THE front-of-house reception service at Westbury Hospital is to be removed at the end of the month. Westbury and District League of Friends are angry that no consultation has been carried out before the action was taken.
NHS Wiltshire say that the decision has been made in order to make better use of their resources and concentrate on finances and staff on “frontline patient care.”
Many of the services at the hospital are run by visiting healthcare professionals, but patients arriving at the hospital will no longer have a face-to-face contact when they arrive at the hospital, who can point them in the right direction or assist with enquiries.
Telephone enquiries will no longer be answered by Westbury Hospital but instead will be sent through to Trowbridge Hospital.
At the moment, patients using the continence service have collected essential supplies from reception but in the future, access to the service by users and carers will be restricted to dedicated times.
Jill Sweetman, secretary of the Westbury and District League of Friends said, “It is very disappointing that the PCT (Primary Care Trust) have made a decision to target the Westbury community again by cutting a vital “front of house” service, which meets and greets users of the many PCT services, which run from the hospital site.
“Many of the users are vulnerable and welcome having someone to signpost them to the correct service and direct them to waiting areas.”
Administrative support for healthcare staff will continue at Westbury Hospital on a part-time basis.
No consultation
The Westbury and District League of Friends are dismayed that no form of consultation into removing the service has been carried out. NHS Wiltshire has responded that a consultation was not necessary as the change “will not impact on patient-facing services.”
In a statement NHS Wiltshire says, “The change is an adjustment to the ‘back office’ services of Wiltshire Community Health Services, and will not impact on patient-facing services which continue. The change will make us more efficient, allowing us to put as much as possible into better patient care. We have kept staff informed of the planned change. Because patient services will not be affected, we are not required to carry out consultation.”
The future of the hospital
Westbury hospital currently has a GP surgery and dental access centre. Ante-natal, speech and language therapy, and child health services are also delivered from the site and there are a number of health visitors who are based at the hospital.
Planning permission has been approved for the new Primary Care Development (PCD) on Mane Way in Leigh Park. Once the PCD opens, anticipated for 2012, NHS Wiltshire intend to sell both the Westbury Hospital and Eastleigh Surgery sites. However, there are no plans to begin marketing the sites at any stage before the transfer of services is complete.
