the support of the local community for both hospitals.

We have been extracting health care information from the Bristol Evening Post for the last 18 months. This has been published in each monthly issue of this site. The Post is widely read and is really quite impressive in its coverage of health-care matters. Many local doctors contribute.

Details of this meeting are posted elsewhere on this website. It is the first meeting of its type for doctors that has been held. An account of the meeting will be published in the April issue of the Med-Chi website.

Contact us with your comments about the BHSP or anything elsejanet@bristolmedchi.co.uk