In-patient facilities will not return to four Dumfries and Galloway cottage hospitals

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In-patient facilities will not return to four of Dumfries and Galloway’s cottage hospitals.

Members of the region’s integration joint board have agreed that facilities in Kirkcudbright, Moffat, Thornhill and Newton Stewart – mothballed during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 - should become community health and social care hubs.

That’s despite a consultation revealing that the preferred option in three of the communities was for a mix of in-patient beds and social care hubs. Only in Moffat was there no desire for the hybrid option, with the new hub set to also feature the town’s GP surgery.

IJB chairman and Dee and Glenkens Councillor Andy McFarlane insisted the views of locals were “very definitely listened to” during the consultation.

However, the decision has been slammed by South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth – especially as it comes just weeks after the IJB went against local views expressed during a consultation on maternity services in Wigtownshire.

Mr Smyth said: “The public consultation made clear what patients and staff wanted a return of inpatient services and that isn’t happening. Members of the IJB have treated the public with contempt by ignoring their own consultation. They have acted appallingly by pitching the concept of community hubs verses in-patient beds, when you could have both.

“Astonishingly officials now claim that the options they consulted on that the public supported couldn’t have been delivered anyway. Those claims don’t stand up to scrutiny, but if they were true, it shows the partnership were dishonest by consulting on options they now say could never have happened.

“The public were told by the partnership that the closure of these hospitals during the pandemic was temporary to treat covid patients. Not a single covid patient went through the door and now we know the pandemic was used as an excuse to axe these hospitals. The partnership tell the public one thing and do the other and their reputation is in complete tatters.”

Following the consultation, officials recommended each site becomes a community health and social care hub, with in-patient services instead offered by using “flexible intermediate care beds in local care homes”.

The communities in and around Kirkcudbright, Thornhill and Newton Stewart had wanted to see the hospitals re-opened with a small number of in-patient beds as well as some community services. That view was also backed at the most recent full council meeting.

At an extraordinary IJB meeting on Tuesday, experts said they had concerns over the return of in-patient facilities, fearing it would be “seriously under supporting” the community to use a large sum of money for a small number of beds and would impact staff resources.

And it was pointed out that re-opening in-patient beds would not tackle the region’s delayed discharge problem as patients moved there would still be deemed to be bed blocking.

Members agreed all four facilities should be turned into hubs, with no in-patient beds.

IJB chairman and Dee and Glenkens Councillor Andy McFarlane said: “We’re assured that these models are achievable and sustainable, and are best placed to meet the needs of these communities.”

“We very definitely listened to what came through the consultation. Indeed, I attended some of the 15 in-person consultation events which took place right across the region.

“As part of that, we heard people raising calls for a return of in-patient services. But we had to consider whether that’s the right focus, and the right move.

“Our data consistently shows that at any point we actually have more than enough capacity in our hospitals to provide in-patient care for people who have a medical need to be in a hospital – benefiting from the full focus of our trained medical professionals.

“For those people who don’t have a medical requirement to be in hospital, but instead should be being looked after at home or in a homely setting, that’s what we should be aiming to provide. It benefits them, and it benefits the system.

“A move agreed by the IJB last autumn means we are now seeing the commissioning of flexible intermediate-care beds within care homes.

“In much more appropriate surroundings, and with much more appropriate staffing, people can receive step-down care, step-up care, and palliative and end-of-life care.

“This benefits them, and it allows these four cottage hospitals to be used as was intended – as a base from which to deliver medical services, staffed by people using their full skills as qualified medical professionals.

“We want to see these sites continue to evolve to meet changing needs. And while we’re aware of calls to go further, with the likes of minor injuries units, we have to be realistic around what we can provide, and what is safe, effective and sustainable at this time.”

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