SORV Campaign Wins Service Promise from East Kent Hospital Trust

The Campaign to Save OUR Royal Victoria has secured a pledge from the East Kent Hospital Trust that most key services currently available at the RVH will continue to be available in Folkestone. The pledge has been welcomed by hospital campaigner Lynne Beaumont, but fears remain that the full story is not being told. The public meeting announced for 9 January will go ahead to ensure concerned local residents are given all the information available at the allow local people to have their say on the future of the hospital.

Lynne Beaumont said:

"Clearly, a pledge of services in a really good step forward, and it's a shame that the NHS Trust didn't make this pledge much faster. We wrote to the Trust on the 17 December, and it's only after the campaign started to put on pressure locally that we finally get a promise to retain most services.

"A number of big questions remain, and we need to have these answered. Firstly, the Trusts letter confirms that they are already looking at the future of the Derry Unit and its 'urogynaecology services and a urology diagnostic triage and treatment service'. This is the first time I'd heard they were considering moving this service.

"And most fundamentally, HOW can the Trust sell off the largest part of the hospital, and make all current services fit into the much smaller remaining area - even with a possible new unit? The space just doesn't add up. The only way I can see that this could be achieved would be to reduce the level of service offered by a number of the patients that could be treated overall at the hospital, which is just not acceptable."

Save Our Royal Victoria Campaigner Tim Prater wrote to the East Kent Hospitals Trust on 17 December to ask for urgent confirmation that key services would be protected. The reply to Tim Prater from George Jenkins of the East Kent Hospitals Trust (dated 3 January) says:

"The Trust's position in relation to the RVH site is that it is exploring the option of a sale to save the organisation an estimated £1.2million per year in ongoing costs currently maintaining a building that is underutilised, which could be better spent on the health care of East Kent patients.

"East Kent Hospitals Trust is committed to provide local access to local health services for the residents of Shepway. The present outline plan is to provide all the services listed below in the new part of the hospital/nursing home (the building adjacent to the Walk-In Centre on site), should it be decided to sell the remaining site.

"The current range of services at the Royal Victoria Hospital will continue to be provided in the RVH namely: the out patient Audiology, Cardiology, Colorectal, Dermatology, Diabetes, Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT), Endocrinology, Falls and Osteoporosis Service, Walk-in Centre, Wheelchair Service, Gastroenterology, General Medicine, General Surgery, Geriatric Medicine, Glaucoma, Gynaecology, Haematology, Nephrology (Renal), Occupational Therapy, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedic, Orthoptic service, Diagnostics, Paediatrics, Physiotherapy, Psychological services, Rehabilitation, Rheumatology, services for older people, Speech and language therapy, Subfertility, Therapy services, Thoracic Medicine, Urology and Women's Health Services.

"In addition to those services listed by you in your email, mental health services, HIV services, a hearing aid clinic and a Minor Injuries Unit/Walk-In Centre will also continue to be provided from the RVH. Our plans also include the relocation and co-location of radiology services (X-Ray) and the ultrasound unit in to a new area on site much closer to the Minor Injury Unit/Walk-In Centre. In this new unit, new digital equipment will be provided to improve the service available to patients. In fact the Trust's plans for RVH include the modernisation and upgrade of facilities, which will see the Trust investing approximately £1 million, to ensure that the current range of services accessed by Folkestone residents continue to be provided locally."

"The Derry unit provides urogynaecology services and a urology diagnostic triage and treatment service to a population far wider than just the Folkestone area, and discussions will be held shortly to determine whether or not the RVH is the best location for this service.

For the moment no plans have been formalised to sell the building, and the only steps that have been taken are informal discussions with planners to ascertain what kind of alternative use they might approve of for the site."

Related Links

• Save OUR Royal Victoria SORV Campaign web site
• Full letter from George Jenkins to Tim Prater