SUPPORT FOR MORE LOCAL HOSPITALS

The new head of the NHS in England, Simon Stevens, has said there needs to be new models of care built around smaller local hospitals. In recent years the health service has emphasised the benefits of centralised services.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27631081

Centralised specialist services have brought significant benefits in recent years, in areas such as stroke care and major trauma.

But this policy has raised questions about the future of many smaller district general hospitals.

Mr Stevens said that smaller hospitals should play an important part in providing care, especially for the growing number of older patients who could be treated closer to home.

Mr Stevens took up his post in the NHS in England after 11 years working for private health care firms in Europe, the US and South America.

Comment: This is a welcome policy change. There are important roles for both the smaller local hospitals, and the centralised specialist centres. Both are needed. The move away from local services has gone too far, with some evidence the policy was fuelled increasingly by funding cuts in the NHS. Services for the elderly, and for mental health, in particular, should be available locally. Budget cuts leading to fewer NHS beds have in some areas meant patients moving to hospitals at distance from their homes, with the NHS having to buy provision in the private sector.