Residents who are served by New Cross Hospital have 6 more weeks to have their say on proposals to provide some services for Wolverhampton people at Cannock Chase Hospital.

Wolverhampton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which funds healthcare services for the city, and The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust have extended the deadline for people to give their views, which was previously 5 September, to 17 October, 2014. To have your say, please complete an online survey at Type=links;Linkid=4033;Title=Wolverhampton Clinical Commissioning Group;Target=_blank; or email wolccg.wccg@nhs.net.

To manage the growing demand for urgent and emergency care at New Cross Hospital, The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and the CCG are proposing to provide some of the following routine day case and inpatient surgery at Cannock Chase Hospital for adults:

  • general surgery (examples include hernia repair and gall bladder surgery)
  • orthopaedics (includes hip, knee, foot, ankle and upper limb surgery)
  • breast surgery (not cosmetic)
  • urology (includes bladder and kidney)
  • dermatology/plastic surgery (removal of lumps and lesions)

They are also planning to provide the following day case investigations and treatment at Cannock Chase Hospital for adults:

  • endoscopy (examples include colonoscopy and gastroscopy)
  • rheumatology (includes day care and intravenous treatment for conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis)
  • dermatology (includes phototherapy, intensive topical skin treatments)

The plans mean around 10,000 patients from Wolverhampton could have their surgery or treatment provided at Cannock Chase Hospital. This is just under a quarter of the total number of people who have inpatient and day case surgery at New Cross Hospital each year.

Most people would only need to travel to Cannock for their operation and would receive the rest of their care at the hospital closest to them. Outpatient appointments for adults and children would be provided at both hospitals, according to patients' preference.

All urgent and emergency care services will remain at New Cross Hospital.

David Loughton CBE, Chief Executive of The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, said: "Over the past few years, a continual rise in the number of urgent and emergency care admissions at New Cross Hospital has led to us cancelling more and more planned operations, often at the last minute. This causes a huge amount of stress and inconvenience for patients and their families.

"Our patients rightly expect better. When we take over the management of Cannock Chase Hospital later this year, this will give us an opportunity to protect planned care from the pressures of emergency care by carrying out more routine treatment at Cannock."

Dr Helen Hibbs, Clinical Accountable Officer at Wolverhampton CCG, said: "We'd like as many people as possible to tell us what they think, which is why we've extended the deadline for people to give their feedback by 6 weeks.

"We've had valuable feedback from the 2 public meetings we've held so far. There are 2 remaining public meetings and we'd encourage anyone who'd like to find out more about our proposals to come and talk to us."

Dates and venues for the meetings are as follows:

  • Tuesday 2 September, 6pm to 8pm, Marsden Room, Wolverhampton Science Park, Glaisher Drive, Wolverhampton. Please click Type=links;Linkid=4034;Title=here;Target=_blank; to book your place.
  • Wednesday 8 October, 6pm to 8pm, The Molineux Suite, The Molineux, Waterloo Road, Wolverhampton. Please click Type=links;Linkid=4035;Title=here;Target=_blank; to book your place.

Places can also be booked by emailing wolccg.wccg@nhs.net or calling 01902 444878.

Residents can also find out more by visiting Wolverhampton CCG's pop-up shop at the Mander Centre on Thursday 28 August, 10am to 1pm.

After 17 October, Wolverhampton CCG and The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust will analyse all the feedback they have received to understand any issues local people have with the proposals. They will use this to prepare a report, which will be available at the end of October.

Issued by NHS England, August, 2014

  • released: Thursday 28 August, 2014