Have your say on the future of healthcare services in Clacton and Harwich

North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Anglian Community Enterprise (ACE) want your views on the plans to transform care in Harwich and Clacton.   The impact of these service changes has the potential to positively benefit residents across north east Essex.  We want your views to inform our work as we shape the future of community services around you, your family and your future healthcare needs.

Background

Following an award of £15m from central government in March 2018 to support the creation of a new ‘Community Hub’ at Clacton Hospital as well as £3m to invest in Fryatt Hospital, Harwich, plans have been proposed on how to spend these funds.  Thanks to this funding, north east Essex has a great opportunity to provide care in new ways, proven to improve patient outcomes, as well as address the current outdated, unsuitable wards at Clacton Hospital that do not have adequate space for equipment or therapy.

These plans will mean a few key changes for the community that aim to improve the quality of patient care:

• A ‘Community Hub’ will be developed at Clacton Hospital:

This will provide modern premises that will see a number of local GP services benefit from being onsite with the Urgent Treatment Centre for minor injury and illness, mental health, outpatient services and other health and voluntary services. Future plans include extending this ‘Community Hub’ idea to Harwich, working alongside local services.

• A dedicated Rehabilitation Inpatient Centre will be created, based at Fryatt Hospital in Harwich:

This will make use of the modern facility including Trinity Ward and the previously unused areas of the hospital, to provide specialist rehabilitation care for patients who have suffered a stroke or need inpatient rehabilitation support following a period of illness or injury.

• Extra care for patients requiring end of life and support for their carers:

Greater partnership working with specialist Nursing Homes and Palliative Care Services locally to provide a more homely environment for the patient and their family to be supported in, while still receiving specialist support.

To create the rehabilitation service and allow the benefits of having the care all on one site, the Clacton Hospital wards (St Osyth Priory Ward and Kate Grant Ward) will move to Harwich Hospital.  This will also allow for the development of the Clacton site. 

We are particularly interested to hear from you if you have experienced the community beds service at Clacton and Harwich Hospitals as a patient, relative or carer so that we can gain a full understanding of the affect this change could have on local residents. The community beds service we are referring to is currently held in the Trinity, St Osyth Priory and Kate Grant Wards, and provides specialist short term care and rehabilitation support, including nursing and therapy in the community, to help people to recover from an acute illness and to regain their independence.

We welcome all feedback and your views will inform the development process as we aim to design a new model of care built around the needs of the service user.

If you would like to participate in this engagement please complete the questionnaire by downloading the Community Beds questionnaire here and sending it in via post, or completing our Online Community Beds questionnaire. If you require this survey in a different format, for example in large print, please call 01206 918730 or email pals.nee@nhs.net. Please ensure that your feedback is received by us by 10th September.