Richardson Hospital 'not being used to its full potential'

HEALTH bosses have been accused of not using the newly updated Richardson Hospital to its full potential ahead of bed cuts proposals.

Cllr Judi Sutherland told the latest Barnard Castle Town Council meeting how she and members of the Friends of the Richardson Hospital had attended reference meetings with the County Durham NHS Foundation Trust, the trust’s CCG and county councillors.

The meetings are being held ahead of proposed changes to community hospitals next March.

“It was particularly useful to find out a lot of people did not know what services were there,” said Cllr Sutherland.

“They tried to explain other issues in reduction in demand of community hospitals in terms of there being not enough staff and not enough demand – but we always question that last one.”

The Trust revealed plans to reduce beds at the Richardson Hospital from 24 to 16 over the summer.

It triggered an outcry from staff and elected officials but the trust has said the cut could be made with “some degree of comfort”.

Four meetings of the reference group are expected until March next year when a decision will be taken on the how the hospital is taken forward.

From the meeting, Cllr Sutherland feared the Richardson Hospital was not being used to its full capacity.

She said: “They said they do not believe there is a problem with people being assigned to the Richardson – they said patients are not directly told there is not a bed but they may be told there is not a suitable bed – particularly at weekends.

“The other thing I found interesting was Mark Pickering (from the trust) said the property belongs to the NHS, they charge the CCG and then the CCG gets services in.

“If there is any empty space, the CCG has to pay for it.

“We were saying how do we get it filled?

“Say someone wanted to host a dementia group, or a cancer support group, could it host that?”

Cllr Sutherland told members she’d been told the Richardson was a “relatively expensive space” now it had been updated, meaning it was cheaper for the trust to use the TCR Hub as a base for its nurses.

“There does not seem to be any drive to use the Richardson to its full potential,” she added.

With no one from the town’s GP surgery on the reference team, Cllr Sutherland also feared a lot of problems facing the Richardson Hospital were posed by the trust tendering GP services in a rural community where few could provide it.

“I suspect our GPs are finding it quite a stretch,” she added.

Cllr Sutherland hoped the CCG would be running a community consultation on the proposed changes.

“We might have to do it if they don’t, we will push them to provide what is needed,” she said.

“If we provide them with evidence they will probably say we do not have the staff but we will push it as hard as we can.”