St George’s consults on plans that will improve neurorehabilitation services
St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust has today, Monday 28th November 2011, launched a public consultation on its plans to develop its neurorehabilitation services designed to improve the care offered to patients in southwest London.
The trust is consulting on proposals to relocate the majority those services currently provided at the Wolfson Neurorehabilitation Centre, Wimbledon, to Queen Mary’s Hospital, Roehampton. Patients who require more complex care provided would be treated in a dedicated neurorehabilitation facility to be based at St George’s Hospital, Tooting.
The trust’s plans have been designed by consultants, nurses and therapists following a detailed clinical review into how the services are currently provided. Clinicians have concluded that that moving the services to Queen Mary’s, a modern hospital designed for rehabilitation services, would provide the best clinical outcomes as well as being the most cost effective option. The Wolfson Centre, although home to an excellent service, dates back to the 1960s and is no longer fit for purpose. Modernisation costs of the centre would to be in the region of £16 million. The cost of the development work required at Queen Mary’s and St George’s Hospitals will be covered by selling the Wolfson site, with any excess funds being reinvested in frontline services.
Geoff Cloud, consultant physician and care group lead for neurorehabilitation at the trust, says:
“We are committed to delivering high quality neurorehabilitation services. We have the opportunity to look carefully at how we provide neurorehabilitation services in southwest London. Our long-term plan is to relocate the majority of the service currently provided at the Wolfson to Queen Mary’s where there is already a purpose built facility for rehabilitation services. This will improve accommodation provided to patients. In addition 10 beds would be provided at St George’s Hospital, allowing patients that still have acute needs to begin their neurorehabilitation earlier.”
It is expected that work at Queen Mary’s will take 18 – 24 months and in the interim period the trust will relocate 26 of the 32 Wolfson beds onto a vacant ward at St George’s Hospital and the remaining six beds to Queen Mary’s.
St George’s Healthcare has worked hard to involve patients, staff, health partners, local councils and local charities in the development of these plans, and over the coming month will be looking to discuss these plans further with local people.
The proposals to merge the services will be discussed at two public meetings during December:
- 7pm, Tuesday 6th December 2011 at The Wolfson Neurorehabilitation Centre, Copse Hill, Wimbledon, London, SW20 0NQ
- 7pm, Wednesday 14th December 2011 in the Barnes and Richmond rooms at Queen Mary’s Hospital, Roehampton Lane, Roehampton, London, SW15 5PN
The full consultation document and feedback form is available on the St George’s Healthcare website
You can also let us know what you think about the proposed plans by calling 0800 310 1016, or writing to us at:
FREEPOST RSGZ-UJJH-THEB
Room 40.32 (Neuro)
Knightsbridge Wing
St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Blackshaw Road
London SW17 0QT
Notes to editors
- Plans for the development of neurorehabilitation services will be formally presented to a Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee chaired by Merton Council.
- Any sale of the Wolfson site will be negotiated by the trust’s specialist lease advisors to ensure best value for money.
- Any patient support groups that currently use the Wolfson as a location for their meetings would be invited to continue to host their meetings at Queen Mary’s and St George’s Hospitals.
- There are no redundancies associated with these proposed changes which will not result in any reduction to neurorehabilitation services.
For more information, please contact the communications team at St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust on 020 8725 5151 or emailcommunications@stgeorges.nhs.uk. Outside working hours, please page the team by calling 0844 822 2888, leaving a short message and contact details for pager SG548.
