Save OUR Royal Victoria Campaign Challenges PCT on Consultation Process for the Derry Unit

SORV Campaigner Tim Prater has written to Ann Sutton, Chief Executive of Eastern and Coastal Kent PCT, asking how there can be a fair consultation on the future location of the Derry Unit given that the Hospital Trust want to sell the building in which it is currently located.

At a meeting with Folkestone Town Council in January, Hospital Trust Facilities Manager Howard Jones conceded that it would be "very difficult" to retain Derry Unit services on the RVH site if the main building was sold.

The letter from Tim Prater to Ann Sutton dated 6 February read:

"Further to our previous correspondence on the future of the Royal Victoria Hospital, I am again writing to you as the Chief Executive of the PCT regarding the future of services at the site, following the news that the Hospitals Trust are considering the sale of the main building at the hospital."

"At our public meeting in January, Matthew Kershaw, the Chief Operation Officer of East Kent Hospitals Trust, told the meeting that a potential move of the Derry Unit was being considered as it served a wider area than just Shepway, and that a "conversation" would be held on whether Folkestone was the "best place to serve the users from across the whole of East Kent"."

"At a subsequent meeting with Folkestone Town Council on 11 January, East Kent Hospitals Trust Facilities Manager, Howard Jones, admitted to the Folkestone Town Council meeting that to keep the Derry Unit in Folkestone without the main building would be "very difficult" in the remaining hospital space."

"As commissioners of services locally, I'm sure you can understand the huge concern that this causes that the future location of the Derry Unit will not be based on a fair assessment of best location, but rather that if the main building of the Royal Victoria Hospital is sold, there will be no possibility of retaining the Unit at its current site."

"How is it possible to hold a fair consultation on the future location of the Derry Unit's services, if the possibility of retaining them in Folkestone is to be withdrawn? What response does the PCT as service commissioners have that the Hospitals Trust have seemingly already made a decision to sell a building which will force the movement of this key service whether you deem the service to be correctly positioned or not?"

"Finally, how can there be any confidence in a consultation on the "best" location of Derry Unit services in future, when it is already clear that the Hospitals Trust has a huge vested interest in that review deciding on a location outside of Folkestone? To decide otherwise would require the retention of the main building to house the unit, an option which the Hospital Trust do not seem able to accept. As such, it would seem any such consultation, unless real action is taken now to ensure the real independence of such a review, would be financially rather than clinically led, which would be a disgraceful way to run the NHS in Kent."

Any reply will be published on the Save OUR Royal Victoria web site at www.sorv.org.uk