A new Ellen Badger Hospital

What is the purpose of community hospital beds?
Community Hospital beds generally provide step down care to rehabilitate patients back into independent living. They provide additional support for patients leaving the acute hospital that might need it. SWFT recognises how important these beds are for patients that need them and therefore we provide more community hospital beds than most local health systems and in response to the review we decided to increase community hospital bed capacity. We also offer on-going support for patients in their homes or specially commissioned local care homes, increasing the beds available for step down care and providing care even closer to home.

How do the recommendations from the inpatient bed review impact on the acute site at Warwick Hospital?
Warwick Hospital remains the acute site for south Warwickshire, this means all communities will continue to use Warwick for certain services e.g. maternity and the emergency department.

Most patients in community hospital beds will have had an acute hospital stay in Warwick Hospital before they are transferred to the community hospital.

What is the status of the South Warwickshire Inpatient Bed Review?
The business case outlining the recommendations of the Community Inpatient Review was considered by the Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) at the July board meeting. The result of this was approval for the ICB to begin a pre-consultation business case.

The pre-consultation process will examine all the possible options available regarding the provision of community beds in South Warwickshire. It will seek to build alignment in three key areas:

- To make the case for change.

- To demonstrate that all options, benefits and impact on service users have been considered.

- To outline the options for public consultation and demonstrate that the planned consultation will seek the views of patients and members of the public who may potentially be impacted by the proposals.

The ICB is now in the process of assessing the information which we already hold to meet the conditions above and a subsequent timeline of the next steps in developing our pre-consultation process.

Why is SWFT advocating care at home?
One of the Trust’s key strategic aims is to support a home first approach. We know that hospital is not always the best place for people. By shifting our approach to home first we will support patients to maintain their independence and preventing or reducing some of the associated risks of staying in hospital such as de-conditioning, loss of mobility and hospital acquired infections. The investment we are proposing for new community alternatives will support this.

Community alternatives may include:

• Home Based Therapy which supports patients in their home after a stay in a main hospital.
• Home-based overnight care to support patients with delirium and/or cognitive impairment.
• Increasing capacity within the Community Response Team, which provides urgent support, seven days a week with the aim of preventing unnecessary hospital admissions.
• We will also be working with hospices with the aim of improving the pathways to support patients at the end of life to die at home with the support of hospice at home services or within a hospice.

What is the status of the South Warwickshire Inpatient Bed Review?
The business case outlining the recommendations of the Community Inpatient Review was considered by the Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) at the July board meeting. The result of this was approval for the ICB to begin a pre-consultation business case. Disclosure of the full business case will be determined by the ICB and the process that follows.

Why is the recommendation to relocate the community hospital beds?
The Trust provides services to all areas of South Warwickshire, which includes Warwick and Leamington Spa. Post code analysis of previous patients has highlighted that many patients were having to travel significant distances for the inpatient facilities in Shipston-on-Stour and Stratford-upon-Avon. With both units located in the Stratford-upon-Avon district of South Warwickshire, there were inequities for our populations located centrally and further north of the county. Leamington Spa Hospital is centrally located and closer to a much higher proportion of the users of community hospital inpatient services.

The recommendation to relocate the beds to Leamington Spa Hospital would mean that the ward is co-located with other inpatient services. The beds are available for the entire population of south Warwickshire and therefore it provides a range of benefits for many communities. These benefits include more clinical cover and access to dedicated therapy areas which help promote rehabilitation, recovery, and independence, which will support better outcomes for patients.

What has happened to the money gifted to SWFT?
To kick start the development, the League of Friends transferred a legacy donation they received of £635,000. This Gift was conditional upon land adjacent to the Ellen Badger Hospital being purchased by the Trust and developed “such that it is used for buildings which enhance the health and well-being services available to the population of Shipston-on-Stour and its surrounding areas.” The funds were used by the Trust to cover the cost of a land purchase essential for the development of the Ellen Badger Hospital. Development of that land commenced on October 2022 and is continuing. The Trust was very clear with the LoF's charity that the beds were under review and so they should not be fundraising for these, and our understanding is that no fundraising activities have taken place for a number of years.

Is the Medical Centre still part of the development plans?
Shipston Medical Centre have had to pause their initial plans to relocate within the new development. They continue to work closely with Coventry and Warwickshire’s Integrated Care Board to explore the opportunities to support their original plan.

SWFT is also keen to progress the ambition of an integrated healthcare facility and therefore the construction work is being completed in such a way that integration with the Medical Centre in the future is possible.

SWFT continue to work closely with Shipston Medical Centre and Coventry and Warwickshire’s Integrated Care Board to progress the ambition of an integrated healthcare facility for the communities of Shipston and surrounding villages.

All parties are keen to explore all options to progress this and the construction work is being completed in such a way that integration with the Medical Centre in the future is possible.

South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust places significant focus on sustainability. Therefore, during the Ellen Badger Hospital development, the Trust is, where possible, re-using and recycling materials and ensuring the building meets industry approved sustainability standards.

During the demolition and construction of phase 2 we are:

• Following BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) Excellent guidance for the building. This is a recognised industry standard which buildings should meet in terms of sustainability.
• Using many items of the old hospital. This includes re-using and recycling large quantity of re-usable brick, timber, mental etc. This approach is also construction best practice.
• Using on-site crushed bricks and concrete, called 6F5, as the ground make up and piling mat for the new building. There is approximately 150 tons of this on site created by the demolition of the former building. This saves removing all the debris off-site, only to bring new crushed stone back on-site using big lorries. Which is costly, and not environmentally friendly.

In the phase 2 building we will have:

• Air source heat pumps for the main heating.
• Gas fired low emission boilers for domestic hot water generation via heat plates.
• Low energy air conditioning units.
• Heat recovery units to aid with the heating in many areas. This is also linked to the ventilation systems.
• Thermal efficient walling.
• Thermal efficient windows and doors.
• Thermal efficient roof system.
• Full energy efficient LED lighting throughout. Complete with motion detection where required.
• Efficient water usage sanitary ware.
• Responsible planting and material selections for the landscaping.

In March 2023, members from SWFT met with Shipston’s Senior Citizens Action Network (SCAN) to discuss what stage the Ellen Badger Hospital development is currently at and to answer any questions the members had. The following questions were asked and the below answers given.

Do you have the funds available now to build the development?

Please be reassured that, despite increasing construction costs, we do have the funds to build this development.

The League of Friends transferred a donation they received of £635,000 to enable the Trust to buy the land next to the hospital site. The purchase of this land has facilitated the development plans.

The construction work is being funded by Trust capital money and £2.3million of national funding, which we obtained following a successful bid.

What is the Community Infrastructure Levy allocated by Stratford District Council being spent on?

Stratford District Council has allocated £1.4million through the Community Infrastructure Levy Funds to support the implementation of a GP surgery and health and wellbeing facilities in Shipston. £900,000 will go towards the health and wellbeing element of the project.

Will we get a General Practice?

Shipston Medical Centre are a private business separate to the Trust. We wanted to do this project together and we are both still very committed to doing this as a joint venture.

In the development we are building, we are protecting some space for the Practice to operate from while they weigh up their options. If they decide they do not want this space we will look to offer this out to other services to support the health and wellbeing of Shipston residents.

When we need services like x-rays and are due COVID-19 vaccines we have to go to Stratford. Will these services be available in the new hospital?

There is a national directive to invest in central diagnostic centres (CCDs) across the country. We have three in Coventry and Warwickshire (one in Stratford, one in Nuneaton and one in Coventry). However, as part of the development we will be providing the infrastructure to enable mobile diagnostics to take place on the Ellen Badger Hospital site. This facility will be a response to what the Shipston community needs. For example it was highlighted to the Trust that a breast scanner no longer comes to Shipston and therefore this is a service that could be provided using the mobile diagnostic space.

Vaccine programmes are run through General Practice. Previously, our Trust offered Stratford Hospital to be a vaccine hub for free. This was to ensure people could get their vaccines as soon as possible. However, the vaccine campaign is not something we lead and therefore we are unable to confirm if vaccines will be administered in Shipston going forward.

Will you provide a list of what services will and won’t be available at Ellen Badger Hospital?

A review is currently taking place about which services are required to meet the local community’s health needs. The findings of this review are scheduled to be published by June 2023. Following this, the Trust will provide a comprehensive list of the services that will and those that will not be provided at the new Ellen Badger Hospital.

Have you sold all the equipment from the former hospital?

The Trust has made an archive list of all the equipment that was in the former hospital. We haven’t sold any of these items.

Are we likely to get something like a minor injuries unit?

Currently a review of urgent care, which is looking at how we manage emergency demand, is taking place across the whole of south Warwickshire. However, there is no plan at this current time to put a minor injuries unit back at Ellen Badger Hospital.

Following closure during the pandemic, the minor injuries unit at Stratford Hospital is back open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays between 9am-5pm. Due to staffing challenges and operational pressures, the service is not available any other days at this current time, but the operating hours will be reviewed regularly and will be extended dependant on staffing levels.

Will you have enough staff to run the planned service?

In general, there are on-going challenges with recruitment in the NHS and these are not always to do with funding but around a reduction in applications.

To enable the demolition work to take place, a number of staff were temporarily redeployed to other Trust sites. These staff will move back once the new hospital is built.

In addition, the clinics which we plan to run from Ellen Badger Hospital are already taking place in other places. Therefore, we have the teams already available to safely facilitate these services.

We are in the process of reviewing how we effectively use resources to ensure the right care is provided in the right place, at the right time.

As with lots of large-scale development plans, things occur that are unplanned for. As part of the pre-construction work, protected bats were found. Natural England have been working to establish a way forward and last week we were granted a bat licence, so work has now begun on site.

Click here to download a copy of the licence