PATIENTS and residents in Wyre Forest are being encouraged to have their say on a document outlining progress made in an ongoing review of Worcestershire’s acute hospital services.

NHS Wyre Forest Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has published a “draft prospectus” as part of its role in the “future of acute hospital services in Worcestershire programme” - formerly the joint services review (JSR) launched in January last year.

Despite originally planning the review to take a year, health chiefs continue to insist no decisions have yet been made and two options are still being looked at - although neither threaten Kidderminster Hospital with closure as the original proposals did.

One option would see Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust continue to run services across its three hospital sites in Kidderminster, Worcester and Redditch - with the Alexandra likely to lose its A&E department.

Option two would see an alternative provider - possibly University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust - taking over the running of the Alexandra.

Dr Simon Gates, outgoing chairman for the Wyre Forest CCG, said: “It’s important to remember that no decisions about the future of local acute hospital services have been made.

“We believe more work needs to be done to fully test all options that are available to us and I would encourage members of the public to get involved by viewing our draft prospectus and sending us their feedback.”

To view and comment on the document before Friday, December 6, visit wyreforestccg.nhs.uk