Weston Hospital A&E department

News - 24 June 2015

North Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Position Statement Regarding Weston General Hospital Emergency Department
Two women walking into a hospital together

At the Healthwatch meeting on 9th June there was a reference to Weston Emergency Department being downgraded to treat minor injuries only, impacting on the services available.

The CCG would like to confirm that Weston ED continues to be a Type 1 Emergency Department and it is not the case that Weston has been downgraded to a Minor Injuries Unit.

Due to the viability of running specialist clinical rotas at Weston, and national imperatives to centralise certain specialist services, there are some patients who will be diverted to other nearby Emergency Departments who can provide the relevant level of 24/7 specialist care. These are:

  • Acute STEMI heart attacks – these go straight to Bristol Heart Institute for specialist clot busting treatment.
  • Acute strokes which are suitable for clot busting treatment
  • Seriously unwell children
  • Children under the age of 4 weeks
  • Major trauma – North Bristol Trust is the regional Major Trauma Centre

Women over 22 weeks pregnantAt the moment the CCG’s priority is to assure the long term future of NHS services at Weston through the acquisition of Weston Area Health NHS Trust. In compliance with the terms of an NHS-only acquisition this can only proceed if the Trust is acquired on an ‘as is’ basis. Consequently it is envisaged that there will be no material change in services delivered at Weston General Hospital in the short term.

In the future any material changes to the Emergency Department at Weston would be subject to a full public consultation and engagement which of course the CCG would commence with Healthwatch and other stakeholders at an early stage.

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