ONE of the ongoing, but relatively quiet, sagas is that of the joint strategic review of acute hospital services in Worcestershire.

This was something that was expected to have been resolved a number of months ago, but for one reason or another is taking longer to run than anticipated.

At the heart of this is the Acute Hospitals Trust looking at the delivery of acute services from the three hospitals in the county – Worcestershire Royal, the Alexandra in Redditch and, of course, ours in Kidderminster.

There are a number of issues that come out of this, but the direction of travel is that in due course, a consultation will be undertaken to look at, probably, two options: one that sees a few service reconfigurations that will affect the Alex most significantly, the second that will see the Alex transferred to the University Hospitals Birmingham Trust.

For us in Kidderminster it means that, in the worst case scenario, we will possibly see small changes but an overall small increase in local services – in the best case scenario a significant increase in local services. (I would stress, however, that neither outcome will see a return to full blue light services and an A&E department.) But whilst I welcome more services locally, it is also important that we look at the services across the whole county. Not all services are delivered at the Kidderminster site and travel times and clinical outcomes are important for all of us in Worcestershire.

Last week, I brought to Kidderminster my colleague the Health Minister Dr Dan Poulter MP. I was keen for him to see what is going on with the local reconfiguration and to help speed up the process of getting to the right solution.

But I was also keen for him to meet my colleagues on the cross-party Kidderminster Hospital Alliance. It is through the alliance that all of us who are politically active within Wyre Forest are working together to ensure the best outcome for us locally.

And it has been a success – by speaking with one voice, the political message has been delivered coherently and eloquently. Moreover, it goes to show that we can all work together to overcome political differences to achieve the best outcome for the people who we serve – our community.

And I’ve certainly had positive feedback from people I meet who see how good a thing this unity is.

I am very keen – as are my colleagues on the alliance – to make sure it continues to work well. After all, no-one will thank any of us if we put to one side the interests of the community to start petty political infighting for personal political gain.

CONTACT YOUR MP

  • Email: mark.garnier.mp@ parliament.uk
  • Telephone: 020 7219 7198 or 01562 746771.
  • Write: 9a Lower Mill Street, Kidderminster, DY11 6UU, or House of Commons, Westminster, London