Hinchingbrooke Next Steps

Hinchingbrooke Next Steps

1) Hinchingbrooke hospital is a modern purpose-built district general hospital, which opened in 1983.

2) Hinchingbrooke hospital serves people in Huntingdonshire and surrounding areas; approximately 160,000 people.

3) Hinchingbrooke Health Care NHS Trust provides a wide range of outpatient, daycase and inpatient services, a 24 hour accident and emergency department and maternity services.

4) Cambridgeshire Community Services provides services on the hospital site including 25 children’s beds and 12 special care baby unit cots*.

5) There are also two wards for patients with mental health needs, run by Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust*, and Addenbrookes runs a dialysis unit from this site*

*The services marked with an asterix will not become part of the operating franchise agreement detailed on the East of England website.

Why changes are needed

The hospital has a strong history of providing good clinical services and working well with GPs, neighbouring hospitals and the local community.

However, Hinchingbrooke was facing an uncertain future, bearing in mind its financial debt.  But, NHS Cambridgeshire, following its public consultation in 2007, made a commitment to guarantee a future for the hospital, setting out clearly what services will be delivered, and a determination to find the right partner to deliver them.  It means that the people of Huntingdon and around will continue to benefit from having the hospital serve their communities.

But the hospital cannot continue to provide its services within its current financial circumstances.  So we are turning to the marketplace to see what ideas can be generated. To encourage that innovation, we are looking to ensure that the widest possible competition goes ahead and patients ‘get the best deal’, and that is why we are keen to hear suggestions from both the NHS and independent sectors. It is also expected that any new partner will be able to contribute to the repayment of the debt, which amounts to almost £40m.

The objectives underpinning Hinchingbrooke Next Steps

The key aims of the Hinchingbrooke Next Steps project are:

• to find a new partner who is capable of providing the full range of modern acute hospital services at Hinchingbrooke hospital 
• to run an open and transparent competitive process to find the best partner for the hospital from within the NHS, or from the independent or third sectors, or a combination of them
• to secure a sustainable future for the Trust and staff and to deal with the hospital’s historical financial issues, while maintaining quality for patients and securing value for money for the taxpayers.

The project specific objectives are:

• to ensure that the range of services identified via the 2007 public consultation, continue to be made available to patients locally 
• that any proposals which change services offered on the site would need the agreement of NHS Cambridgeshire and may be subject to further public consultation, depending on the scale of the proposed change 
• to develop health services following best practice whilst making sure they are financially sustainable
• to ensure the ownership and management structures for Hinchingbrooke HCT are fit for purpose
• to ensure that the impact on staff will be minimised and that all appropriate employment protocols are followed 
• to optimise the value to the taxpayer, making the operations of Hinchingbrooke HCT financially sustainable. In so doing, and where possible, to maximise the early repayment of the temporary loan provided to the hospital by NHS East of England.

In short...

The objectives underpinning the Hinchingbrooke Next Steps project are to:
1. ensure that the desired range of services are maintained at the hospital
2. that excellence is experienced by patients and carers
3. that staff are valued within their work
4. that value for money is achieved for the taxpayer.

To hear latest news, updates about the proposals for the hospital’s future management, and to input your ideas and get involved visit NHS East of England’s website at www.eoe.nhs.uk/strategicprojects