Urogynaecology service update
In June 2015 a decision was taken to temporarily suspend the provision of the urogynaecology sub-specialty service at St George’s due to safety and governance concerns. The trust undertook a consultation process in order to understand future options for the re-provision of this service. This included discussions with commissioners, staff and the wider public. The trust board met in March 2016 and supported the proposal for the trust to begin a process of liaison with commissioners to understand the appetite and potential specification for the re-establishment of an urogynaecology sub-speciality service at St George’s.
Due to the continuing concerns with safety and governance, the service will remain suspended during this period. If a viable reconfigured service can be identified it will need to meet the requirements of being both clinically and financially sustainable. This process has begun and we are working with commissioners to determine how a urogynaecology service could be configured and governed. The service has been in suspension for 10 months and at this stage we don’t have clear view as to what the final solution will be or when it might be capable of being implemented.
The trust has made extensive efforts to date to temporarily redeploy urogynaecology staff during the suspension of the service. However, owing to the on-going uncertainties regarding the nature of any future service, the length of time staff have already been unclear about their future and the fact that staff are unable to carry out their substantive roles in urogynaecology while the service remains suspended, we have now started the HR process to meet with staff and discuss future options regarding their roles.
The board will receive an update on progress in June.
