Public consultation begins on plans to spend £450m on Leicester hospitals serving Leicestershire and Rutland

People are being asked for their views on a proposed £450 million transformation of acute hospital and maternity services in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

Currently, services are spread across three sites: Leicester Royal Infirmary, Glenfield Hospital and Leicester General Hospital.

But health chiefs believe patients would be better served and taxpayers’ money better spent by focusing all acute services at the Royal Infirmary and Glenfield.

Acute care includes patients receiving treatment for severe injury or illness, urgent medical conditions, or during recovery from surgery.

It is expected that the reconfiguration of hospital services will save the NHS around £48 million. There is not expected to be any major increase or reduction in staffing.

Developments would include:

• 139 new in-patient beds
• A major planned care treatment centre at Glenfield
• Two new super intensive care units (ICUs) with 100 beds across the two sites - doubling current capacity
• A dedicated single-site children’s hospital at the Royal Infirmary - the first in the East Midlands
• Development of a new maternity hospital at the Royal Infirmary site
• Extra car parking across the sites

If the plans are given the go-ahead, Leicester General would be downgraded to a ‘community health campus’ that would provide non-acute services.

These would still include an in-patient stroke recovery ward, x-ray and scans unit, and a diabetes centre.

The public consultation, which runs from today (Monday, September 28) until December 21, also includes services delivered at the midwifery-led unit at St Mary’s Hospital in Melton Mowbray.

Andrew Furlong, surgeon and medical director at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, said: “Every day in our hospitals we achieve amazing things and our staff go above and beyond to deliver great care. But the way our hospitals are set up is a matter of history rather than design. We have old buildings, with services spread too thinly across three sites and in ways that make delivering care very challenging. We also have growing demand for all our services and it’s clear we need to do things differently.

“These proposals will help us to offer the highest quality, state-of-the art healthcare services that patients deserve, and fit for future generations. Importantly, these changes would enable us to separate emergency care from the care arranged in advance for our patients, helping to prevent treatment being delayed or cancelled when emergency services are busy.”

He added: “Our recent experience of responding to the Covid-19 pandemic has shown us just how important these proposed changes are – we’ve coped well but would have coped better if the changes we are proposing had already been made.”

The new treatment centre at Glenfield would separate planned operations and emergency procedures and help stop urgent pressures leading to the cancellation of routine surgery.

It is estimated that the centre would reduce the number of patients attending the Leicester Royal Infirmary site by more than half a million per year – reducing city centre traffic and creating space for other developments.

The proposals also include potentially relocating the midwifery-led unit at St Mary’s Hospital in Melton Mowbray to the Leicester General Hospital campus.

The existing unit is said to be under-used with fewer than three births per week, despite efforts to promote it.

The consultation will also consider greater use of hydrotherapy pools in the community, replacing use of the hydrotherapy pool at Leicester General Hospital.

At a press briefing on Friday, health chiefs urged people to have their say on the plan, stressing it was not a “done deal” and views and concerns would be taken onboard.

The estimated 30 per cent of patients whose journey times to hospital would increase under the plans are particularly encouraged to voice their opinions.

Caroline Trevithick, executive director of nursing, quality and performance for the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland CCGs, which are running the consultation, said: “We would encourage everyone – members of the public, patients, carers, staff, public and patient representative groups, and anyone with an interest in the health and care of local people – to find out more about the proposals and complete the consultation questionnaire.”

There are a number of ways in which people can find out more and have their say, including a number of online events. The full consultation document and questionnaire survey are available at www.betterhospitalsleicester.nhs.uk

Versions of the consultation document are available in 11 languages as well as in easy read, video, British Sign Language and large print.

Further information about the proposals and how to comment can also be obtained by telephoning 0116 295 0750 or emailing beinvolved@LeicesterCityCCG.nhs.uk