Tonight, Ludlow Mayor Beverley Waite is chairing a meeting at Oscars, 6pm. It was hoped that Shropshire Community Health Trust would send someone along to join the panel. They are not sticking their heads above the parapet. Instead, ShropCom and the Shrewsbury and Telford & Wrekin Integrated Care Service have issued a joint statement about the future of Ludlow Hospital.
It is far from satisfactory that the public cannot question the organisations responsible for Ludlow Community Hospital. They say they want to “ensure our plans for the area are developed collaboratively with the County Council [doesn’t exist], Town Council, residents, and local partners to ensure they reflect local need.” By doing a no show tonight they hardly seem serious about that.
Joint statement from NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust
To the people of Ludlow and surrounding areas,
We would like to take this opportunity to update you on the current position regarding Ludlow Community Hospital and the services, commissioned by NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, delivered within the hospital and local community by Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust and Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Hospital Trust.
Firstly, we would like to reassure you that our commitment to the services provided from the hospital has not changed. The services provided at, and from, Ludlow Hospital, among which include audiology, maternity, minor injuries, outpatients, renal dialysis, and therapies, as well as the inpatient beds, continue to be a vital part of our long-term integrated health and care plans.
Our ambition, and focus, continues to be about the provision of high-quality services to the community of Ludlow and surrounding areas, whilst seeking new and innovative opportunities to expand on the services. All of this is based on meeting the individual needs of the area and local people.
Recently, the town has benefitted from local health and wellbeing initiatives which have been focussed on making best use of valuable community assets. Examples such as the community hub at Ludlow Youth Centre demonstrate this, offering health visitor clinics, armed forces outreach and services for mental health, domestic abuse, addiction, and parenting support.
We have a system plan in development for our neighbourhoods, including Ludlow, that builds on the feedback that we received during the Big Conversation engagement sessions. This involves working closer than ever with the Southwest Primary Care Network and local voluntary sector to develop strong community based multi-disciplinary neighbourhood teams. These teams are based around integrated children’s services, adult social care, community and public health nursing and mental health.
Our health and care teams are working hard to support people in Ludlow through our virtual wards to receive hospital level care at home (including in care homes) and this is one of the many new initiatives to provide more care in the community.
Going forward, we will continue to work together, as NHS providers and commissioners, to seek opportunities to further develop services to meet the needs of local people now and for the future.
Long-term, with regards to the hospital building specifically, we recognise that further work will be needed, due to the age of the estate. Therefore, we will continue to work with partners towards seeking additional investment, whilst in the meantime working with NHS Property Services to maintain the existing estate. At present there is no immediate route to access any new public capital and it is important to recognise this at the outset.
We are developing plans for continuing to engage and involve local people – we are committed to providing a positive patient experience at Ludlow Hospital and ensure our plans for the area are developed collaboratively with the County Council, Town Council, residents, and local partners to ensure they reflect local need.
Yours sincerely,
Patricia Davies
Chief Executive
Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust
Simon Whitehouse
Chief Executive Officer
NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin