Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP)
Plans to transform care for the people of Coventry and Warwickshire were today published (Tuesday 6 December).
Each area of the country has been asked to produce a STP which sets out how local health and social care services will be delivered in the future.
Coventry and Warwickshire’s Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) sets out a vision for the future of health and care services and focuses on helping people to stay healthier for longer and on providing better care at home or closer to home.
Coventry and Warwickshire’s STP Board is made up of nine organisations including hospitals, mental health and community services, local authorities and Clinical Commissioning Groups, and is led by the Chief Executive of University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Professor Andy Hardy. Both Coventry and Warwickshire’s Healthwatch Chief Officers also attend the STP Board.
Further involvement, through an independently chaired Design Authority, is in place, involving hospital, mental and public health clinicians, nurses, social care leaders and family doctors through Local medical Committee members.
A number of inaccurate media reports have claimed there will be closures in hospitals and that there are plans for a single A&E or Maternity Unit in Coventry and North Warwickshire. This is not the case.
The STP is about redesigning services, for example, a redesigned stroke service which would see all stroke patients treated in a specialist stroke unit in the first instance, where they can have access to highly specialised diagnostic equipment and complex treatments. This would mean all patients would receive the gold standard of stroke care and have access to rehabilitation care closer to home.
As reported previously, Professor Andy Hardy said: “The focus on health and social care has been on supporting people when they are in crisis or ill, rather than supporting people to keep healthy and independent. That’s why our services need to change.
It is disappointing that our STP was leaked ahead of publication but on behalf of the STP board, I can confirm that plans for a single A & E and Maternity Unit for Coventry and Warwickshire have not been discussed or agreed as part of the STP planning process. No decisions have been made for the future of A & E or Maternity Services at the George Eliot Hospital and there are no plans for any closures to any hospitals in Coventry and Warwickshire.”
He added: “The STP plan is not about hospitals closing. It is about designing services differently with the resources that we have and focusing on preventing physical and mental ill health. The joint vision across health and social care is to work together to deliver high quality care which supports our communities to live well, stay independent and enjoy life.
“Today’s publication of our STP starts the process where we will develop plans in partnership with our staff and the local community. We won’t make any changes to any services without the full engagement of staff and local communities and that’s a commitment that the STP has absolutely given.”
Coventry and Warwickshire’s STP and summary document can be found here http://www.uhcw.nhs.uk/about-us/stp from 9am.
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